44. James

44

JAMES

C onsidering how irate my father was when he realized exactly what had happened with Jeffry, Adina, and the genie, I thought Adina and I would be leaving Londabad as exiles.

It was bad enough that he had to face the fact that his cousin and second-in-command had been using him so terribly for so long, but to be made a fool of—his words, not mine—by some random street urchin had been intolerable to him.

"I won't stand for it!" he shouted. "This marriage is a farce! I will have it annulled, and you will never see each other again!"

I'd been prepared to call his bluff—if it even was a bluff—but then, lo and behold, my mother stepped in.

"Jaimesh," she said, holding up a hand. "That is enough."

"Enough? Enough? She lied to us! She's no princess, she's a?—"

"I was no princess either," my mother pointed out. "And if you send my son, your only heir, away, then I will go with him."

We all were stunned by that, but no one more so than my father. His jaw dropped, and he looked like my mother had punched him. "Maryana…"

"I mean it, Jaimesh." She shook her head. "I know you want to do what you think is right, to rule this city like your father and grandfather did. I have always been happy to be your wife, but I also know that a part of you has always regretted marrying me."

"No," he insisted, reaching for her hand. "That's not true. I love you. I loved you from the moment I saw you."

"But I was not the one who was chosen for you," she reminded him. "And your love is not enough to overcome your shame, so you tried to mold our son into a shape you yourself could never have. But he is not here to fix your mistakes and correct your wrongs, Jaimesh." She sighed. "And if you can't see how deeply in love he is with Adina, then you don't deserve to have either of us."

It took a few more moments for my mother's ultimatum to sink in, but once it did, my father made his choice. Unsurprisingly—at least to my mother, from the look on her face—he chose to listen to her. We sat down together and talked as a family, and the result was refreshing.

I would stay his heir, and Adina would remain my wife. Our children would legally be in line to rule Londabad as well.

However, since my father had fully recovered from the mental breakdown Gene had put him through and was unlikely to retire anytime soon, Adina let him keep the genie to help improve palace functions and run assessments on how to do more for the people of Londabad.

What that meant for me, though, was that I could do something I'd always wanted to do and had never expected to, which was to see the world beyond Londabad's walls.

"I'm amazed your father got us an official state visit to Edinbai," Adina said as she slipped into her envirosuit. Even in our ancient, state-of-the-art hovercraft, it would probably take a month to get to Edinbai. We were supposed to use that time to look at the roads the merchants were using and assess what could be done to improve trade routes. "I hope he didn't mention that I pretended to be a princess," she added as she zipped up her front.

"I think he's got a little more tact than that," I said with a grin.

"Or perhaps he is embarrassed about being outsmarted by my technological gizmos. Either way, it's a win for us." She pulled the hood up over her head then tapped her neck. "Come here, Bingo."

Her lookout, currently visible and sporting bright pink spots for some reason, crawled up to rest on her like a necklace.

He had a new adornment as well—Genie-D39. They worked well enough together that Adina had made an executive decision and let the lookout keep a permanent hold on the little genie. Both of them would still respond to her commands, but combining their powers would give her more maneuverability.

"Do you miss being in control of Gene?" I asked as we headed for the hovercraft.

We'd already said our goodbyes to my parents and the servants, whom Adina had grown very close to over the past month.

Except Lavanya, of course, who was now one of them and very grumpy about it. After my father made it clear that her other option was being tossed out onto the street in disgrace, she at least pretended to be content with her new role.

As for Jeffry, hitting his head hadn't killed him, but he was still in a coma. With any luck, he would remain so for the rest of his miserable life.

"I don't miss being in control, exactly," Adina said. "I miss how easy it made it for me to work all this ancient tech. I miss its presence sometimes, too—it was always so calm and collected, you know? The genie was a good influence that way. Hopefully, it'll be a good one for your father as well."

"I won't keep my fingers crossed," I said dryly, but part of me was hoping for that, too.

"Gene taught me and Genie-D39 a lot about running this stuff, and I feel pretty good about that." Adina climbed into the hovercraft. "I was thinking about how the Vault is on the way. We could visit it together if you want."

I was surprised. "You don't think it's just fallen in on itself? Didn't you have to blast your way out of there?"

"I did, yeah." She grinned. "And it made a big old hole in the ceiling. I'm sure a lot of dust has gotten down there in the meantime, and there are definitely still some booby traps to look out for, but there's also a lot more amazing tech to be found. Now that Jeffry's out of the picture, no one else knows its location. We wouldn't want it all to go to waste, huh?"

I did want to go and visit it, actually, even with the threat of booby traps. It wasn't even strange to think about my wife—my wife, God, I loved calling her that, even in my head— protecting me under the circumstances. She was a brilliant thief, good enough to beat Jeffry and get herself out of the Vault with everything she needed to create a new life, all to be with me. I would learn from her, gladly, and do my best to take care of her in turn.

"We definitely wouldn't want that." I slid into the pilot's chair. As it had turned out, I was pretty darn good at flying the hovercraft, and I had been practicing over the past month. "So, what do you say? Ready to see the world together?"

Adina got in next to me and took my hand. "I'm ready," she said.

So was I. We took off, soaring up into the air and through the shield that protected Londabad. The sky was calm, and I put down the top of the hovercraft and stared out at the beckoning horizon. It was time to begin a whole new life together. I hit the accelerator, and…