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Jeera, Alex noticed, looked partly amused and partly terrified at the unanticipated marriage talk. Considering she’d only been with Blake for a few months, Alex didn’t blame her and decided to intervene before the Ronnigan boys and Jordan made the young Warden run for the hills.

“So this meeting that you may or may not lose your job over,” Alex said, redirecting the conversation. “When is it?”

Blake pulled his ComTCD from his jeans and checked the time. “I told them we’d be finished with them before lunch. Flips are notorious for napping in the afternoon, so the sooner we go, the more time we’ll have and the better their attention spans will be.”

“Plus, the sooner you get out of here, the less chance there’ll be of someone trying to stop you,” Jeera put in. “Advisor Jaxon’s on a war path against you, Alex. He’s determined that you’re just telling tall tales to get attention, and he’s warned both the increased military scouts and the Wardens to keep an eye out for you.”

Frustrated, Alex had nothing she could say in response that would be anywhere near appropriate to verbalise in public.

“Fortunately, Commander Nisha has more sway over them than Jaxon does,” Jeera said, her blue eyes twinkling. “And my aunt seems to like you, Alex. Which means, should you be recognised, your spotter just might be willing to turn the other way.”

Alex felt her own smile grow. “Is that what you’re doing, Jeera? Turning the other way?”

Jeera laughed. “Goodness, no. I’m actively disobeying direct orders by helping you. I’m also breaking about a thousand secrecy regulations by bringing Blake into the fold.” She tilted her head and finished, “And, of course, exploiting him in the process.”

“Then why…?” Alex trailed off, but she didn’t have to finish her question for Jeera to understand.

“Drock spoke with you, didn’t he?” When Alex nodded, Jeera continued, “He offered you assistance in his way, now I’m doing the same for you in mine. I’m sure he would have mentioned that our hands are tied, politically. But even the king and queen wish we could do more.” Jeera gestured to Blake. “This is me doing more.”

“Technically, it’smedoing more,” Blake said dryly.

“And you’ll receive my gratitude for it,” Jeera told him sweetly, before pointedly finishing, “later.”

Grinning at her and ignoring Bear’s gagging sound, Blake looked back at Alex and said, “I presume you know what you’re going to say once we get there?”

Alex decided not to admit that she had no idea and intended on winging it. “Sure.”

He nodded once and pressed a kiss to Jeera’s temple before releasing her. “Right, then. Let’s signal our transport.”

Intrigued, Alex watched as he pulled what looked like a glowing piece of coral from his leather jacket and tossed it over the railing and into the ocean.

“No one can know I had anything to do with this, so I need to go before your escort arrives,” Jeera said, looking to where the coral had submerged. She then turned serious eyes to Alex and whispered, “Good luck,” before she threw a Bubbler vial to the ground and stepped through it.

Seconds later, the water started bubbling. Great, heaving gasps of air rippled across the ocean until a vessel rose up from the deep. About the size of a large car, it was spherical in shape and fully transparent, like a glass dome bobbing to the surface. Upon closer inspection, Alex could see the bottom surface was flat, making her liken it to a human-sized snow globe.

In the centre of the vessel stood a female Flip, her luminescent green skin splashed with bright orange tribal markings. She was covered just enough to be considered decent, with clothes made entirely from seaweed, shells, coral and other oceanic matter, including what looked like live starfish attached to her webbed hands and feet.

“Ambassador Blake,” the Flip said in a timid voice, a foreign but not unpleasant lilt to her tone. “Is your delegation ready for passage?”

“Yes, thank you, Glyn,” Blake said as he fiddled with a latch on the railing that Alex hadn’t noticed before, revealing a small gate that swung inwards.

As he did so, the Flip—Glyn—bent down and ran her fingers along the vessel’s floor, and a moment later, the transparent dome over the top dissipated, leaving only the base she was standing on. With the upper barrier now gone, Blake moved through the gate and jumped down onto the invisible platform beside her, balancing his weight when it rocked slightly in the water.

“The first step’s the hardest,” he called up to them. “But this thing”—he stomped his foot on the bottom of the globe—“is as solid as a rock, so don’t be afraid.”

Alex’s frequent use of the invisibleValispathmeant she wasn’t the least bit daunted at the thought of dropping barely a few feet down onto the glass-like vessel, and she did so without hesitation. Her friends followed her lead without needing more coaxing, since they too had travelled on the Eternal Path, if not as much as she had.

Blake seemed disappointed by their lack of fear, almost as if he’d been hoping for more of a dramatic reaction. Alex had to hide her smile at the thought of him experiencing theValispathfor himself and thus realising why they weren’t fazed by the sea transport.

“Is everyone ready?” Glyn asked in her timid, accented voice.

“My companions have never travelled by Airlock before,” Blake said, “and no matter how many times I make the journey, it never sits well with me. Can we trouble you for someaegonbefore we depart?”

Glyn tugged what looked like a strand of seaweed from her already minimalistic skirt, handing it to Blake.

“Cheers,” he said, tossing her a winning smile, to which the poor Flip appeared flustered in response and hurried to drop down and press her hand against the floor of the globe again. Instantly, the sheen of the transparent dome rematerialised over their heads, and the vessel began its descent into the water at an incredible speed.

“Chew on this,” Blake said, shredding theaegoninto five pieces and handing them to Alex and her friends, keeping one for himself. “It’ll help stave off any pressure sickness.”