He tried to pull away but she didn’t let go. She said, “You didn’t give me a chance to tell you I’m glad you’re alive. I get here and find out you’ve talked your way into a groundling wizard’s tower, a groundling wizard who collects the decaying bodies of rare creatures—”
“You were supposed to give us three days.”
“I couldn’t wait.” She let him go and turned away with a distracted hiss. “Now the warriors are probably trapped out here and this damn thing is still moving. If we go further out than even Stone can fly, we can’t even—” She bit the words off.
Moon rubbed his arms where her hands had pressed into his groundling skin, jolted into remembering that Rift wasn’t the only issue. If they all died here, unable to escape, or drowned trying to reach the forest coast, it would be Jade’s fault for not waiting. That would please River, though probably not much, what with being dead himself. And why had Pearl sent River after them and not one of her other warriors? As far as Moon had been able to tell, she had always kept her favorite warriorlover close at hand. Maybe River had wanted to prove himself. Things had changed in Indigo Cloud, and maybe River couldn’t hold on to his status without showing he was willing to risk his life for the court like Vine and Floret and the other warriors.
He could worry about River’s motives later. Jade was too much of a Raksura to remember there were other ways off this leviathan than flying. Moon said, “The groundlings—Esom and Karsis—have a boat.”
Jade’s spines twitched. “Of course,” she muttered. She turned to him, her brow furrowed. “They’ve said they won’t leave without their friends. We’d have to take it from them.”
Moon shrugged uncomfortably. “I know.” Negal and his crew had helped steal the seed. But telling Esom and Karsis they were on their own was one thing; forcing them to abandon their people to die was another. Maybe we could work something out. They didn’t need a boat for the whole trip, just to carry them far enough that the coast was within a safe flying distance for the warriors. “Maybe…” He let the word trail off as he realized the subtle sway of the tower, the sense of motion, was dying away with the howl of the wind.
Jade went to the window. Moon reached her side and looked over the rooftops out to the sea. The rising sun broke through the streaked clouds and glanced off the water, glittering on the roiling whitecaps stirred by the leviathan’s fins. But the waves died down and settled to swells. The leviathan was gliding to a halt.
Jade hissed in bitter amusement. “You and Rift escape Ardan, and suddenly this creature moves further out to sea? It can’t be a coincidence.”
Moon leaned on the windowsill. “It has to be. The whole reason the city needs the magisters at all is because the leviathan moves… at random.” Huh. That was what all the groundlings thought, anyway. Because that’s what the magisters tell them.
Jade’s expression was thoughtfully skeptical. “How convenient for the magisters.”
Moon looked out to sea again. “Some groundlings who live here told us that turns ago the magisters started to lose their power, and the leviathan woke and swam away. They can still keep the city together, but they can’t make the leviathan go back to the shore.”
“Or they let the leviathan swim away, so they could keep control of the city,” Jade said.
“Maybe. Maybe they have just enough power to make it move when they want.” Ardan clearly had some hold over Magister Lethen, a hold that Lethen bitterly resented. “Or when Ardan wants. Maybe he’s the only one with the power to make the leviathan move anymore. He’s the youngest magister.” He turned away from the window, thinking over what Ardan had said, and not said.
“We know he thought our seed would help him somehow, give him power. We don’t know if he was right or not.” Jade shook her spines, irritated. “We won’t know until we find this mortuary temple.”
Moon hesitated, but he wanted this point settled. “Are you going to let Stone kill Rift?”
Jade twitched at the question. But she said, “Not today.” Her voice hardened. “That’s as far as I’ll go.”
Moon set his jaw, forced himself not to argue, and walked out.
Moon went back into the main room. Rift sat on the floor in the far corner. Esom and Karsis were still seated on the bench, and Chime, Balm, and Drift stood around looking uncomfortable.
Moon asked, “Where’s Flower?” River was missing too, but he didn’t care if River had gone up to take a turn on watch or had flown away to die somewhere.
He had spoken in Kedaic, and Karsis answered, “She said she was going to talk to the older man who stormed off earlier.”
“Is Jade all right?” Balm asked, a little hesitantly.
“Yes.” Moon was hesitant too. “She’s… resting.”
Drift sneered. “She should give you a beating.”
Moon took a step toward him. His expression must have made his first impulse clear. Drift flinched back and hissed.
Balm hissed at Drift, and Chime threw him a glare, saying, “Why don’t you go say that to Jade and see what happens?”
Apparently declining to follow that advice, Drift subsided. He retreated to lean against the wall with his arms folded, and eyed Moon resentfully.
Esom and Karsis sat stiffly, trying to look as if they weren’t tense to the point of rigidity. It seemed cruel to expose them to any more of Drift than absolutely necessary, but they had to be watched. Moon nodded toward an alcove on the other side of the room. It had another stone bench and room to stretch out on the floor. The two groundlings had been awake all night, too, and had to be weary. He said, “You can go over there to rest, if you want. Chime, do you have spare blankets?”
Chime turned to one of the packs lying against the wall. “Yes, I’ll find some. And some water, and I think we have some dried fruit and roots they could eat.”
Relaxing a little, Karsis said, “Thank you,” and Esom nodded, still stiffly.
Moon went over to where Rift was crouched in the corner and sat near him. Rift watched him warily, his body tight with tension. This close, Moon could scent the fear in his sweat. He said, “They won’t kill you.”
Rift’s shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes for a moment. He made a noise that was between a sob and a harsh laugh, and looked up at Moon again. “Your queen does whatever you want?”
Moon stared him down, until Rift dropped his gaze. “Sorry,” Rift muttered. “I didn’t mean… The consorts at my court weren’t like you.”
That was probably true. “Did Ardan think I was here alone?” Yesterday Moon had told the magister that he had friends waiting for him, but he was hoping Ardan had taken that as a lie, part of Moon’s persona as a trader.
Rift shook his head. “I don’t know. He didn’t even tell me that he had another guest.”
Moon let out his breath. He didn’t think that was a lie. Rift’s shock at seeing another Raksura had been genuine. “How much does Ardan know about Raksura? When he saw me shift, would he have known I was a consort? That a consort wouldn’t be here alone?”
Rift’s brow furrowed as he considered it. “He knows what a consort is, but… I’m not sure he really understands, not well enough to realize you wouldn’t be traveling alone.” Rift hesitated and watched him uneasily. “Why did they send you to the tower? Why not one of the warriors?”
Moon drew back. “I’ve been around groundlings. The others haven’t.” He wasn’t ready to say more than that. Rift already had a hold on him, he didn’t need to know details. He countered, “What did you do to get thrown out of your court?”
It was Rift’s turn to recoil. After a moment, he said, “The queens didn’t like me.”
The flicker of hesitation in Rift’s eyes told Moon it was a lie. And if that was a reason to be exiled, half of Indigo Cloud would be wandering the Three Worlds. “Were you from a royal clutch?”