Trailing after them, Alex wondered why Zain kept referring to Roka as ‘Prince’ when she knew the Meyarin royal preferred to be casual with his title, but then she realised it must be because of D.C. and Bear. The Meyarins trusted Alex, but she knew they didn’t have the same confidence in her friends. In fact, not so long ago Roka had pleaded with Alex to remain quiet about the Meyarin qualities she’d inherited from Aven’s attempted Claiming, making her promise to keep it a secret from her friends—and anyone else—to lessen the risk of Aven finding out. But after her recent experience with the banished prince, Aven had to now realise something was different about Alex, and since her friends had been caught up in that mess with her, she’d decided they deserved to know the truth. True to form, they’d been nothing but encouraging, with D.C. offering compassion and Bear thinking it was the coolest thing ever. They were also firmly in favour of Alex training with the Meyarins, despite knowing her reluctance. But the fact was, they all knew she would likely come face to face with Aven again, and when that time came, Alex would need to embrace her Meyarin abilities should she have any hope to survive the confrontation.
“Any day now, little human.”
Alex glanced up to see Zain waiting for her to follow Bear and D.C. through the very same doorway she had once used on her midnight visit to Meya after crossing paths—and swords— with Aven at Sir Oswald’s dinner party. That felt like years ago to Alex, given everything that had happened since.
“Sorry,” she said. “I spaced out for a moment. This headache is killing me.”
Sliding past him to enter the room beyond, Alex was surprised to see him continue on down the corridor rather than join them. Shrugging mentally, she turned back to the room and found Roka and his betrothed, Kyia, waiting for her. Alex easily returned their smiles, but the expression slid from her face when their eyes widened at her appearance and they burst into laughter.
“And I thought your friends looked bad,” Roka said, walking over and placing a welcoming hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Alex, even if it looks like you found a swamp and missed the ‘watch your step’ sign.”
“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious,” Alex grumbled, crossing her arms. Unfortunately she was too happy to see the Meyarins to feel any real annoyance at their reactions. That, and she was fully aware of how ridiculous she and her friends looked. Bear’s hair was still standing on end from their earlier encounter with the lightning, his face streaked with charcoal. D.C. also looked particularly wild, with her red hair frizzing exponentially by the second as it aired out naturally. Dried mud covered both their legs, but even that couldn’t compete with Alex’s state of crustiness, her body coated from head to toe.
She couldn’t blame Roka and Kyia for their laughter—in fact, she was surprised Zain had held back from commenting earlier. Furrowing her brow, Alex looked around, but their bulky escort was still nowhere to be seen. Then, as if on cue, Zain strode back into the room.
“Here,” he said, handing a golden chalice to Alex and passing two others to her friends. “Drink.”
Alex watched the steam rising out of the goblet and looked down at the silvery liquid with suspicion. “Is it supposed to be glowing like that?”
Zain huffed with impatience. “Just drink it, Alex.”
She felt the need to quote from a responsible-drinking advertisement, but she figured it would go straight over their otherworldly heads, so instead of making a fuss, she did as commanded, taking a small sip of the pleasantly sweet liquid.
“Mmm.” She smacked her lips together and took another sip, larger this time. “Tastes like vanilla.”
And indeed it did taste like vanilla, or perhaps caramel. She couldn’t quite decide, almost like it was a mixture of the two rich flavours. Either way, it was delicious, and she made a note to never doubt Zain’s drink offerings again, regardless of how psychedelic they looked.
“What’s in it?” Alex asked, entranced by the glowing liquid.
“You said you had a headache,” Zain answered just as she took another large mouthful. “Meyarin blood is known for its healing properties. Enjoy, little human.”
Alex violently spat out her mouthful. The silver liquid sprayed everywhere as she bent at the waist and tried to repress her urge to vomit all over the floor. She was only able to gain control of her gag reflex when she heard the uproarious laughter and realised she’d been played.
Alex stood straight again and scowled at Zain who was laughing the hardest.
