Page 9 of Null & Void

Just as I was beginning to think Tovi could be entirely unyielding, her face blooms into a beatific smile…at the horse Riley is leading. I mount Applemint, watching Tovi’s lips move, and realize she is speaking to her horse. She looks like an entirely different person right now, stroking the face of the creature, her olive Erduborn skin almost glowing.

I look away, not wanting to be caught watching her and suffer another one of those cold stares she seems to reserve just for me.

CHAPTER FIVE

Our party travels in silence until we’re through the main gates of the Osraed outer compound, heading west toward the Nemoris border bridge.

Beans slows down to bring his massive black stallion alongside Applemint. I hadn’t realized how enormous the beast was (the horse, not the man) because he looked normal sized with Beans on his back. But Beans isn’tnormalsized. Ditch—the horse’s ridiculous name—is easily so large that his back would be above my head if I stood next to him. Applemint nips at Ditch’s neck playfully as he matches her pace.

“Did the council explain our mission to you, Mika?” Beans’ deep voice rumbles.

“Princess Ofnemoris kidnapped. Dangerous. Need a sneak who can fight.” I shrug, hoping he doesn’t notice my surprise that we’re already on the mission. I shouldn’t have assumed they were only my escort into Nemoris.

“I guess that’s it in a nutshell. But there’s a lot more,” he says as he frowns toward Tovi and Riley ahead of us.

“Just over four moons past, our queen received a missive from King Stol Oferdu. A Nemorisborn man had snuck into his castle, completely undetected, and attacked his doxies. Tried to blow them up with some kind of explosive.”

Beans tips his head in my direction as if he’s trying to figure me out. I try not to squirm under the scrutiny. Switching to a smile, he continues. “The king stated that he had managed to capture the man responsible, and he was in his dungeons awaiting trial and execution. However, he wanted restitution from Nemoris, of course.” He rolls his eyes. “He demanded a Gifted healer to come and heal every single one of his doxies, and since he has many and they were in varying states of injury, it would take a few weeks. He didn’t want to risk using his own healers in case they were needed elsewhere.”

It dawns on me that we aren’t speaking about Nemuel, the 15-rev-old youngest Princess Ofnemoris, but of Amarilyss—a Gifted healer who resumed her place as first Princess Ofnemoris when she came-of-age—though only Nemoris recognizes her as royalty.

A Patron of the Divine being named a princess caused all kinds of controversy. She will never be allowed to inherit the throne, nor can she produce any heirs. The queen technically owns Amarilyss and her Gifts. Speculations ran rife about Queen Neoniri getting her hands on documents to prove that she was her daughter.

“But why send the princess?”

Beans is giving me another calculated look and I hope he’s not noticed my inner ruminations of Divine law.

“Firstly, Nemoris is the only country to treat Patrons as anything other than property, so technically Lyss wouldn’t be a princess in the king’s eyes, only a Gifted healer to be used. Secondly, his stipulations were only that it had to be a female healer. We’re fairly confident he knew that all other Gifted healers across Nemoris are male, but?—”

“Wait,” I interrupt. “Why did the healer have to be a female?”

“Because he didn’t want to risk a male touching his doxies,” Beans says patiently, even though my questions and interruptions are surely grating on his nerves.

“Well, that doesn’t clarify anything, what about the king’s male doxies?” I laugh.

Beans contemplates me for a moment, before kicking Ditch forward between Tovi and Riley.I can’t quite hear everything being said, but he’s asking about male doxies.

Beans drops back after a few moments. “Do you know for certain he has male doxies or is it speculation?”

“Either he has male doxies, or he’s lied to the Osraed council when he’s purchased male Nulls. All the bills of sale for male Nulls have said they’re to be aRoyal doxyOferdu.”

You cannot purchase a Null unless you specify exactly what position they will fill in your country. Before I was assigned work as a nanny, and during the time of the petitions to oust me, I worked in the Registry.

Each country has its own set of records separate from the Patron’s life records. Erdu was the country I looked after both times. I filed a copy of any bills of sale, updated any deaths, and mostly ticked off scheduled check-ins. My least favorite part of the work was whenever I had to check a request for information, confirming someone was who they said they were. When they weren’t, it was a safe bet that their life was forfeit.

Beans has one hand on his hip, and the other is absentmindedly stroking his neatly trimmed, bright orange beard. “Hmm.”

Tovi suddenly punches Riley in the shoulder, and then her horse is running at full gallop. Riley recovers quickly and chases after her.I look at Beans in alarm, but he smiles in their direction and shakes his head as if it’s a totally normal interaction for two people on a royal mission.

“If the princess went willingly to Erdu, how is it kidnapping?” I ask, continuing the conversation.

“Right,” he says with a start, as if I woke him from a stupor. “Well. Lyss went as requested within a few days since it would take her almost a moon to get there via horse and escort. Not wanting to waste an avyon.”

Avyon’s are enormous creatures of flight. They have the skin of a reptile with plumes of thin feathers covering their heads so that only the wide mouth full of needle-sharp teeth and beady black eyes can be seen. Originating in Sadori, countries now breed their own, though only a handful are born every decade. The creatures are so large that up to five people can be seated on their backs with the aid of a contraption, allowing them flight across the world. Avyon’s can cover a week’s travel by horse in only a day or two.

Less than twenty mature avyons in the world means they’re only used in the most special—or dire—of occasions. And a demand by a foreign country to heal your doxies doesn’t equate to an emergency.

I’ve never seen one in person, or at least not close up. From a distance or in the sky, as they shoot by at terrifying speeds, they make an impressive sight to behold. People will stop mid-conversation when the loud beat of their wings is heard to watch them in awe.

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