Unsurprisingly, it was a good thing to let Jay go first. The moment Xix stepped through the portal, she very quickly found herself on the pointy edge of a whole lot of spears. Thankfully, she took it a lot better than the Fae.
“Woah! Back off!” Jay was yelling. “She’s a good guy!”
“I don’t think they heard you,” Xix muttered, hands still raised. Unfortunately, she was long-since used to this treatment.
A dark-haired man came running from the front entrance. He looked between Amneris, Hathor and Xix before turning to Jay. “What the fuck happened?”
“Long story,” Jay said. “Just let the woman pass.”
The man narrowed his eyes but waved a hand. The guards stood down. “You better have a good explanation.” He turned to Ema and Xix. “You can come in.”
Ema leaned closer to whisper to Xix, “And that’s probably the nicest welcome we’re getting.” The Terpolite could only nod.
The guards were not the only ones to have a bad reaction to Xix. Several of the Palace’s inhabitants and workers found themselves looking away or suddenly needing to be elsewhere. Some even turned away, quietly muttering something about finding another path. Xix sighed. It was to be expected. Even so, it hurt. She knew her family had a bad reputation, and a rightfully earned one, but she tried so hard to not fall to the curse. Her family were nuts but that didn’t mean she was . . . did it?
Ema took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Xix let out a deep breath and managed a small smile. She couldn’t be all bad with a friend like Ema.
Jay and Colt, still carrying Amneris and Hathor, peeled off from the group and headed down one of the corridors. A blue-skinned woman was standing there waiting for them. She seemed to sigh, though appeared unsurprised at the state of the two women. She pointed into one of the rooms. The two men carried them in.
Ema and Xix continued to follow the man deeper into the Palace. Well, it felt deeper. Really it was more upward and sideward. Leo led them to one of the lounge rooms then opened the sliding glass door. Xix gasped at the sight. They were standing on one of the Palace’s many balconies. Several pillow-covered lounges and low-lying tables were scattered, as was a long buffet table covered with some light snacks and several drink options. The view overlooked the entire city below and the blue ocean that spread across the horizon.
They weren’t alone. There were two others on the balcony.
The man took up the spot beside a dark-haired Shifter, across from the heavily pregnant Dragonoid woman. The Shifter was drinking a purple liquid from a wine glass while the Dragonoid stared with what looked like longing. Neither one seemed concerned about the newcomers.
The Shifter raised her glass in salute. “Hey, Em!”
“Nikki.” The two bumped fists, and Ema collapsed on the lounge beside her. “Last I saw you was after the battle.”
“So it was!” Nikki swirled the contents of her glass. “Jay missed you, but you didn’t hear it from me.” She winked. Ema’s face turned red. The Shifter grinned then turned to the only person left standing. “You must be Xix. Drink?”
“No. Thank you,” she added.
“Got some not-wine. There’s tea and coffee over there, and a few other things I don’t remember the name of.”
Tea did sound nice, Xix decided. She poured herself a steaming cup of what smelt like lemon tea before joining the others on the lounge.
Nikki pointed at the Dragonoid. “This is Carmin—” The woman waved— “And you’ve already met Leo.”
Ema glared at him. “You owe her an apology.”
Xix cringed. “Ema—”
“No, he has to. He was about to arrest you!”
Nikki said, “To be fair, your friend’s appearance is a little . . . Uh . . .”
“Off-putting?” Leo suggested.
“Yeah, that.”
Carmin sighed, “Nikki, you of all people should know not to judge based on appearances.” The Shifter took a long drink. Carmin met Leo’s gaze. “That goes for you, too.” He looked away. Carmin turned to Xix. “Please do forgive my friends. People are still adjusting from the end of the War. The attack on the Academy has everyone shaken.”
“I am sorry that happened,” Xix said. “If there’s anything I can do to help—”
“Not take up your father’s throne,” Leo muttered, earning an elbow to the stomach from Nikki. “Ow! What?” Nikki tilted her head toward Xix.
“It’s fine,” Xix said quickly. “I understand the sentiment and happen to agree with it.”
“Oh?” Nikki sat back. “Do tell.”
Xix glanced down at her cup. “My ancestors have done some . . . horrible things in the past. I’m far from proud of that. I guess you could say it is my life goal to not be anything like them.”
Carmin placed her hand gently on Xix’s arm. For a moment, Xix swore the Dragonoid’s eyes glowed. It was gone as fast as she blinked. She dismissed it as a trick of the light.
Carmin smiled. “You have nothing to worry about, dear. You will be nothing like your predecessors.”
For some reason, Leo and Nikki seemed to accept her words. They visibly relaxed, though Leo remained a little tense. Did Carmin have some sort of gift? Was that why they trusted her words so readily? Xix eyed her. She’d once heard something about a rare type of the Dragonoid species who were able to see the future . . .
