Way of No Return (Champions of the Crystal Book 8)

Chapter 26.1

Sabrina didn't run through the halls, because she was the mistress of this household and therefore supposed to retain at least some dignity. But she walked as fast as she could, acknowledging greetings with a quick nod and smile, contemplating her tactics as she hurried down to the kitchen.

Ford had bought into the concept that this party was his daughter's debut, so no imperfection could be tolerated despite the extenuating circumstances of a principality battered by war and a palace staff still trying to find replacements for its missing and dead members. Thus, they had hired an outside caterer to help cope with a state dinner for more than one hundred fifty guests. But the caterer and the cook had differing ideas about what was appropriate, and Ford had yet another set of ideas.

There was still work going on in the kitchen, but the staff was definitely distracted by the shouting match happening in their midst. Sabrina caught expressions of relief on a few faces as they went back to their tasks upon her entrance. She had no chance of making herself heard in this din, so she marched up to Ford and the caterer and physically interposed herself, facing Ford.

"I need your attention for a moment," she said quietly.

Ford blinked, stopping in mid-syllable. "What? Is it Lily?" He barged into the link, making her wince.

Talk. Outside. Now. She jerked her head toward the door. When Ford started in that direction, she turned to the caterer. "I will not tolerate this sort of uproar in my house. I want that made clear. Chef Orisande, please take charge of whatever this conversation was about. Caterer Kletch, please forgive my husband's excess of zeal. All our nerves are on edge, as I am sure you must realize."

Kletch gave her a brief, frustrated bow, and the royal chef hurried over with a smile. "Don't worry, ma'am."

"Thank you both," Sabrina said, then followed Ford out into the hall. He was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, trying to calm himself down. She frowned at him for a moment. The chaos of their lives was wearing on them both, but until now he had been coping better than she was. What changed? she wondered. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?" she asked quietly.

He wanted to say no; she sensed him weighing his answer, sorting through and discarding ones he knew would start a fight. Then he sighed heavily. "Baldaran called me this morning. He wants us to take formal custody of Seuréa. Which would make us responsible for her education, meaning we'd have the Council of Trême in our lives on a pretty constant basis."

Sabrina frowned. "Baldaran called you? Why? We're going to see him at the presentation, and we already have a briefing scheduled for afterward. And how did I manage to miss this call?"

"You were with Lily. He wanted us to give it some thought."

"Which would be hard for me to do since you didn't tell me about it until now," Sabrina pointed out. She tilted her head and considered for a moment more. "What prompted this request? Any custody arrangement, formal or not, will be invalidated the moment Mara returns. And who's going to grant it to us, anyway? There's no First Chair; one can't be appointed until we have Imari's funeral, which we can't do without the Guardian."

"The Council has convened under emergency rules," Ford said. "They're voting on an interim First Chair. Baldaran wants to avoid having them try to take custody of Seuréa. You're her sponsor, and I'm her oldest brother; they'd have a hard time arguing we're not fit. Besides your history of dealing with Inheritors."

"Ugh, a custody battle over the Inheritor with the Council of Trême," Sabrina sighed. "Yes, by all means, let's circumvent that. All right. We have de facto custody of her anyway; we may as well make it official. Aside from dealing with the Council, I have some ideas about her education."

"And so does Cynthia," Ford said dryly. "Formalizing this makes us responsible for any breaches of the rules, you realize."

"So we'll formalize Cynthia," Sabrina shrugged. "Ford, we've been married more than six years now, and I've known you about twice that. I know a custody request didn't get you this worked up. What else did Baldaran say that you don't want to tell me?"

Ford bit his lip and looked around. The hallway was still empty; the palace staff knew better than to interrupt them when they were intent on a conversation. Besides, Sabrina reflected, the staff were probably giving Ford a wide berth today.

"Homeworld's task force is searching along the route they think that Way took."

Sabrina went very still. "Bad news?"

"Yes. They found some wreckage just outside our galaxy. Some of it was särad crystal."

"But—" Sabrina swallowed hard. "But we know Mara's alive. Khediva at least must have survived! Could they be on their way home?"

"The task force found enough crystal shards to account for every matrix involved, including Khediva's, they say. If they're underway, they're doing it in realspace. Which would take centuries. Homeworld is going to search along the most likely path, but they don't hold out much hope. Baldaran and Treva are listing the crews as missing in action. Including Scotty."

Until now, Sabrina knew, the Praxatillians had all been listed as merely out of contact, a much less alarming status. "Does Aurora know?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes. Treva told her last night, before she came down."

Sabrina nodded, taking a deep breath and trying for calm. More than five thousand people were unaccounted for, not counting the Wayfarers Homeworld was searching for. And at least she had the assurance that Mara would have done everything possible to save Scotty and Tirqwin and Khediva. Other families did not have even that. "How many Bathirans?" she asked, aware that their official duties would now include contacting the families.

"About twelve hundred."

Sabrina put her arms around him, and they held onto each other for a few moments. When are you going to stop trying to handle this stuff on your own? she asked him. I'm not sick anymore. I'm the Princess of Bathir, and your co-Heir, and now, it looks like, the Inheritor's foster mother. Not to mention your wife and the mother of your child. When are you going to take me back as your partner?

I'm trying. I just thought it would be easier if you could get through the day without this weighing on you, he replied. I wish we didn't have to combine a family affair with the entire Legislature.

Since this is the only place we can hold the presentation ceremony right now, we can hardly avoid it.

I know.

They sighed in unison, then stepped back as someone cleared his throat nearby. They turned to find Stecklan there. "Yes?" Sabrina said.

"The King's advance security team is here, ma'am," Stecklan replied. "I've turned them over to Ricar, but I thought you'd want to be notified. Also, you have a visitor."

"Who?" Sabrina asked, puzzled. Practically everyone they knew was invited for later in the day, leaving no one she could think of to drop by, especially when the entire planet knew they were hosting a state dinner tonight.

Stecklan grimaced. "He asked me not to tell you, ma'am. He said he wanted to see you privately, informally."

Ford's blood pressure shot back up. "Stecklan, what's wrong with you? You do not request that the Princess of Bathir grant audiences to visitors without telling her their identities!"

Sabrina laid a hand on his chest. "Calm down," she said. "Go help Seuréa and Pinsi wrangle the cats, or go up to the nursery and hold our little miracle until you no longer want to strangle anyone." She gave him a little push.

Ford looked at her sourly. "Is that an order?"

"Does it need to be?" She mustered a smile. "Ford, come on. Stecklan wouldn't compromise my safety, and you know it perfectly well. This is just somebody we somehow forgot, I'm sure." Then she gave a little gasp and said, "It's not Scotty, is it?"

Stecklan shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. I think you'll be glad to see him though. He just, er, has been through a difficult time, and he doesn't want a fuss."

Sabrina frowned. "Okay." She gave Ford a mental push toward the nursery, and he gave Stecklan a meaningful look as he stalked off. "Lead on."