Page 105 of The First Spark
As Zane pulled the ship up, the shining palace of Redmont appeared on an island in the unsettled ocean. The air shimmered around it, shielding the palace from the ravages of the storm.
“Weather forcefields, huh?” Zane snorted. “I didn’t know they really existed.”
Kalie rolled her eyes. “Leave it to Mother.”
The ship’s intercom crackled, and a transmission cut through, plagued by static. “Unidentified shuttle… self… risk… fired on. Any closer… cannons will…”
The wordsfired onclanged through her, and she jammed down the transmit button. “Redmont Spaceport Guard, hold your fire. This is Lotus One, requesting permission to enter airspace.”
The shimmering forcefield grew closer, along with the cannons that were perpetually armed. Lightning struck again. No reply. Zane shot her a look as if to say,What do we do?
Kalie motioned for him to keep going.
The transceiver crackled again, and the signal came through, stronger this time: “Copy that, Lotus One. Requesting authentication code.”
“The phoenix rises from the ashes,” she said, praying to Azura and her court that they’d let her through.
A dark shadow leapt out of the sea, then dove through the water with an explosive splash. Kalie gnawed on her lip. They were closing in on the shoreline’s raised cannons. Zane paled, cut the engines, and slowed their descent.
“We’re thirty seconds out. What am I doing here, Kalie?”
“Okay,” she breathed, “pull up?—”
The intercom crackled. Kalie flinched back, gripping the armrests of the co-pilot’s seat.
“Understood. Welcome home, Your Highness. Please dock in bay five.”
Sighing, she sagged into her chair.
“They took their sweet time,” Zane grumbled.
A quadrant of the forcefield phased out over the private spaceport, and the storm swept through with them. Rain pelted the docks; wind hurled a supply cart into a shed, and metal crashed into plaster. Kalie cringed.
As Zane eased the ship towards the designated bay, two drenched figures waved glowing orange sticks to guide them in. Following their gestures, he landed the ship smoothly.
Kalie rested her head against the backrest, savoring the quiet. With her Etovian relatives, it was never calm for long.
“How long’s it been since you visited?”
She cracked her eyes open, glanced at the opulent palace jutting from the island, and closed them again. “I was on Renan last cycle—that’s one of the other planets in the system. It was Rian’s coronation. He’s the High King of the Renish, in name at least. As far as Etov… Selene’s seventeenth birthday?” No, before that. “It was the wedding. Theron’s wedding.”
“Theron’s the oldest, right?”
She let herself have one last moment of solitude, then she pushed herself up and followed Zane out. Her aching muscles protested the movement.
“Yes, but don’t ever call him Theron. He’s the Crown Prince, heir to the Empire, and he wants everyone to know it.”
“So obsession with titles runs in the family?”
She turned her nose up. “I let you call me Kalie.”
“Hell will freeze over first,” he mimicked, in a higher pitch.
She rolled her eyes. “Keep that up, and it’ll beYour Majestyto you.” OnlyYour Grace, actually, now that she was neither Duchissa nor Heredem. Kalie’s heart sank, and she pushed the thought aside. “Theron’s wife Sadini is lovely. They’re expecting a child. I’m the second, then Selene.”
“I know who she is,” Zane muttered.
“Regrettably.”