“The—look—on—your—face—” he managed to get out between guffaws. “Priceless!”
It took every fibre of her being to resist throwing the remaining contents of her goblet at the hulking Meyarin. Instead, she grit her teeth and waited for them all—D.C. and Bear included—to settle down again.
“That was unkind of us, Alex,” Roka said, looking apologetic even if his golden eyes still gleamed with humour. “Of course Zain didn’t give you blood to drink. Your chalice contains an infusion of what we call laendra. It’s a plant native to the Silverwood and has fast-acting healing properties. You should already be feeling its effects.”
True enough, the headache Alex had endured since being Stabilised had disappeared the moment she’d begun drinking the laendra, and now that she thought about it, she couldn’t feel her itchy bites anymore, either. Looking at her friends, she could see the blisters on Bear’s forearm were healing before her eyes. D.C., too, was in the process of unwrapping Alex’s scarf bandage from her wrist, and when she was free of the makeshift splint, she handed the ComTCD back to Alex, rotating her hand with a look of incredulous wonder.
Swallowing her ire—because Zain had gone to retrieve the medicine after hearing her complain about her headache—Alex finished the remains of her goblet and offered a quiet, “Thanks, Zain.”
He chuckled quietly in response, still amused by the whole scenario, making it challenging for Alex to maintain her gratitude. She decided her best course of action was to instead turn her attention to the other Meyarins.
“Thanks for sending Zain to come get us,” she said to Roka. “His timing was perfect.”
“Yes, Hunter mentioned you could use some assistance,” the prince said, his lips quirking at the corners. “Tell me, did you find what you were after?”
At his question, Alex turned wide eyes to D.C. and Bear. “Johnny! He’s probably freaking out!”
Understanding immediately, Bear pulled out his ComTCD and activated a link to his brother. Just before it connected, he glanced around the opulent room and evidently remembered that even if Johnny knew a lot more about their story than most, they were still technically in a hidden city and it was probably best to keep it that way until someone more important decided to change the ‘Lost City’ status. Upon making that realisation, Bear swiftly deactivated the holograph feature so that their connection was audio only.
“Bear? You there?” Johnny’s voice called.
“We’re all here,” Bear answered. “We’re okay.”
Johnny let out an audible sound of relief. “You had me worried, little bro. I watched on the surveillance feed as they blasted you and dragged you through a Bubbledoor—that was intense! It took me a while to find you again at the High Court since that place is wired like you wouldn’t believe, but when I finally made it into their system and found a way to get you past their security, you were gone. The guards are still in an uproar—what gives?”
Bear shuffled his feet and mumbled, “Long story. I can’t really talk now, but I wanted you to know we’re all safe. Do me a favour and distract Mum and Dad until we get home, yeah?”
“Blake’s already on that,” Johnny answered. “He’s been running interference all day.”
At that moment, Alex was relieved they’d decided to trust not only Johnny, but also Bear’s other brother, Blake, with the truth about Jordan’s Claiming. Both brothers had helped to keep the rest of the Ronnigan household—Dorothy, William, Gammy and Evie—oblivious to what was going on.
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“They think you’ve spent the last few hours at On The House with Benny and Sal,” Johnny continued. “But I’m not sure how long you’ve got left before they send one of us down to get you. They probably think you’re all in dillyberry-induced comas by now.”
Alex shuddered at the thought, knowing all too well the crazy side effects that came from overdosing on the bubbly purple drink.
“Don’t worry,” Bear said. He looked from Roka, Kyia and Zain and then to Alex before adding, “I have a feeling we’ll be home soon.”
Johnny was silent for a beat. “Where are you?”
“Gotta go,” Bear said, avoiding the question. “See you soon.”
Just as Bear moved to disconnect their call, Johnny called out, “Wait!” causing Bear to pause.
“What?”
“News of three teenagers escaping the High Court is all over the Warden network and Dad’s probably already putting the pieces together, so in case we don’t get a chance to talk later, I want you to know I ran the footage I downloaded through another decryption program, just to be sure.”