Ema nudged her. “Trust Carmin. If she says you’re good, you’re good.”
In another section of the Palace, Hathor groggily opened her eyes. She tried pushing herself upright, groaning at the movement. Everything hurt, especially where she’d been shot—
She’d been shot! Hathor looked around frantically, ignoring the pain. This wasn’t the old castle with the red streams. This was the Palace! Hathor fell backward with a relieved laugh. The movement hurt her body but she didn’t care. She was home.
A blue face came into focus above her. “Nice to have you back,” Kayla said. She brushed a webbed hand over Hathor’s chest. Whatever she sensed, it made the Zer woman nod approvingly. “You can leave in two hours. Stay in bed until then.”
“Are the others okay?”
Kayla read over a clipboard as she spoke. “Jay, Colt and our two guests are fine. Amneris was attacked and fell into a steam of liquid scarlet budtorite—”
“What!” Hathor double over as she coughed.
“—But nothing I can’t fix.” Kayla put the clipboard down before helping Hathor sit upright. She pushed a pillow behind Hathor’s back. “Try to avoid moving too much. Your body is still repairing. Organs can be complex. If you strain yourself, you will be here at least another day.”
“Which is bad,” Hathor said slowly.
“Very bad.” Hathor turned to a Healer entering the room, holding a tray. She spoke to them in the Zer language, her voice trickling like drops of water, before taking the tray and placing it on Hathor’s lap. “Eat.”
She knew better than to argue. “Eating.” Hathor lifted the lid from the tray, taking a deep breath of the delicious scent of soup. A bland choice, but still.
As she ate, Kayla and the new Healer—Hathor couldn’t remember her name—spoke quietly. Hathor tried to not make it obvious she was listening. She wished she had her translator! The Zer language was difficult, even more so for land and sky dwellers. Hathor, being both, had no choice to ever speak the language but she could recognise a few words. “I’m . . . downstairs . . . to . . . Queen is . . . condition . . . watch Hathor . . . gone.”
Hathor’s listening was interrupted by a shrill cry of her name. Before she could figure out where it came from, Maddie had flung her arms around her. “You’re okay!”
Hathor tapped her friend’s arm. “Still injured.”
Maddie yelped, jumping out. “Sorry!”
“We were so worried about you!” Imogene hugged her with far less force. “You are okay, right?”
“I’m fine,” Hathor assured them as Sky and Isaiah came to stand beside her bed.
Sky sniffed the food on the tray, recoiling. “Never did like hospital food. It’s so . . .”
“Bland,” Isaiah offered.
“Yes. Bland.”
“It is necessary in case patients are still sensitive and have negative reactions,” Isaiah said matter-of-factly.
Hathor looked around. “Where’s Troy?”
The group turned to the door.
Maddie made a confused sound. “He was right behind us?”
Sky laughed softly. “Count on him to get lost.”
Imogene waved a hand. “I’m sure he’ll pop up any second.”
“Speak of the wolf,” Isaiah said as Troy poked his head through the door. “Get lost?”
Troy scoffed at the comment. His eyes landed on Hathor. She gave him a small wave. Troy dashed across the room, leapt onto the bed despite his broken arm, and kissed her.
He pulled away just as fast. “Sorry, I should have asked before doing th—”
Hathor grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him again.
Kayla whacked the pair with her clipboard. “Break it up!” She asked Troy, “What do you think would have happened if she was contagious?” He was too busy grinning like a fool to answer. Kayla gave him another whack for good measure and muttered, “Teenagers.”
“Aren’t you only, like, a century older than us?” Imogene asked.
Kayla pointedly ignored her. “Book is going to keep an eye on you while I’m out,” she said to Hathor, gesturing to the other Zer woman in the room. “If I’m not back before you are able to leave, she will let you out.”
“Are you going to see mum?”
“I told you she’s fine. You have nothing to worry about.”
Amneris, as expected, was far from fine. The only reason Kayla had said that was to keep Hathor in the hospital wing and away from this place. There were rooms beneath the Palace few people knew about. This was one of them.
The room was mostly empty, excepting the large tank filled with bright blue liquid and many monitors connected to it. A handful of Healers, Colt and Lvaane stood in the room. Kayla, having just entered, took a moment to lean over the shoulder of one of the Healers and read the monitor. Her eyes flicked up to the tank, to the figure floating in it.
“No changes?” she asked.
Lvaane shook his head. “Nothing the monitors would see yet. She is healing but progress is slow.”
“It’s a start.” Kayla turned to Colt. “You should go upstairs.”
“I am staying,” the Terpolite said.
Kayla tapped her fingers on the tank. “This stuff is possibly deadly to you. I can already see your energy draining from being so close.”
“I. Am. Staying.” He turned his gaze on her. “If you want me to leave, knock me out.”
