Thea

Bryce steered the shuttle towards a large building on the outskirts of the city. The place kind of stood out, but mostly just because of the location.

Most of the bigger and nicer buildings were towards the center of the city. This one was smack dab in the middle of the ghetto and surrounded by a bunch of single-story shacks.

“Don’t tell me this is your place.” I was staring out of the shuttle window as we approached. “I was mostly joking when I called you a princess. This seems like a lot for just one person.”

We flew to the top of the building and slowly descended through a circular opening that was protected by some sort of light shield.

The interior was well lit and looked really fancy.

Bryce laughed. “No, this isn’t my place, it’s the hospital Daelin used for his practice. I think he was on the board here.” Bryce dislodged herself from the pilot’s seat and stood up. “We need to set up a meeting with Teolix and this is in his territory. Besides, having Daelin’s shuttle here fits our narrative.”

“Fair enough.”

I followed Bryce and grabbed the rifle from where she had left it near the shuttle’s rear door.

She gave me a look. “Are you sure you should take that? You’re already going to stand out wearing a cocktail dress on the streets. That’s saying nothing about the blood. It really stands out on white tennis shoes.”

I lifted the rifle with one hand and caused it to disappear into my spacial storage. Then I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out at Bryce.

That’s when I remembered the shoes.

“Oh shit, my heels! Can we go back?”

Bryce furrowed her brows and sputtered a few incoherent things. It was kind of cute, but didn’t exactly answer my question.

I turned and went back to my seat, but Bryce caught up to me before I could sit down.

She spun me around and grabbed my shoulders, looking seriously into my eyes.

“We don’t have time to go back and I probably wouldn’t even be able to bypass the lockdown from outside the station.”

“They were crazy expensive, and I wanted to return them,” I explained. “The damn tag was biting into my heel all night, and I did not suffer through that for nothing.”

Bryce sighed heavily, and a look of resignation settled across her face.

“How about I buy you a new pair that's exactly the same? We seriously can’t go back, Thea, we just don’t have the time.”

I shifted my stance and raised an eyebrow at her. If she bought me a new pair, I’d still be out the money I’d paid.

Admittedly, I was probably only going to get store credit for the return, and probably not even full credit because of the bloodstains. But it was the principle of the matter, damn it!

“I don’t know, I was really looking forward—” A massive explosion rocked the building and threw me off balance.

I fell forward with a yelp, catching my arms around Bryce’s waist and knocking both of us to the ground, landing on top of her.

I managed to stand before sheepishly extending a hand towards Bryce. She looked up with a red-tinted face before accepting my hand and pulling herself up.

The whole situation was a bit awkward, but as we both stumbled out of the shuttle and looked up into the night sky, the awkwardness disappeared.

The opening in the roof limited our view, but we could see enough to guess what had happened.

“Okay, you can buy me a new pair,” I said.

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We could see the remains of the station falling through the atmosphere in blazing chunks. It didn’t seem like any of the pieces would reach the ground before disintegrating, but it made for a lovely sight.

“How kind of you,” Bryce mumbled while watching the debris burn above the city. “That mana gem must’ve been a lower quality than it said on the label. Which means it probably didn’t destroy the black box and we won’t have the head start that I was counting on. We’re going to need to hurry.”

I was just thankful that we hadn’t rushed back to the station just to have it blow up in our literal faces. It wouldn’t have been a good look.

“Well, after you then.” I gestured towards the glass doors on the far side of the hangar. Bryce nodded, and we both half-sprinted inside the building.

The doors led to a neatly decorated hallway that was lined sparingly with offices. Each office door was made of glass and assigned an ornate placard engraved with a name followed by a series of letters, presumably some sort of accreditations.

We paused in front of a door that was labeled “Daelin Toch” followed by a bunch of important looking letters.

“Aren’t we in a hurry?” I asked.

Bryce nodded, but continued to move towards the door while fiddling with something in her pocket. “We are, but I wanted to get some answers and this will probably be our only chance.”

That made sense to me, so I pulled out my sword and shattered the glass door with the pommel. Smiling, I turned back towards Bryce and gestured towards the now open office.

“I had a key.”

Which was true. She stood there holding up a key card that had a picture of Daelin on it.

“Me too, didn’t you see me unlock it? If you missed it, then I could probably do it again. There are plenty of other locked doors in this hallway.”

She scoffed at my offer as she stepped over the shattered glass into Daelin’s office.

Daelin’s office wasn’t all that big, but despite that, he still felt the need to fit an oversized desk, a few chairs, and a half dozen bookshelves. The man really liked to read.

Bryce was leaning over the desk. She had inserted Daelin’s keycard in the computer and was typing into a holographic keyboard when she spoke.

“That’s alright. You’ve killed enough doors today. Consider your talent noted, oh mighty Salinthea, slayer of innocent doors.”

I smiled. “Actually, I prefer my proper title, ‘Salinthea, Seducer of Errant Princesses.’ I think it more accurately portrays my roguish nature. What do you think?”

“That depends. How many errant princesses have you come across? And of those, how many did you seduce?” Bryce was frowning and seemed distracted by whatever she was reading on the computer’s display.

“I’ve only met one so far. Not too many princesses where I come from, unfortunately.” I stood behind Bryce and tried to figure out what she was reading from over her shoulder. It just looked like a bunch of garbled text. “Also, I’m still working on the whole seducing part. Scale of one to ten, how would you rate the effort so far?”

Bryce stood with a sigh, before lifting the computer and smashing it on the floor beside the desk. She rooted through the remains before pulling out a black rectangular device about the size of a playing card, which she then held out to me.

“Could you put this in the same dimensional space you put that rifle?” she asked.

“Sure, but I still want an answer. One to ten; how seduced?” I disappeared the device, then set her with an insistent glare.

“I’d say a solid four.”

I almost doubled over in mock pain at Bryce’s treachery, which earned a genuine smile from her. That definitely counted as a win, despite my apparent low-scoring efforts up to this point.

“Only a four? But I’ve opened so many doors for you.”

“That’s true, and I’ll admit that it was very sexy every time. But that stunt you pulled in the shuttle to cop a feel? That lost you a few points.”

That was entirely unfair, and based on the smile she wore as she walked away, Bryce knew it. I chased after her frantically, trying to explain.

“That was super your fault. You were the one holding me there and you’re the one who blew up the station. I want a recount, dammit!”

I pouted as we approached the elevator at the end of the hallway. Bryce poked around on the console near the door before she even acknowledged the unfairness of her actions.

“You’re right, it was my fault, and that’s why I had to deduct the points.” The elevator arrived and Bryce boarded it while explaining her intricate rating system. “I just don’t think it’s fair that I’m the only one making an effort here… even if accidentally.” She totally whispered that last part.

I stepped into the elevator and started to voice my objection, but the moment the doors closed, Bryce pushed me hard against the wall. She pinned me with her knee and locked her forearm under my chin, forcing me to look her in the eyes.

“If you think it’s so unfair, what are you planning on doing about it?”

Die. Yep, I was going to die.

I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and my throat instantly went dry as I tried to assemble two brain cells to form a single coherent thought in a mind that was entirely mush.

“I… uh… oh, wow.” Thank the gods I could respond intelligently and absolutely didn’t just stand there muttering like a useless idiot.

The hateful elevator doors opened, and Bryce kissed the tip of my nose before releasing me to fall to the ground, where I melted into a puddle. She stood over me with a self-satisfied grin before turning to exit the elevator.

“Are you coming, Thea? We are actually in a hurry.”