Alex spoke up then, stepping closer to Bear and ignoring the curious looks from the Meyarins. “And?”
“I’m sorry,” Johnny said. “There’s no doubt about it now— it’s definitely fake.”
Alex let out a quiet sigh, as did both D.C. and Bear.
“Thanks for checking anyway, Johnny,” Alex said. “We appreciate it.”
“I only wish I could have given you different news,” he returned. “But anyway, I better let you—”
“Johnny? Can you go into town with Blake and find your brother? It’s nearly time for dinner and I’m beginning to worry about him and the girls. Also, would you mind—”
Whatever Bear’s mother said next was cut off when Johnny disconnected their communication.
D.C. was the first to say what they were all thinking. “We’d better get going before Johnny and Blake turn up empty handed and have to come up with some excuse for why they couldn’t find us.”
When Bear nodded his agreement along with Alex, Roka stepped forward to say, “Zain will take you two directly back to Woodhaven. The Valispath will return you in time for no one to be further concerned by your absence.”
Alex wasn’t the only one who picked up on Roka’s mistaken count.
“The two of us?” Bear repeated as he swallowed the last of his laendra, catching sight of his messy reflection in the shiny golden metal as he lowered the empty goblet. Eyes widening, he lifted the collar of his shirt to scrub it across his face, frantically wiping away the charcoal smears to keep his family from seeing evidence of their trespassing adventure. “Don’t you mean the three of us?”
Roka shook his head. “I was going to collect Alex at first light tomorrow, but now that she’s here, she might as well stay the night so we can discuss our upcoming plans. That, and I’m guessing her muddied appearance more than either of yours may draw unwanted attention.”
As apprehensive as Alex was at the idea of staying the night in Meya, let alone without her friends, she knew Roka’s words were valid. Given that Johnny and Blake were likely on their way to collect them right now, she wouldn’t have time to clean herself up before they would all be expected back at the house for dinner. And there was no way she’d be able to sneak past the keen eyes of Dorothy, William and Gammy looking like a walking, talking Swamp Thing. Bear and D.C. were at least clean from their knees up. Other than their muddy legs and eccentric hairstyles, they looked normal, especially since the laendra had cured their insect welts and other injuries. They, unlike Alex, could probably get away with some kind of half-baked excuse about trekking in the forest if Bear’s family asked about their state of disarray.
“However,” Roka said, turning to Alex, “if you’re uncomfortable with that idea, we can stick to the original plan.”
“No, it’s fine,” Alex said quickly. “It’ll be good to hear what you have planned. I haven’t had a decent nightmare in forty-eight hours—I’m overdue for some new creative material.”
Her attempt at flippancy didn’t quite hide the nervous edge to her voice, or so she figured, judging by Roka and Kyia’s knowing smiles and Zain’s snort of amusement.
“Come, mortals,” Zain said, striding purposefully from the room and beckoning D.C. and Bear to follow. “I won’t be long,” he called back over his shoulder to Roka.
D.C. skipped over to Alex on her way towards the door and leaned in to whisper, “Are you sure you’re going to be all right here?”
“You know they can hear you, right?” Alex said back, not bothering to whisper. “Meyarin hearing.”
“Yes, but if I whisper, they can at least be polite and act like they’re not listening.”
Alex heard Zain snort again from outside the room.
“I’ll be fine, Dix,” she replied, putting to a stop the conversation about Meyarin courtesy, knowing it was pointless. “I have my ComTCD. If you’re worried, call me.”
“Same goes for you,” Bear said, stepping up beside them while attempting to pat down his hair, to little effect. “And good luck with your training.” He shifted a quick glance to Roka and Kyia and said, “Bring her back to us in one piece, yeah?”
Grins were the only response he was given, so Alex rolled her eyes at the Meyarins and moved forward to give him an impulsive hug of gratitude for at least trying. But before she could wrap her arms around him, he hurriedly stumbled back with his hands raised in protest.
