Page 99 of Null & Void

Tovi looses a sharp breath. “Spit it out, Bitty.”

“I found the doxies yesterday. I heard six distinct voices. All women, but none of them were Lyss.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Tovi says angrily to the ceiling, gripping her teacup with white knuckles.

“I didn’t mean to—I was looking for you two. But when I found them, I didn’t want to waste the opportunity. I listened for hours. They gave no indication that there was ever any more than the six of them. Obviously, I didn’t risk trying to speak to them.

“I spent the entire day today scouring the doxy wing to see if maybe there was another room. Nothing. Only the six women. And you two.” Bitty’s defeated voice is in stark contrast to their earlier excitement when they found us.

I’m lucky that Bitty has my teacup because I would have thrown it against the wall. I still might. The destruction of something the king owns might appease the rage building in my head.

“I’ve told the others I found the six doxies, but not that I haven’t found any more of them, or you. I think it might send Riley over the edge. He’s been a mess.”

Rage takes a nosedive into my stomach, and I have to stand and pace, exert some unspent energy before I explode. My fists clench and unclench, breathing unsteady.

“Now what?” Tovi’s sharp voice cuts through my angry fog.

I make an exasperated noise, flapping my arms up and slamming them down against my sides. Now what? What the fuck do we do now? We had pinned everything on Amarilyss being with the doxies.

“They have to be somewhere else,” I say to myself more than the others. I glance over at Tovi, who’s giving me a look like I’m stating the obvious. I rub my face and take a deep breath. “All of them, I mean. Not just her. King Stol has purchased far more than six Nulls. Plus, there’s the male Nulls. I don’t remember ever seeing the king notifying Records of a Patron death, so there should be a lot of them.”

“How would they be checking in each rev at the Registry in Osraed?” Bitty asks with a frown, voicing a question I hadn’t even considered until now.

Tovi huffs. “Maybe he is impersonating them too?”

“That’s a lot of effort. Surely the king disappearing for weeks at a time, multiple times a rev, would raise suspicion,” I add, trying to figure it out.

Bitty makes a humming noise that gets mine and Tovi’s attention. “He could just have someone at the Registry checking them off. Who would really know they weren’t real check-ins?”

Tovi and I stare at Bitty, slowly shaking our heads. I growl and Tovi mutters her hate for the king. Bitty’s probably right.

I’m back to pacing. Tovi is bouncing a knee, with a scowl on her face and unfocused eyes. Bitty is reclining in the chair, picking at the hem of their shirt sleeve. They’re wearing a uniform like I had been.

We have to be missing something. I’m going through every piece of information they’ve told me, adding it to everything I’ve learned myself.

“The explosion,” I burst out. “Where was the explosion that started this whole thing?”

Bitty and Tovi look at me and then each other in frowned contemplation.

“Was it explicitly said that it was in the doxy wing, or only that his doxies were injured?” I add when neither of them speaks.

“Just that the assailant snuck into the castle and his doxies were hurt. We never sought to ask where the explosion had been,” Tovi says, standing to pace with me.

Chewing my nail, I say, “So, if we find where the explosion happened…”

“Find the explosion, find the missing doxies, find Lyss.” Tovi is muttering to herself, or me, I’m not sure.

If they’re still alive. I push away the horrible thought.

“Time to go. Someone’s coming, and I need to break the news to the others. I’ll check with Eryn about the explosion first though, he might know,” Bitty says, jumping up and jogging to the washroom.

We opt to sit, waiting for whoever is coming, listening to the sounds of Bitty climbing, and exiting through the hatch.

If Bitty heard someone coming, they never made it to us. Tovi and I eventually go to bed without a further word.

Tovi and I spend the day going through training exercises, not speaking. The frown hasn’t left her face the whole time. Nothing will make this hopelessness any better. The chance we have of discovering where the explosion happened is too small to offer any real hope.

When dinner arrives, the servant advises that Prince Eryn would like Tovi’s company this evening and they’ll collect her after dinner. When she leaves, Tovi and I discuss the possibility that Eryn does know where the explosion was. We grin at each other as we dig into the meal, spirits lifted.

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