“Suit yourself,” Kayla sighed, deciding not to say how she was considering that very thing. She leaned closer to Lvaane and whispered, “If he does pass out, I will drag him out of here myself.” The Lyriumian man nodded his agreement.
Movement from inside the tank. Amneris opened her eyes weakly. Colt, despite Kayla’s warnings, placed his hand on the tank. Amneris smiled at him.
“How are you feeling?” Colt asked.
“Like I was thrown into a pit of acid,” she answered quietly, voice muffled by the glass.
“Close enough.”
“Is Hathy okay?”
“She’s fine,” Kayla said. “Awake and almost complete.”
“Good.”
The Zer tilted her head. “You need to focus on resting. Your body took a lot of damage. I can’t say for certain how long it will take until you complete healing, but you will be in there for a while. Just . . . Try to relax.”
“Relax.” Amneris managed a small smile. “Sure. I’m only in a tank of liquid crystal. What could possibly stop me relaxing?”
“At least you can see out of it.”
“That is true. Maybe you could bring me some headphones or something.” She closed her eyes and frowned. “Why can I still see?”
Colt grimaced. Had she really not noticed? “Tali, half your face is missing. It would be difficult to use them.”
Amneris rolled to the side to look at Colt. She raised a hand to her face. “Huh, how’d I miss that?” She held the same hand out in front of her before looking down at the rest of her body. “Ouch. Acid analogy sounds about right. Wait, why am I not bleeding?”
Colt raised a hand to his head and sighed.
Lvaane came up to the tank with crossed arms and a scowl. “Are you glad the blue crystal helps prevent pain?”
Amneris grimaced at the look he was giving her. “Sorry.”
“Sorry is not going to cut it this time, young lady.” His scowl deepened. “Once you are out of that thing, we are going to have a very serious talk about your reckless behaviour.”
“But—”
“I don’t care if your intentions were good, A.K, or if your mission succeeded. You cannot keep doing this. I will make time for our conversation myself.”
Amneris looked down. “Yes, father.”
Kayla placed a hand on Lvaane’s shoulder. “She needs rest before a lecture. There are visitors to the Palace who need your attention. It would appear they are staying the night.”
Lvaane took a deep breath. “Very well.” He turned to Colt. “If you insist on staying here, make sure she stays in there until told otherwise.” Kayla led him from the room.
Amneris waited until they were gone before speaking. “Suppose I should say ‘thank you’.”
All Colt said was, “If you are going to argue, you can do it in private.”
Amneris pouted. “You’re pissed, too?”
“Mostly at Nephthys and Aurelia.” He shook his head. “Never mind that. You do need to rest.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“And I am certain you will be out of there in no time.”
Amneris floated onto her back. “That’s the general plan.”
The sun had long since set by the time Amneris was able to leave the chamber. Kayla and the Healer had given her the all clear and ordered her to take it easy for the next few days – a piece of advise she was obviously going to ignore.
As she walked, Amneris tugged her hair in thought. Something was bothering you. Something about this entire thing just didn’t make sense. Nephthys wanted revenge for whatever reason of the millennia, that much was obvious, but there was something else behind all of it. She’d always thought Nephthys would be the one to revive the Dark King but she’d had no part of Tara’s plan. Why go as far as reviving a Frozen One. Amneris was missing something and she knew it. Something that would entirely change the stakes.
“Mum!”
Amneris had her thoughts knocked out of her as Hathor all-but crash tackled her in a hug. She held her daughter tightly.
Hathor pulled away with a grimace. “You’re all slimy.”
Amneris couldn’t help her laugh. “Afraid the chamber does that.” She kissed Hathor’s brow. “Okay?”
Her daughter nodded. “All back to normal.” She tilted her head with a slight frown. “I know you said my grandmother was a bitch but I didn’t think she was that much of one.”
“There are plenty of things about her I haven’t told you, and for good reason.” Amneris sighed and looked over herself. “Suppose I should shower before visiting our guests, huh?”
“You didn’t hear? Gramps moved the meeting to tomorrow morning.”
“He did, did he?”
“Yeah,” Hathor said. “Something about everyone needing rest from our latest adventure. Oh, he said he wants to see you once you’re, uh . . .”
“Decent?” Amneris offered.
“That.”
She sighed again. “Of course. I suppose your friends are also staying the night?”
Hathor shrugged with a half-smile. “They don’t exactly have anywhere to go.”
Ah, yes, that little detail. Amneris tried and failed to not think about the massive stack of paperwork waiting in her office. Compared to that, her father’s oncoming lecture was nothing to worry about.
Oh well. Best to get it over with.
“Would it be alright if I spent the night with them?”
“With your friends?” Amneris asked. Hathor nodded. “Sure.”
Hathor hugged her again. “Thank you.”
