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“I know what we can do,” my mother says, “we’ll have a ball tomorrow evening and invite all the lords and ladies to it. They can cast their votes then.”
“I think that’s a splendid idea,” I say. “Can you arrange that for us, Mother?”
“Of course! Just leave everything up to me, dear. I’ll handle it all.”
“We need to get back to our ship,” Iris says to Oberon. “Uri may need us.”
I’m not sure if Iris is trying to get her brother away from my father as soon as possible or if she’s truly worried about Uri’s well-being. It’s more likely a mixture of both.
Oberon looks at me one more time for confirmation that he should agree to my suggestion. I smile reassuringly, hoping he understands what he should do.
“Fine,” Oberon says. “I agree to this vote as long as you agree to abide by whatever the outcome is.”
“I do.”
My father is practically giddy with excitement. He winks as if he believes I’ve just given him the upper hand he needed. It just goes to show how delusional he is to think all of the lords will vote for him. He’s dead wrong about that, but that’s not to say the vote won’t be close. As far as I know, half the lords will vote for him and half will vote for anyone besides him, even if it’s Oberon. There is really only one vote that counts, and I’ll have to work quickly to secure that particular lord for our side.
“Can we borrow your airship and have your man take me to mine? I would rather not use our teleportation system until I know it’s working properly,” Oberon says.
“Of course. Keep it for as long as you need to,” my father replies. “Safe journeys.” He turns to walk away but thinks better of it. “Oh, and by the way, I am terribly sorry your ship almost fell out of the sky. If you want, I can have some of my engineers take a look at it for you.”
Oberon smiles grimly at my father’s offer of help. “That won’t be necessary. I have my own engineers who can do that. Have you been able to locate my people here yet? I’m afraid their pods were scattered around this world during the evacuation.”
“Some, but I’m afraid not all.” My father tries to sound regretful, but his acting skills leave a lot to be desired. “As soon as we round them up, I’ll have them transported back to your vessel.”
“Thank you.”
My father leaves and his guards follow him. My mother stays behind, rattling on about the wedding preparations, but I can tell she’s simply biding her time until my father is out of hearing range. Once he’s back inside the castle, my mother finally stops being a chatterbox.
“Where is Earth 104?” she asks us urgently.
“I have it,” Oberon says, lightly placing his hand on the box tied to his waist.
“But we need a geomancer,” I say. “It was damaged during the evacuation. I need to have it repaired before it’s too late.”
“Oh dear,” she says, placing a hand on her chest. “Well, you can’t go to any of the ones your father knows. There’s only one that we can trust. You must find Kyan. I believe he’s still living on the outskirts of town in that little cottage of his.”
“I thought he went crazy. Are you sure he’s the only one we can ask for help?” I ask, hoping she might have a better alternative.
“I’m sorry, dear, but he’s the only one who isn’t either scared of or loyal to your father. If you want to save that world, you have to go to him.”
I sigh in disappointment. “All right, if you say so.”
“With that settled,” Oberon says, untying the sash from his waist and handing the box back to me. “I really do need to go tend to my ship.” He leans in and gives me a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I’ll return as soon as possible, but it may not be until tomorrow. I don’t trust that your father will do everything he can to find my people.”
“As well you shouldn’t, dear,” my mother agrees. “He hasn’t sent out nearly enough people to find them if you ask me.”
“I expected nothing more from him,” Oberon says irritably. “I’ll need to send out my own guards. I just need to find them first.”
“I’ll do what I can on my end,” I promise him.
“Thank you.” He looks between me and my mother. “I’ll see you both soon.”
Oberon and Iris walk back to the airship. Before he steps inside, he turns and stares at me for a moment. My heart begins to ache, knowing he won’t be able to return to my side for quite some time. When he fully enters the ship and the door closes, I feel as though he’s taking a piece of me with him.
“Well now,” my mother loops one of her arms around mine. “I never thought I would see that look on your face again.”
“What look?” I ask as the airship lifts off the ground and shoots into the sky.
