“Well, hello,” said Venant, holding the door open for Coralline and Izar to enter, as though he’d been expecting them.
His living room was small and cluttered, with two old, low settees scattered with books, pens lying idly in the curve of their spines. “We are each grains of sand in the billowing vastness of the universe,” stated a placard on the wall; Coralline recognized the sentence as belonging to The Universe Demystified. A large map of Meristem hung next to the placard, settlements marked on it as bubbles. Coralline found it ironic that Venant, who’d helped map the Milky Way galaxy, lived in a place that was not even on the map of Meristem—how strange that an explorer of the universe should have such a narrow personal universe.
Venant shuffled aside some books to make room on the settees, and Coralline and Izar took a seat across from him.
“I’m sorry for how I spoke to you at the Ball,” Coralline said, her cheeks flushing. “I will always admire you and your work. I didn’t mean what I said.”
“Think nothing of it.” Venant’s slight smile reminded Coralline of her father’s.
“I also lied to you.” Ignoring Izar’s warning look, she continued, “I am the principal suspect in Tang Tarpon’s murder. He was stabbed by a dagger. I was about to pull out the dagger, but a loiterer saw my hands wrapped around the hilt and assumed that it was I who had stabbed him.”
Coralline had not told Limpet about Tang’s murder and had been chased away by him; if Venant wished them to leave, she would rather leave now.
Venant frowned at her for a long, unblinking moment. “I can’t imagine your having done it—” he began, but his words were interrupted by a cough that racked through his chest, juddering through each of his ribs. “Excuse me . . . I’m not well,” he spouted out from between hacks.
The reason Coralline had thought of a green moray eel when she’d first seen Venant was that there was a greenish hue to his complexion, she realized now. She almost rose to examine him, but she pressed her tail down onto the settee with her hands, in order to remain where she was. Just as she could not treat Pavonis, given that she was not an animal apothecary, she could not treat Venant, given that she was a fired apprentice apothecary.
“Please help us find the elixir,” Coralline said, when Venant’s cough had settled.
“I know the deep sea seems terrifying, and I confess I’ve never ventured to it for that reason myself, but it is there that you will find the elixir—so long as you seek the light.”
“What stretch of deep sea do you recommend?” Izar asked.
“Swim straight that way,” Venant said, his hand pointing out the window behind Coralline. Noticing the luciferin lantern sticking out of her satchel, he continued, “Feel free to take an extra lantern with you, that one on the side table there. Also, I should warn you: Constables do occasionally visit my home when searching for suspects, so I suggest you start your voyage to the deep sea early in the morning.” After a vigorous cough, he sputtered, “Now, I’m afraid I must retire.”
Rising from the settees, Coralline and Izar followed Venant out the living room window. Venant’s bedroom was directly above the living room, and he entered his bedroom through its window, calling over his shoulder that the guest bedroom was directly above his.
Izar entered the guest bedroom first, followed by Coralline. The Telescope Tower narrowed as it ascended, which meant that the guest bedroom was even smaller than the living room. It contained a dilapidated desk, a worn chair, and a bed adorned with a ragged blanket. Coralline would have liked to ask Izar to sleep on the floor, or anywhere but the bed, but the room was so tiny, there was no space on the floor. As she wavered next to the bed, Izar collapsed on the blanket on his stomach. He turned his face to one side, closed his eyes, and, in a matter of moments, started making a series of repetitive noises, like the snorts of a grunt sculpin.
Perhaps he was unwell, too, Coralline thought, as everyone else seemed to be—Venant, Pavonis. She came to hover horizontally over him, and, smoothing his chestnut curls back from his forehead, touched his brow with the back of her hand. He did not have a fever, at least. And yet he continued to rumble rhythmically, monotonously. Perhaps these were sounds humans made as they slept, she thought.
As she looked down at his face, she wondered whether it could be true, whether he had feelings for her, as Nacre had asserted. Was that why he’d kissed her at the Ball? Why had she kissed him back, though? . . . Because she’d had a momentary desire to betray Ecklon, as Ecklon was betraying her. Yes, that had to be it.
She did not have the heart to nudge Izar awake and ask him to find alternate accommodations. She started to drift to her side of the bed, eager to rest her head on the pillow—but she jumped along the way: An eye was watching her through the window.
“We need to talk,” Pavonis said coldly.
“Are the two of you sharing a bed tonight?” Altair asked Coralline.
“Yes, but—”
“Did the two of you share a bed last night?” Altair persisted, in an interrogative tone that reminded Coralline of Ecklon.
“Yes, but nothing happened.” Coralline dangled her lantern over the smattering of stones from which Altair’s voice was emerging, but he had camouflaged himself so thoroughly that she could not locate him. His voice seemed to be spewing out of a vacuum.
It was Altair’s extremities that turned orange first—his star-shaped coronet and the tip of his tail—and then the rest of him blazed to life, forming a contorted, glowing arrow the size of Coralline’s hand. “Will you be journeying into the deep sea with Izar?”
“Yes.” The vehemence of her reply told Coralline that her decision was made—she would be exploring the deep sea, even if it killed her.
“What about Ecklon?” Altair asked.
“What about him?” Coralline said impatiently.
“What about him! You are to marry Ecklon in just ten days, and yet you are cavorting with a human, spending not only your days but also your nights with him. Do you even realize that you’re at the center of a lurid love triangle?”
“No.”
“I knew it was a bad idea to leave on this Elixir Expedition without Ecklon,” Altair continued, somewhat hysterically. “I knew—”
“Izar and I haven’t done anything,” Coralline snapped, though she supposed it wasn’t quite true: Her lips were still tingling from their kiss at the Ball.
“Infidelity is not an act,” Altair countered quietly, “but a feeling.”
“Well, Ecklon need be none the wiser about anything,” Nacre quipped. “Also, Coralline and I have it on good authority that Ecklon is betraying her.”
“What authority?” Pavonis said.
“A sage,” Nacre said conspirationally.
“A sage!” Altair sputtered. “A fortune teller! You’re making life decisions now based on a fortune teller, Coralline? Is that how bad things have gotten?”
“I know what you mean,” Coralline said, “and I felt similarly at first, but the sage was uncannily right about everything else about me. I don’t see how she could be wrong about this. Either way, what do you want from me?”
“I want you to understand,” began Altair, “that entering the deep sea with Izar—relying on him wholly for survival, as he will rely on you—will forge an unbreakable bond between the two of you. For that reason, and for the reason that a mission to the deep sea is known to be suicidal—I suggest we turn back now and return home. You may be immoral these days, but do not fool yourself into thinking you are immortal. If you return home now, you will not save your brother, but you will at least save your relationship with Ecklon. If you enter the deep sea with Izar, you risk losing not only your brother, but also your own life, and the life you are soon to share with Ecklon.”