18 DAYS. 9 HOURS. 51 MINUTES.
The princess was coughing again. I could hear it from next door, echoing through the metal of the dirigible. She was getting sicker, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t just lay there and watch her die like a withering plant, like she didn’t matter, like she couldn’t make a huge difference to the kids of lower levels back home—to me.
She made my insides bubble, my face light up, even when hungry and frustrated. She made fighting for her worth every second.
Just as Meena stopped coughing, I shot up out of bed in my camisole and stormed out of my assigned chambers. “Princess?” I knocked.
She didn’t answer, but I heard her coughing again.
I pushed her door open and saw her hanging over the bed, gripping the edge of the sheets in pain until her knuckles turned white.
“Meena!” I rushed to her side and pulled her up into a sitting position. “Meena, sit up for me.” I turned toward the door and shouted, “IoN!”
He whizzed into the room. “Yes?”
“Could you make some peppermint tea, please?”
“Of course.” He flew at top speed to the tea station on the other side of the room and started pressing all the buttons needed. “It will be ready soon.”
I helped her sit up, plumping pillows behind her back and yanking the sheets up to her waist so she wouldn’t get cold. “Deep breaths in through pursed lips.” I kept my voice calm, steady, but I was raging inside. How could she not have help? Did she refuse? Did they not bother to send anyone with her? “That’s it.”
Her color was slowly returning, and when she tried to say something I shoved a finger to her lips. “Don’t talk. It’ll just make you more out of breath. Just keep breathing.”
She rubbed circles on her chest bone as she stared off into the distance, and when she finally breathed as normally as possible, she unwrapped the gold cloth on her lifeclock and looked at the time. “Same as before,” she whispered. “It’s never changed, but I’m always terrified it will.”
IoN flew over slowly with a cup of tea and placed it on the bedside table. “There you go.” Then he settled on the bed in front of the princess. “Are you feeling better?”
“Slightly, yes.” She looked at me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I got up to leave, but she grabbed my hand and pulled me back down onto the bed.
“Stay?” She inched toward the other side, making room for me. “Please?”
“Okay.” I slid underneath the sheets and pulled them back over us.
IoN settled on the bedside table as I handed the cup of tea to Meena, and she sat quietly in the evening light, sipping tea and staring off into the distance, her mind a million miles away.
“Tomorrow,” she finally said after she’d set the cup down, “we’re going to Prago City.”
“You want to find some of that plant liquid? See if it’ll help?”
She nodded. “But I also want to know why there’s trade in something we know nothing about.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I know most of the trading on the island, El—it’s about all I can do from bed—and there’s nothing about flower liquid anywhere.”
“Maybe it’s called something different on the documents?” I suggested, mildly disinterested in trading paperwork but understanding the basics.
“Perhaps. But there’s something not right here.” She shut the light off and pulled the sheet tight to her chin before turning over and falling asleep.
IoN followed, shutting down for the night.
I was left in the dark, alone, listening to her breathing, making sure it was steady. Making sure she wasn’t going to die in her sleep, and that I’d be here if she stopped breathing. Eventually, after what felt like an hour or two of listening and thinking, my eyes drooped and slumber took me.
17 DAYS. 20 HOURS. 38 MINUTES.
The next day we woke up to a knock as sunlight filtered through the edges of the curtains, and IoN whizzed around the room making tea and dragging a chair for Jemeena to sit in when she got dressed.
I slipped on one of Meena’s robes as I headed to the door, doing up the buttons as hastily as possible. I opened the door and my eyes met a familiar face.
“Oh, Cinderella,” Captain Hera murmured. “I didn’t know you would be here. It’s the princess’s room.”
“Yes, we had a bit of a sleepover.”
“I can see that.”
Meena sat up on the edge of her bed and wrapped a robe around her, also fiddling with the buttons. Once she had done that, she turned to me and said, “I’m ready.”.
