“But the Fell know Opal Night is here, now. They won’t be vulnerable. They may use the city to set a trap for us.”
“True.” She had clearly considered the possibility already but just wasn’t much concerned by it. “What do you propose?”
Moon had been thinking about this since he had first seen the city. “The groundlings at Aventera have projectile weapons, and flying craft. If they had time to prepare, and our help, they could set traps for the Fell. Like a flying craft driven into the giant sac the major kethel carried here, that then bursts into flame.” He would bet that the Aventerans had things that could burst into flame on command; they seemed like that kind of people.
“It’s a possibility.” But Malachite didn’t sound as if it was a possibility she preferred. She studied him so intently, Moon wanted to twitch. Sensing she might be testing his resolve, he didn’t. “But the groundlings don’t trust us enough to take our counsel, let alone our direction in battle.”
It was hard enough to talk to a powerful Raksuran queen; this was like talking to a member of a completely different and unfamiliar species. Moon couldn’t tell if he had a chance of convincing her of anything or if she just kept replying because she liked looking at him and wanted the encounter to continue. He persisted, “But they might trust Delin, the groundling scholar from the Golden Isles. He’s used to speaking to all different species, and he knows a lot about Fell.” Moon wasn’t certain how much of a diplomat Delin was; possibly he was far too straightforward to be very good at it, at least with people like the Aventerans. But it was still worth a try. “If we speak through him, they may listen.”
Malachite’s tail actually almost twitched. “Delin is the old groundling from the flying ship, who saved your life?”
Moon frowned. “He saved my life?”
“Lithe said the simple he gave you aboard the ship slowed the poison’s progress. It gave the mentors time to act.”
“That’s him.” Moon considered adding that Delin really wanted to speak to the Aventerans and would take Malachite’s approval of this as a personal favor, but resisted the impulse.
Malachite said, “Lithe also came to me with a plan.”
“She told us about that, too. We want to combine her plan and ours.”
Malachite didn’t move, didn’t flick a spine, didn’t blink, but Moon got the sudden strong sense that he had just lost his audience. Her voice perceptibly colder, she said, “Lithe has no need to prove herself to me.”
“I think she knows that.” Moon knew the ground underfoot had suddenly turned treacherous, and he had no idea why. “But she wants to prove herself to the others.”
“What others?”
“I don’t know.” Moon added, “Maybe she wants to prove it to herself.”
He thought that was a pretty good answer, but Malachite evidently didn’t. “Lithe has never shown any need for this before.”
“The Fell never came here before.” Maybe he needed to put this on a less personal level. Moon had known Lithe for only a few days; he couldn’t claim to be an expert in what she needed or wanted. “Auburn told us the mentors are looking for people from the eastern colony who might have been influenced by the Fell, but they can’t find anyone. You need to know how the Fell found out about your crossbreeds.”
Malachite showed the tip of one fang. “How many of these thoughts came from the Sister Queen of Indigo Cloud?”
Moon felt his skin go hot with anger. “You’re insulting me.” He couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice.
“She has insulted both of us.” Malachite’s spines lifted. “She thinks to use this as a way to force me to acquiesce to her claim on you.”
“It’s not a claim. I’m taken. She asked me and I consented.”
“You had no idea what you were agreeing to.”
“I did in every way that mattered.”
“You had no right to consent—”
“Because you own me?” Moon’s patience snapped and he pushed to his feet. She wouldn’t let him shift, so he didn’t try. “You gave up any right to me when you left me behind.”
It was possibly the most deliberately cruel thing Moon had ever said to anybody, and he knew the instant the words were out he would regret them, but in this moment they were deeply satisfying. He saw Malachite take the blow and steel herself against her own reaction. Her spines rattled like a death knell, and the muscles in her jaw tightened, suppressing a growl or a hiss or the urge to bite his head off. But her anger was less frightening than the iron control in her voice. “Nevertheless. Indigo Cloud took advantage of you, knowingly.”
Moon had the sudden impulse to make that control snap. He hissed bitter amusement. “You’re lucky it was Indigo Cloud that found me.”
That did it. Malachite’s tail lashed. A real full-length lash clearly expressive of her angry consternation. “What does that mean?”
“I didn’t know what I was. I could have become anything. I would have, if someone had promised me a place to belong. The first time I saw Fell, I thought I was one. Of course, in your court, that wouldn’t be a problem.” His voice rose and he couldn’t stop it. “You have no more right over me than that dead progenitor has over Shade!”
He turned toward the doorway. Malachite landed in front of him in a near-silent bound; Moon jerked back, hissing. She lifted her hands, claws retracted. “Wait.”
He stepped back, watching her warily.
“This changes nothing.” Malachite stepped away from the door. She had gone from rage to cool composure in less than a heartbeat. Her self-control was daunting, infuriating, and completely intact. “If your groundling agrees, let him ready his craft to go to Aventera. I’ll speak to Lithe and the other mentors about the rest.”
At the moment, all Moon wanted to do was yell more. He stepped past her and went through the passage out of the bower. When he reached the larger room just outside, he found several warriors sitting around the hearth staring at him in various degrees of shock. They had heard that last shout, and it would be all over the court by this afternoon. Growling under his breath, Moon shifted and tore out of the room.
He found Chime waiting for him in the passage back to the consorts’ hall. Chime took in his expression as Moon shifted back to groundling, and said, “You lost your temper?”
“Yes.” Moon made himself take a deep breath.
Chime’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “So she won’t let us talk to the groundlings or trap the Fell?”
“No. She’ll do that.” Moon was fairly sure of it. She would give that to him, because he wanted it. Malachite was willing to give him anything he wanted except Jade and Indigo Cloud.
Chapter Fifteen
As Moon predicted, Rise came to him around mid-morning to tell him that Malachite had agreed to Lithe’s plan.
After that, there was a flurry of preparations.
The spot chosen to set the trap was a flying island floating over the plain less than a half day of warriors’ flight from Aventera’s plateau. The group who would go and wait in hiding near it was smalclass="underline" Stone, Malachite, two of Onyx’s daughter queens, and some of their warriors. The Opal Night warriors were among those who had been examined by the mentors for Fell influence, but they wouldn’t be told where they were going or why until they reached the spot.
Jade and Balm were also going, though Moon wasn’t certain how Jade had managed it. He doubted Malachite had changed her opinion of Jade over the course of the morning.
Before they left, Moon managed to see Jade alone for a moment, catching her attention from a cubby off one of the colony entrance passages while the others assembled outside.
Jade glanced down the corridor cautiously as she stepped into the cubby. Moon asked her, “How did you get Malachite to let you come with her?”