“Uh, no offence, Alex, but, well…” He broke off and gestured towards her body, reminding her that she was covered in dried mud.
She offered him an apologetic grin. “Oops.”
“Mortals!” Zain barked from around the corner, sounding impatient. “Make haste!”
Alex made a shooing motion to her friends. “You better go before he conveniently forgets to make the Valispath human friendly. Believe me when I say you’ll freeze your backsides off if he does.”
Roka attempted to cover his laugh with a cough, likely remembering the first time Zain collected Alex from Akarnae in the middle of the night and delivered her to the palace as a living icicle. And that was when it hadn’t been the middle of winter.
“Make sure they get there alive, Zain!” Alex called as she watched her friends hurry out of the room.
“Don’t worry, Alex,” Roka reassured her. “He’ll keep them safe.”
Choosing to trust him, Alex turned away from the doorway and asked, “What happens now?”
“Now you’re coming with me,” Kyia said, stepping forward and gently wrapping her fingers around Alex’s arm, guiding her towards the door. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Five
Alex stood in the middle of her bedroom in Meya’s majestic palace after having enjoyed the most luxurious bath imaginable. Once clean, she’d been given a dress made of gossamer so fine that she feared the slightest snag would tear it. It was undoubtedly beautiful, but it also made her feel like a Meyarin version of a fairy princess—something she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Given her clothes and her surroundings, Alex half wondered if she had fallen into a dream.
“This place is unreal,” she whispered, glancing around the room in all its glory. The bed alone was like something straight out of a painting. Its tree-like posts were decorated with shining Myrox vines, which tangled into a luminescent arch across the top of a sunburst canopy. But even more spectacular was the open-aired balcony that offered a bird’s-eye view of the city spread out over the waterfall-bordered valley.
“I hope you find it to your liking,” Kyia said, moving to the fireplace and kneeling down in front of it. Moments later, a rainbow light flared in the hearth and Alex peered around the Meyarin to watch multi-coloured flames dancing in the grate.
“Whoa,” Alex said, stepping closer and feeling the heat hit her as if it were an ordinary fire. “What is that?”
“Myraes,” Kyia said, standing again and showing Alex the pouch of glittering
powder she held in her hand. “It gives off the heat of a normal flame and burns without wood, yet it’s harmless to the touch. It doesn’t smoke, either.”
“Where can I get some?” Alex asked, entranced by the brilliant flames dancing at her feet. Testing Kyia’s words, she crouched down and reached out her hand, carefully moving it forward until the fire tickled her fingers. Sure enough, Alex felt only a pleasant warmth envelop her skin, rather than the searing pain of burning flesh.
Kyia laughed. “Unfortunately, there’s very little myraes available to us these days. It’s a rare commodity amongst our race.”
Alex let out a dramatically disappointed sigh. “I guess that means I can’t steal your powder and take it home with me?”
Grinning, Kyia said, “You can try, but I don’t think you’ll get very far.”
Alex didn’t think so either.
“Come,” Kyia said, moving away from the fireplace. “Roka has asked that you dine with us tonight.”
Following the Meyarin from the room and onto the Valispath that whisked them speedily through the palace corridors, Alex felt the swish of her dress brush against her bare ankles.
“Uh, Kyia? Aren’t we a little overdressed for dinner?”
While Alex felt like a royal imposter for traversing the palace in a dress that flowed like running water from her shoulders to the floor, her only comfort was that Kyia had traded in her weapon-strapped warrior getup for a similarly elegant gown— hers being a deep forest green that brought out the emerald in her eyes.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Kyia responded to Alex’s query, “but I thought it best if you weren’t covered in mud during your first meal with the royal family and some of the ruling council.”
Alex’s pulse stuttered. “The royal family? As in…?”
Before Kyia could answer, the Valispath came to a halt in front of an impressive double-arched doorway that opened inwardly upon their arrival.
The air rushed out of Alex as Kyia boldly led her into the opulent dining hall where seven Meyarins were seated around a large, ornate table.