I opened the door farther and let Captain Hera in. She strode over to the princess and sat in the chair IoN had not meant for her. “Jemeena, I wanted to come check on you. See how you are doing.” She looked at me with distaste for a split second before schooling her features and smiling. “I didn’t know you had company last night.”
It wasn’t a question, but the princess answered it anyway. “I wasn’t aware you had a problem with me keeping nightly company.”
“I . . . I don’t.”
“Then stop harassing my friend, Hera. It has been many years since we dated, and I?—”
Hera held a hand up and silenced her. “I do not need to be rejected twice. We are just friends.”
So the princess had ended things with Hera? That was...interesting. I wondered why.
“I just came to see how you are doing. Traveling while this ill can’t be pleasant.”
Meena shook her head. “It is not, but it’s vitally important we keep going, no matter how ill I get. If I can’t get out of bed, then keep going and get Cinderella to our next destination. If I can’t talk, then follow her orders on where to go next. Do you understand?”
Hera bowed her head, clearly understanding that as instructions and not polite conversation from a friend. “Yes, Princess. Of course. If I knew the reason for traveling, I might be able to?—”
Meena interrupted, silencing her. “You have asked before—twice—and I have denied you the information. Twice. I cannot tell you.” Her gaze softened as she rested a delicate, frail hand on Hera’s arm. “Even as a friend. I’m sorry.”
“Whatever’s so important, I hope it works out for you.” Hera glanced down at the princess’s lifeclock ticking away beneath the cloth. “I really do.”
“Me too.” She looked at Hera like a long-lost friend, a memory from a past she no longer had the privilege of living in. “The best thing you can do for me is get me to my destination as quickly as possible. The less time we spend traveling, the more time we spend doing.”
She bowed and left, a mixture of emotions playing out on her face.
“I am sorry about her. I didn’t think it would be an issue.”
I grabbed a bodice and skirt from the closet, a jacket that looked like it would match, drawers, stockings and garters, skirt, and chemise, and we began the process of getting dressed. I didn’t have to help her—she probably had someone for that—but I wanted to. I wanted to make sure she stayed seated for as long as possible, only getting up for sections I needed her to stand for.
“Is the corset loose enough?” I asked as I pulled the waist slack tight.
“Yes, thank you.” She bobbed on her feet a bit, letting the petticoat fall over the crinoline more evenly. “You don’t have to do this, you know. But thank you for it, nonetheless.”
IoN brought the princess her second cup of mint tea and placed a spread of biscuits, scones, and jams on the table to our right. “Breakfast, ladies.”
“IoN,” Meena scolded, “you didn’t have to do that either. I like that neither of you treat me like a royal. I’m just a regular person in your company.”
“A regular person who is struggling and ill,” IoN reminded her. “We would do this for any friend.”
“He’s right. This is more about helping you than serving you.”
“Then, I thank you. I’m hoping we’re in Prago by the end of the week.”
“We should make a plan for when we get there. It’s a city, so it won’t be as simple as finding Varissa was.”
“You’re probably right,” she said as I buttoned up the jacket. “I have a necklace that goes with this jacket in the box over there.” She pointed to a small jeweled box on the nightstand. “And a parasol in the wardrobe somewhere.”
IoN fetched the parasol while I gathered the most exquisite piece of jewelry I had ever seen.
“This is...” I started, not having the words to finish the sentence, but I landed on, “beautiful.”
“Yes, I know. Royal jewelers are talented people.”
“I bet this costs more than everything on zero.”
Meena said nothing, only looked at the floor. “I...I guess it probably does.”
I went to say something, but I was too late, because IoN beat me to it. “Being born wealthy is not something to be ashamed of. Especially when you don’t have a lot of control over how you help others.”
“That’ll change if we save me. I won’t sit idly on a throne built from the deaths of those less fortunate.” She stood, determination set steady on her face, hands clenched into fists. “I want to ask when we’ll finally get to Prago City, then I can teach you how to play bridge.”