Book 2: Chapter 34: Midnight Rendezvous

  The candles in the common room had burned low by the time the rest of the team had long since retired to their bedrooms. Silence had long since replaced the sounds of hushed conversation in the common room of the suite.

  Alex stood alone as he peered into the tall, silver-framed mirror near the fireplace.

  A half-finished cup of tea sat untouched beside him. He wasn’t actually tired. His mind ran hot with different calculations, spinning through every conversation, every deal struck, every handshake and hidden glance over the last few days.

  When everyone came in at the end of the day, they went over the status for all the potential votes. It was quickly found that they were still at a disadvantage, despite all of their efforts, and the vote was happening tomorrow.

  Four votes for. Five against. Three unknown.

  Close… but not enough.

  “When they kill you, who do you think will get my body? Or do you think they will just throw me out like garbage? Oh no, I might become garbage!”

  The the surface of the mirror shuddered just as the clock above the hearth chimed midnight. Just slightly. The silver plane rippled like disturbed water, and then there was light Soft and blue, thrumming with distorted aether. A voice followed shortly after, metallic and modulated, unmistakably altered in some magical way.

  “You’ve worked hard, Worldstrider. I suppose I should offer congratulations.”

  Alex rose from the seat and took a single step towards the mirror. “House Vaelros. I figured someone would show up eventually.”

  “Looks like you are smarter than I initially gave you credit for. Still, you have no leverage Strider Pierce. We already have all the information we need. You’ve paraded yourselves across the capital, spells, votes, duels… the show has been enjoyable. But for us, the show is over.”

  Alex folded his arms. His gaze didn’t leave the shifting aether surface. “You had a spy in our suite. That alone is enough to bring a case before the Arcanuum, for breach of diplomatic protocol.”

  “A servant. Disavowed. He acted alone.”

  He raised a brow. “House Duskmoor went with that same tactic, seems to be a favorite of this kingdom. Unfortunately, that plan would have worked again, would have, but not now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged and tucked his hands into his pockets. “If the servant was working alone, he wouldn’t have went back with a message, a message that was delivered. To appear at the mirror, one this day, at a specific time. That’s not working alone, they working in consort.”

  “Who’s to say this conversation is even happening at all? You?”

  Then, slowly, he lifted his hand. Between his fingers glowed an aether-slate, runes softly pulsing. With help from Obby and the Terraxum library, he was able to figure out how to repair one of the aether-slates he took from the Dark Den dungeon. It didn’t have any valuable information on it, but that also meant once he learned to also record with the slate, it would be empty and ready to receive. Recording information, being a task he just recently learned to do in the library before the House Vaelros servant arrived with his empty silver tray.

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  He flipped the aether-slate in his hand. “Already recording,” he said. “And unless you want the Arcanuum seeing the exact moment your ‘disavowed’ agent established a link through a state’s mirror enchantment… I suggest we stop pretending.”

  Silence stretched over the room for a long moment. Then, the voice let out a slow, artificial sigh. “...Very well. What do you want?”

  Alex didn’t smile, and he didn’t gloat. He just went straight to the point. “I want your vote. And your support. Not because you believe in us, but because you don’t want the world to know how much you already knew.”

  “You’ve made enemies.”

  “We had established enemies before we even enter the palace walls. Instead, we made allies. That’s what matters, that’s why you give us your vote.”

  The mirror pulsed one last time. Then the voice returned, sharper, clipped. “You’ll have it. But this debt goes both ways now, Worldstrider.” The mirror flickered, then stilled. The glow faded away entirely.

  Alex stood in the quiet for a moment, letting out a long breath as the aether-slate in his hand dimmed. The final gambit was set. Five votes for. Five against. Two unknown. We can do this.

  It wasn’t guaranteed, but it was far better than before. Each vote counted. He turned away from the mirror. Alex started toward the hall and his awaiting bed beyond, only to freeze as a soft knock came at the suite’s front door.

  At this hour? Cautiously, Alex moved to open it. Standing just beyond the threshold, cloaked in a long travel coat embroidered with black thread and silver stars, he saw Prince Kailan.

  Alex stepped aside to let Kailan in, gesturing wordlessly toward the lounge. The prince walked with subtle poise, somehow dignified even without his royal armor. He wore only a traveler’s coat, and a leather satchel hung over his shoulder. A faint film of grey dust clung to his boots, something Alex had seen before. In the garden, maybe?

  Alex poured some water from the decanter next to the hearth. “Didn’t think I’d see you again tonight.”

  Kailan gave a faint smile. “Didn’t think I’d be back, truth be told. Long day. Lots of people whispering. I needed… perspective.”

  Alex handed him the cup. “And you thought I’d give it to you?”

  Kailan chuckled softly, sitting down. “You’re the only one who doesn’t pump aether up my rear end when I say stupid things. That’s rare around here.”

  Alex sat across from him. “You say fewer stupid things than most, to be fair.”

  A small silence passed between them, comfortable, warm. It wasn’t often Alex could speak to someone in the palace without filtering every word through multiple political lenses.

  “So. What brings the Prince of Terraxum to my door at midnight?”

  The Prince’s expression shifted, his face giving way to a faint flicker of worry. “The vote.”

  Alex leaned back. “I figured. We’ve done what we can. It’s close, but I think we might edge it out. Worst case, it’s a tie.”

  His fingers traced the rim of his cup for a few precious moments. “That’s what worries me,” he said. “A tie.”

  Alex’s brow furrowed at that. “You’re the tiebreaker, aren’t you?”

  Kailan nodded once. “Yes. And no.”

  The prince looked up at him, tired, “Being a Prince doesn’t mean I get to do whatever I want. It means… I’m forced to make delicate choices. The church, the noble houses, the guilds, and the sects; If I vote to release you, I make enemies of political offices in my own kingdom. Dangerous ones. If I don’t release, I still make enemies, and I lose whatever soul I have left. Either choice damns me. Just… differently.”

  He studied the forlorn man for a few breaths. “So you came here tonight… to say goodbye.”

  Kailan met his eyes. Something in his posture stiffened. But then, quietly, he said, “No. I came to see a friend. That’s all.”

  Alex moved to the small cabinet beside the bookshelves, he reached out and pulled a wooden box from inside. “In that case,” he said, setting the box on the table between them, “you’re staying for a game.”

  Kailan smiled and set down his water. “King’s Board?”

  Alex nodded.”Indeed, I just recently learned to play, but we had a similar game back in my own world.” Which was true, the game was close to Chess from Earth.

  Kailan actually laughed, a rare, quiet sound that made him seem years younger. “You think I haven’t been groomed to play this very game since a child?”

  “I’m rather proud of my learning capability, we’ll see what happens.”

  They set the board up between them in quiet contemplation, only the sound of clinking pieces and the distant wind outside the palace filling the room. Neither spoke of the vote again. They didn’t need to.

  Their movements were slower now, less about winning, more about being present. It was ironic of sorts each man’s current situation. Although they played with the game pieces in front of them, they saw each other as friends, for a moment, not pieces on a board.

  Alex happily lost three time in a row.

  Eventually, the fire burned low. The game ended quietly, and the night faded into a distance nervous energy that waited for them tomorrow.

  The day of the vote.