38. James

38

JAMES

I woke to an insistent hand shaking my shoulder. Startled, I grabbed for it in the darkness even as I opened my mouth to call for lights.

"No, shhhh !" A soft palm pressed against my lips. "No lights, James! We don't want the cameras to see us."

"Adina?" I whispered. "What are you doing here at this hour? How did you get into the palace without an escort?"

"I had a little friend show me the way," she said, and even in the dark, I could tell she was grinning. "My hovercraft is waiting for us outside the palace walls. Want to go outside the city and look at the sky together?"

"The sky? Why?"

She leaned in close, her breath warm against my cheek. "There's a good reason for it," she murmured, "but a better one is that I want to go on a little adventure with you. I never went beyond the city gates before Jeffry dragged me there. You've never even been past the city walls. Wouldn't you like to change that?"

I sat in silence for a moment, my heart pounding fast due to Adina's closeness and the sudden, intense desire I felt—both for her and for what she was offering. The truth was, I did want to change that, but my chances were slim to none. I'd promised my father to stay in Londabad as soon as I was married to Princess Aramar, and I couldn't imagine he would permit me to go out before I was married. This might be my only chance for the foreseeable future—for years—for me to do it.

How did Adina know me so well?

"Let's go," I said.

She giggled and kissed my cheek.

"I need to change—" I threw the blanket aside.

"I have an outfit that will protect you against the elements out in the hovercraft. You can change when we get there. In the meantime, Ravana will take your place here."

"Ravana will... wait, why isn't Ravana attacking?" He was a bodyguard bot—he had much more extensive programming for my protection than any of the household bots.

"Gene is controlling him for the moment."

It was scary what Adina's genie could do, and I wasn't sure I liked it even though I trusted her. But right now, my desire to go beyond the walls of Londabad overruled caution.

"All right," I said. "Let's do it."

Getting out of the palace was easier than I'd thought. When Adina led me to what used to be my grandmother's quarters and slipped a tapestry aside to reveal a hidden staircase, I'd been both intrigued and chagrined. It was so easy and so much more covert than the other exit I'd been using.

Also, what had my grandmother been doing out in Londabad with no chaperone?

I followed Adina down the stairs, one hand on her shoulder so that she could guide me without having to give up a hand, and eventually we stopped going down, went up, and came out of a decoy sewer grate. Something shimmered slightly in the air in front of us, wavering like a mirage but not quite visible.

"Here." Adina took something from the surface of the mirage and handed it over to me. A closer inspection revealed it to be an envirosuit, one like I'd never seen before. It was close-fitting, made from a durable material I couldn't identify, and came with goggles and a respirator. "Put these on."

"How are we going to get past the wall?" I asked as I began to change. "All city gates will be closed at this time of night."

Adina grinned. "We're going to fly right over them."

"Fly over? We'll run into the shield!" The shield that protected the city was an impassable electrophysical barrier, one that nothing could get through. It was occasionally shut down for maintenance, as long as no storms were coming, but I knew none was scheduled any time soon.

"We've got a way to neutralize the shield. This hovercraft is state of the ancient art." She patted the wavering thing, then said gently, "I got into Londabad this way, James. I know it works. And if it doesn't, at least we'll die together."

I burst out laughing. "That is the least romantic thing ever!"

"It sounded better in my head," she confessed. "Are you ready?"

The last piece of the suit was a close-fitting hood to cover my hair, and I pulled it over my head, then looped the goggles and the respirator on and climbed out into the street. "Ready." My voice sounded hollow through the respirator.

I had practiced wearing them as a child, of course, as we all did when we ran through emergency drills, but that was a long time ago.

"Then let's do this." She took my hand, led me to the wavering object, and stepped into it.

I followed suit and found myself inside her hovercraft.

It blinked with all sorts of lights I didn't know the purpose of. There were rows of buttons, some red switches, and a broad windshield that was completely black. Adina helped settle me on the seat beside her, and a moment later, the roof of the hovercraft closed over us.

"Gene," she said, and a voice from nowhere said, "Yes, Adina."

That was her genie, I realized.

"We're ready to go. Take us out of here."

"Yes, Adina. Buckle up, relax, and enjoy the ride." He sounded calm and in control.

Not that it made me feel any safer in the ancient hovercraft. It began to move, and a moment later, it shot straight into the air.

"Whoa!" I'd never gone so fast in a vehicle before!

The speed limit in Londabad was a very strict twenty miles per hour, enforced so the innumerable pedestrians were safer in a city that catered to them rather than to conveyances such as this. We had hovercrafts, but they were nothing like this.

Once we were high enough, the hovercraft reoriented toward the barrier that protected Londabad from the wastelands beyond. It zoomed toward the faintly glowing electrophysical shield, and I instinctively braced myself back against the seat. Adina reached for my hand, and we held each other tight as we careened toward what seemed like certain death. I almost closed my eyes, but I was so glad I left them open because a second later, we were through, and the view was magnificent.

The line on the horizon was the deepest, purest blue I'd ever seen. The sky above us was dark, but there were few enough clouds that I could see the stars—stars! Incredible! A second later, the hovercraft's roof retracted, and then the colors were even better, even through my goggles.

"Adina..." I tightened my grip on her hand, unable to look away from the sky but needing her to know how important this moment was to me. "I can't—I can't thank you enough for this. It's so..."

"Isn't it?" I could hear the smile in her voice. "I didn't know it could be so beautiful before I saw it myself. It is frightening, but there's much to admire out here, too. I wish everyone could see it, but I'm glad I can at least share it with you."

"I'm glad too." More than I could say. I was never going to be able to repay her for this chance. It was incredible. I opened my mouth to tell her so, but the genie's voice beat me to it.

"There is a sandstorm approaching from the northeast," he said.

"How big?" Adina asked, not sounding alarmed in the least.

Shouldn't we get back before the sandstorm got here?

"According to the indicators, it is a medium strength and duration storm. Usually, it would not be enough to impede communications, but given that it is coming from the direction of Edinbai, it may suffice."

She nodded. "When will it get here?"

"Within a day."

I was relieved that we didn't need to go back.

"Perfect."

"Why is that perfect?" I asked.

Adina explained that we needed to be married before her fake identity was discovered. Once we were legally bound in the eyes of the state and my parents, there would be nothing they could do to separate us even if they found out.

Divorce was taboo, especially among the peerage, where marriages were the equivalent of a business contract.

Once my marriage to Adina—Princess Aramar—was announced to the city, it would be impossible to go back on it without my parents losing face.

"That's clever," I told her. "I'll do whatever I can to hurry things along."

"Oh yeah?" She pulled off her goggles so I could see her eyes in the moonlight. Neither of us wore our respirator, possibly because we were high up in the sky, where the air was much cleaner. The hovercraft's environmental indicators showed there were comparatively few irritants polluting the air at this altitude. Still, I would have been willing to suffer through much worse to see her uncovered face so close to mine.

"You're that eager to be married to me, hmm?" she asked.

"I thought we already established that." I took my goggles off, then wrapped my arm around her waist and gently pulled her over to my seat.

She came eagerly, straddling me and looping her arms around my neck.

"Not just married to you," I added before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her lips. I didn't linger there long, though, too eager to taste the rest of her. "There are so many things I want to do with you, Adina…"

She arched her back as I trailed my lips down her neck, gasping as I plied her sensitive skin with attention. The envirosuit wouldn't let me go lower, but I had more to work with than just my mouth. Tentatively, I freed a hand and pressed it gently to her chest, rubbing my thumb where I thought her nipple was.

"James!"