25
‘She’s a spy,’ said Macready. Of all the Court, the last one he was prepared to trust was this venomous bint.
‘Dearling,’ said Livilla, ‘if you’re going to accuse me of vile things, at least wash your hands first. I’m as trustworthy as they come.’
Macready and Kelpie had been working the docks. Kelpie had rope burns on her palms from a careless moment, but otherwise had fallen into the life of a working cove far more comfortably than Macready had. He was almost embarrassed by how long he had railed against making an honest living. He still drank, but not so much he had to hide it. It made a difference having Kelpie working at his side. Like maybe this new life made some sort of sense.
Now here they were, back in Velody’s kitchen, facing a battle all over again. Livilla sat there all smug and full of herself. Crane was hunched against the back wall, looking about as happy to be there as the rest of them. Delphine had managed to sit as far from Mac as possible without making it look deliberate. Clever lass that one. He missed her, but not as much as he’d thought he would. Letting her go was a fecking relief in the end. Someone else’s problem. Unless it was himself who was someone else’s problem.
Velody looked the same as ever: calm and steady and expecting them all to jump when she snapped her fingers. Of course they would. She was still a King if not the Power and Majesty. Even if the old rules were no longer supposed to apply.
‘Where’s Rhian?’ Delphine spoke up, the first thing she’d said since they’d all gathered together. ‘Should we be starting without her?’
Velody looked uncomfortably at Livilla.
‘The Seer is not on your side,’ said Livilla. ‘Just so you know.’
‘Don’t you mean “our” side?’ Macready said sharply. There she was, proving his point already. ‘Rhian wouldn’t throw her lot in with Garnet. That’s crazy talk.’
‘Livilla’s sanity is not the issue here,’ said Velody with a sigh. ‘I believe she’s telling the truth. About Garnet, and her captured courtesa. About Rhian. Something bad is coming, we know that. It might be sooner than we thought.’ She took a deep breath. ‘It’s time for me to take the city back from Garnet.’
Macready wanted to argue further about Rhian, but they had moved on. Fighting Garnet. He felt himself spark up at the thought of it, though practicalities took over soon enough.
‘He has the other Lords,’ he reminded her.
‘I know,’ said Velody. ‘But I have the sentinels. Also, I actually want to keep the city in one piece. I no longer know what Garnet’s motivation is.’
‘We don’t have our blades,’ said Crane suddenly. They all looked at him. He coloured a little, but continued. ‘We don’t have our blades. Ashiol is gone, and Garnet is crazy. We’re exactly where we were a year ago.’
Macready gave him a light shove on the shoulder. ‘We have Velody, lad.’
Usually he and Kelpie took turns to be the cynic. It wasn’t Crane’s job.
‘And that’s enough, is it?’ The lad sounded angry now. ‘We’re not Creature Court any more. We walked away. We chose that. It’s not honourable to try to get it back. We lost the fight.’
Macready let his hand fall, staring at him. ‘Got something better to do, have you?’
‘It’s all very well, this honour of yours,’ said Livilla. ‘But Garnet has none.’
‘You were happy enough to throw your lot in with him until he stole one of your toys,’ Kelpie said sharply.
Livilla’s eyes went cold. ‘And these are your precious sentinels, Velody? So very compassionate when it comes to the needs of a vulnerable child. Topaz is a person, not a toy. And she is mine.’
‘Don’t you act the high and brightness with us, love,’ said Macready. ‘You haven’t exactly been a saint over the years, have you? If there are lads and lassies in danger, it’s because you brought them into the Court.’
‘I saved them,’ Livilla said huffily. ‘Devils only know what Poet had in store for those lambs.’
‘And you have such a history of keeping your courtesi safe,’ Macready said, and watched hatred flash in her eyes. Good to know he still had the touch.
‘You’re not helping,’ said Velody.
‘And you’re trusting too easily.’
‘It’s what I do, Mac. Are you still angry at me for bringing him back?’
‘Apparently.’ He sat back and folded his arms.
‘I need Topaz home,’ said Livilla, starting to sound desperate.
‘Why?’ broke in Kelpie. ‘Because you’re worried about her? Or because you need your secret weapon?’
Macready glanced at her. ‘What are you on about, love?’
‘Topaz. She’s the salamander, isn’t she?’
Macready blinked. That was a word he hadn’t heard in a long time. ‘Salamanders don’t exist.’
‘This one does. I’ve seen her. She controls fire. She can shape herself at any size. And she’s loyal to you, Livilla.’ Kelpie’s voice shook only a little. ‘She carried the poison cup directly to me. The one meant for Garnet.’
‘Why do you let them ask all these questions?’ Livilla flung at Velody. ‘They’re not our equals. They’re dirt. No wonder you never get anything done.’
‘I tried demanding that everyone follow me blindly,’ said Velody. ‘It didn’t work out well. Now I listen. Is Kelpie right about this Topaz of yours?’
‘She’s been holding Garnet at bay with that little demme,’ Kelpie said scornfully. ‘He was afraid of her.’
‘Exactly,’ said Livilla. ‘So who knows what he will do now he has her in that damned cage.’
‘I know,’ said a voice.
Macready looked up and saw Rhian. She seemed taller, her wide shoulders filling the doorway. She was blazing bright, as if she had swallowed sunlight and it was shining out of her skin. The room smelled of smoke. Then she blinked rapidly and stumbled into the kitchen, herself again.
Delphine darted forward to help her. Macready hung back so as not to get in her way. ‘Quite an entrance,’ he noted.
‘What do you know?’ Livilla demanded of Rhian. ‘What has he done to her?’
Rhian pushed Delphine carefully away, keeping a distance between them. ‘I know what Poet and Garnet have in mind for the salamander demme,’ she said clearly. ‘They’re going to kill her on the Kalends of Saturnalis.’
