With my hands raised, eyes closed, and senses tuned to every subtlety of the storm, I stood among the armada and directed a grand orchestra of booming thunder, crackling lightning, and howling winds—something I’d never believed myself capable of doing only a few weeks before. But Justina, the Fantazikes’ matriarch, had upheld her offer to help me train and develop my powers. Her rigorous drills combined with guidance from my grandfather’s spirit had helped me overcome my previous shortcomings.
The thunder and I were a duet, harmonious and synchronized. Let Le Poing Fermé come for me, now.
But gaining control of my powers and fighting Le Poing Fermé were only minor ordeals compared to the impossible task of reclaiming the Inselgrish throne. Like a fledgling learning to fly, I needed to swallow my fears and jump off my safe little branch. I only hoped I could flap my wings fast enough to keep from crashing.
“Still no word from Gideon?” I asked the Fantazikes’ matriarch as she hobbled to my side. “I should’ve received his report by now.”
“I’m sure he is safe.” Justina stared into the turbulent sky, and the winds played with the loose strands of her white hair like children winding a maypole. “That young man of yours is quite capable.”
I scrubbed my face as though I could wipe away my worries and fears. “Capable is an understatement when it comes to Gideon. Doesn’t mean I don’t regret sending him away or that I don’t fear for him while he’s gone.”
“It is the obligation of a queen to make those difficult choices and suck on her regrets like sour grapes. Or you could flee now, call your guardian back, and run to the far corners of the continent together. Travel to Zhuyueguo and hide in a small village. Get married, change your name, make babies.”
“A few months ago, I would have seriously considered that option.” Well, except for the making babies part.
“What made you change your mind?”
I smiled, took her hand, and kissed her wrinkled knuckles. “You, my lady. You care for your people and protect them from being corrupted by selfish forces. They have thrived under your leadership. I care for the people of Inselgrau in the same way and want to see them flourish.”
I had always loved the citizens of my country, but in a detached, theoretical way. I had been complacent and spoiled, relying on my father to bear the burden of caring for our people. In his absence, there had been a void of power and too many people with self-interested motivations vying to fill it. Inselgrau deserved a leader who cared for its people more than herself.
I didn’t know if I was that person, but I wanted to be.
For the first time in months, I started to believe I could be.
“You’ve taught me how to tame the thunder, Justina. Perhaps you’ll return to Inselgrau with me and teach me how to tame a country.”
She threw back her head and hacked a toothless cackle. “There is not enough gold in the world, my girl, to pay for such a lesson. It is either something you have in your blood, or not.”
“Do you think it’s in my blood?”
She shrugged her thin, hunched shoulders and cinched her shawl around her neck, warding off the breeze. “Are you asking me to tell you your fortune?”
Magic and Magicians were real, and I could make lightning bow to my will with a thought. So perhaps it wasn’t so strange that Justina could see into the future, even if it was only through a hazy window. “No, I don’t think it would help.”
She cackled again. “Fate is no rigid road, paved in unmoving stones. It is more like a river with strong currents. But rivers can be dammed. Trenches can be dug to re-direct their movement. I can tell you what I see for you in the future, Evie, but you have enough will to force the river to flow any way you want it to go and that is what matters most.”
A blush crawled up my neck and settled in my cheeks. “I already promised you my loyalty, Justina.” The Fantazikes’ matriarch hadn’t taken me in and trained me out of the pure goodness of her heart. In return for her hospitality, we’d made more than a few deals guaranteeing the long-term safety of her clan—deals that would forever render me, Evelyn Stormbourne, patron queen of the Fantazikes. “You don’t have to win my favor with excessive flattery. Save that for when I’m actually wearing a crown.”
With a swipe of my hand, the lightning calmed and the bruised skies healed, giving way to a late afternoon sky full of chalky clouds and milky light. The Fantazikes’ airships settled. Their captains capered across their decks, hurrying to stow their lightning rigs. I had been useful to them, and therefore not unwelcome, but their latest fair had come to an end. They had packed up their booths, boxing rings, trinkets, and decorations in preparation for the journey to their next destination.
I hadn’t planned on moving along with them and neither had they invited me.
When Gideon had left for Inselgrau, he’d vowed to send notice of his safe arrival. He was supposed to have dispatched a report on the state of my former kingdom. He was also supposed to have named the place and time where we’d convene to discuss what actions to take next. Yet, it had been four weeks and I’d heard nothing from him. We’d made no contingency plans because he’d insisted we wouldn’t need them. Contingency plans meant preparing for failure, and I never would’ve worked up the courage to begin if I’d allowed myself to anticipated defeat.
For the umpteenth time that day, I stared at the road leading from Petragrad, hoping to spot a messenger riding out from the local church, bringing me Gideon’s correspondence.
Justina squeezed my shoulder. “Come, girl. You’ll have supper with my kin tonight.”
I nodded, unable to speak past the swollen lump in my throat. Where are you, Gideon? Please be all right.
***
Justina’s family occupied the largest ship in the Fantazikes’ fleet, and I sat among them at a crowded dinner table in the ship’s massive galley. Their voices bounced back and forth, talking over, around, and through each other in a dozen different languages. They passed bottles of wine. Dishes smelling of garlic, paprika, curry, and basil zoomed from person to person. I took enough from each bowl to be polite and forced myself to chew and swallow, but my worry for Gideon had filled my stomach with a ball of ice. At Justina’s request, Malita and Niffin had also joined us, and Malita noticed my thin appetite and sour mood.
“It is good, Evie.” She nudged my elbow. “Eat.”
I raked my fork through a pile of yellow rice dotted with pepper flakes and crushed nuts. “I’m not very hungry.”
“Worried?” She snagged a roll from a basket passing over our heads and split it open. Steam escaped in thin, curling clouds.
I nodded and passed the butter crock.
“We go see the kareeyatids tonight, yes?” Malita asked. “Maybe they have his note.”
“That was the plan. You’ll come with me?”
Eyebrow arched, she gave me a tart look, an obvious pronouncement about the idiocy of my question.
“I didn’t want to presume.”
“I do not know presume.” In a short time, the Fantazikes’ legendary language skills had rubbed off on my friend. She now spoke passable Inselgrish along with a smattering of other Continental languages. Her mind was sharp, an asset an aspiring queen should seize for her own benefit, but Malita had her own burdens to sort through, and I hesitated to add mine to her collection.
“I hoped you would go with me,” I said, “but it’s a long ride. Maybe you have something else you need to do instead.”
“I need to go.” Her gaze shifted to Niffin, and she frowned. “I need to breathe.”
Smothering a snicker, I stuffed a mound of rice in my mouth. In only a few months, Malita and Niffin had become like an old couple settled in their ways. They were loving and sweet, except when they bickered. Which was often. “What if Niffin insists on coming with us?”