‘It’s the Kalends today,’ said Velody.
Rhian nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘You look pale,’ Delphine accused. ‘And all bony — have you been eating?’
Velody stood up slowly, looking at her friend. ‘If you’re here, it’s because he wants you to be here. He wants you to tell me what they’re planning to do.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Rhian. ‘He doesn’t know I’m telling you his secrets.’
‘How can you still be so naive? He’s using you. He uses everyone. It’s how Garnet operates.’
‘As opposed to you, who only wants the best for us all? Saint Velody, the queen of everything.’
With that retort, worthy of Delphine, Rhian turned around and walked right back out of the house.
‘You can’t let her leave,’ Livilla insisted. ‘Not if she can help us save Topaz.’
‘I’ll go,’ said Macready, and darted out the door before anyone could debate it. He caught up with her in the alley.
‘Rhian, lass! Don’t huff off like that right when we need you.’
‘Keep your distance, Mac,’ she flung back at him, still walking. ‘Velody’s right. You can’t trust me.’
‘Hogshit,’ he said, and took her hand in his. It was warm, but no one got set on fire. Good result. ‘Why did you come back?’
‘This is my home.’
‘Haven’t noticed you around much.’
‘Do I have to defend myself to you, too? We were all so understanding when Velody got swept up in the Creature Court. Why has no one got the same patience for me?’
‘To be fair, Delphine wasn’t all that understanding with Velody …’
Rhian had no time for jokes. ‘They both have their roles — Velody, Delphine. You, too. Why can’t any of you see that what I’m doing is important?’
He kept holding her hand. ‘No offence, my lovely, but it looks a lot like you’re collaborating with the Power and Majesty who threw us all out of the Creature Court.’
‘Threw you out?’ Rhian snorted. ‘Garnet can’t do that. You did it to yourselves.’
‘Will you listen to what you’re saying?’ Macready said in disbelief. ‘Velody and Ashiol were this close to death.’
‘Their choice,’ she insisted. ‘I don’t have time for all this game playing and duels. The futures have no patience for such things, and neither does the Seer.’
Oh, it was never a good thing when anyone started talking about themselves in the third person.
‘This is pretty much what it’s always been like in the Court,’ Macready said carefully.
‘I know that. Do you think I don’t know that? I know everything, Mac. I have a dozen voices in my head, all telling me the same things, just in slightly different words, and some days I think I’m going to explode with them all.’
Rhian let go of his hand and leaned against the nearest wall, her chest rising and falling with the effort of it. She looked not just weary but old. Far too old for a lass like her.
‘I can see how that would make things hard,’ Macready tried.
‘You don’t see anything. I have it all inside my head. And it’s so important!’
‘Why?’ he asked gently.
‘Because I’m the last Seer!’ Her voice rang out across the alley and she looked horrified. ‘I don’t think I’m supposed to tell anyone that. So many secret … I can’t keep them all straight.’
‘What do you mean, love?’
‘I mean, this is it. I’m the last one. There won’t be any Seers after me. I don’t know what it means — if the city will fall, or if I’m going to be doing the job forever, or what. But it’s hard and it’s heavy and I don’t know what to do with it.’
She slid down the brick wall to the ground. Macready sat next to her. When he took her hand again, she let him.
‘How long have you known?’ he asked.
‘Since the nox Garnet came back. Everything crashed in on me and I saw so much … I’m still trying to make sense of everything I saw. I came to Velody today because I saw that I did. I went to Garnet because I’d seen that, as well. I know everything I’m going to do, and it makes it easier to do exactly that. At least I don’t have to make any decisions.’
‘How do you know the future you’ve seen is a path and not a warning? You can’t let it rule your feet and hands, lass. Fate is something to be fought against. You don’t walk into it like a —’
‘Like a lamb?’ Rhian said cynically. ‘I’m so tired. The voices in my head won’t be quiet, even for a moment.’
She leaned against him, and he let her, wondering when she had last used touch as comfort.
‘Can’t help noticing you’re still not burning me to a crisp,’ he said lightly after a while.
‘I can control it more now, the heat,’ she said. ‘Garnet — being around him helped, I don’t know why. Ashiol, too. I think because they’re both so used to having so much power in their skin. I can almost … borrow control from them.’
‘Can you see inside their heads?’ asked Macready, alarmed at the possibility.
‘Sometimes. I’m not sure if it’s their thoughts or my anticipation of events.’ Rhian sighed deeply. ‘Two minutes from now, you’re going to try to kiss me.’
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ he protested, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment. Damned Seers.
Rhian smiled, as if his sense of honour made her sad. ‘And yet.’
‘What’s going to change in two minutes?’ Macready demanded. ‘Are you planning to hit me with a rock or will I just randomly take leave of my senses?’
‘You do have a flattering tongue on you.’
‘It’s not that, love. You know it wouldn’t be right.’
‘What’s right means so much to you. You’re the last honest man in the world.’
‘Oh, I hope that’s not true,’ he said fervently.
They sat together for some time. The silence wrapped around them like a blanket. Once Macready was sure that two minutes and then some had passed, he said, ‘See? We can change the future.’
Rhian turned to him, her eyes so dark and melancholy though she was smiling. ‘You can,’ she said.
It took every ounce of control he had not to kiss her. The future was not going to make him its bitch. He reached out, though, and touched her face. ‘Fighting is the best thing we have. It keeps us sane and in one piece. Sitting still and letting the bad things happen — that’s what kills your soul.’
‘I lied,’ Rhian said softly. ‘You were never going to kiss me.’
He leaned in towards her.
A very definite sound of a throat being cleared filled the alley, louder than any thunderclap.
‘Velody wants to know if you’re coming back,’ said Delphine. Her eyes were bright and cold.