40
Velody dozed for a little while, long enough to be thrown into the middle of a disorienting dream. Garnet lay draped over a gold throne, his eyes shining brightly. He looked as young as he had that nox when he stole a kiss and her animor in a single breath.
‘Tick tock, tick tock,’ he teased. ‘Time to wake up, little mouse.’
She jolted awake and looked around. The Clockwork Court had no shelter. They were all huddled near the river, wrapped in blankets. They looked miserable and defeated. Celeste and Lysandor, down by the bank, were planning the strategy for the coming nox.
‘If only they had sentinels, they would have nests,’ Kelpie hissed to Velody.
‘If only they had a Seer, they might know for certain that they are doomed,’ Velody said back. ‘It’s no use wondering about if only. All they have are the saints, and the dust.’ And nests wouldn’t protect them if the whole city was swallowed. ‘Where’s Ashiol?’
Kelpie shrugged. ‘Gone.’
Velody swore. Trust him to slope off on his own without saying a word. ‘If ever a cat deserved to be leashed …’
Celeste was coming towards them, her face grave. ‘Where is Ashiol?’ she demanded.
‘Gathering his strength,’ said Velody, gazing right back at her, daring the other woman to challenge her word.
‘As long as he is here for the battle.’
‘Of course he will be,’ said Velody, though she knew nothing of the sort.
It was a reasonable promise: if Ashiol hadn’t got himself killed, chained up or drunk, he wouldn’t miss a battle. Sadly, none of those possibilities were unrealistic. She glanced at Kelpie, who looked worried. Oh, yes. One way or another, Ashiol had to be in trouble.
Velody stood up. ‘Your pardon, Power and Majesty. We need to do something. We will return by nex fall.’
Celeste’s smile was bitter. ‘We never expected you to stay for our fight. You have a city of your own to think about.’
‘Your expectations are meaningless to me,’ Velody said flatly.
She took Kelpie’s hand and they headed away through the city. ‘Where do you think he could have gone? He looked too damaged to walk.’
‘It’s Ashiol — he could be up to anything.’ Kelpie looked at her. ‘Are you really going to fight at their side? What if you die here? Aufleur needs you.’
‘Tierce could probably have done with me, too,’ Velody pointed out. ‘We do what we can, where we can. This is our battle now. Only we have to get Ashiol back first.’
‘Right, then,’ said Kelpie, stretching her battered body. ‘Train station or Palazzo?’
Velody gave her a hard look. ‘You think he might be running away?’
Kelpie grinned fiercely. ‘Of course not. He’s not that smart.’
Ashiol was cold, shivering all over, his whole body dripping with sweat. He didn’t know what the f*ck the Duc-Elected had dosed him with, but it was nothing familiar. He was going to die here, like this, helpless.
Every time he fell out of consciousness, he heard Garnet laughing at him.
He couldn’t change shape. He rolled, tried to get out of the bed, but the blankets weighed him down and he fell with a crack to the floor, humiliated at his failure.
Some time later, cool hands lifted him back onto the bed. Cold, rigid hands.
Ashiol opened his eyes and stared into the face of a clockwork saint.
‘Saints,’ Kelpie whispered. ‘All around the perimeter of the Palazzo.’
They were hiding at the edge of the oak grove, surveying the scene.
‘Are they there to keep us out or something in?’ Velody muttered. She could not forget the sight of the mechanical men blasting the Emporium to pieces.
‘Does it matter? We can’t get in, and we don’t even know if he’s in there.’
‘Of course he’s in there,’ said a voice.
Both women spun in alarm to see a young man standing before them. Falcon, Velody realised, her animor sparking in response to his. He wore a bright blue and ivory suit, but the dust and skysilver burn from the Emporium collapse still clung to his skin.
‘I know you,’ said Kelpie. ‘You’re one of those secretaries.’
‘He’s Clockwork Court, too,’ Velody warned.
Kelpie looked at her as if she had tried to teach her grandmam to darn socks. ‘Obviously. Question is, whose side is he on?’
‘Yours,’ the young man said with a pout. At their sceptical looks, he added. ‘Ashiol’s. He tried to convince the Duc-Elected to evacuate the city.’
Velody sighed. ‘Of course he did. He keeps forgetting that he’s not ten feet tall. What happened?’
‘He tried to show them how animor works, but they didn’t see it properly. They’re just assuming that he’s crazy.’
Above, the light was beginning to fade from the sky.
‘We can’t get to him in time,’ Kelpie said in frustration. ‘Not with all those saints standing between him and us.’
‘Yes,’ said Velody patiently. ‘If only one of us had the power to become something small enough to escape their notice.’
Kelpie glared. ‘I liked you better when you weren’t sarcastic all the time.’
‘No, you didn’t.’ Velody reached out and patted the arm of the secretary, who looked distressed and ill. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Troyes,’ he managed.
‘I think it wouldn’t hurt to fetch a few more friends for this, don’t you think, Troyes? Just in case stealth fails us. Backup is important.’
Ashiol was lost in the darkness now. There had been more drugs, he was fairly sure, something green and sticky that left a coating on his mouth. Dust clung to it, so he could taste Priest all the way down his throat.
Not Priest. The sky. The sky was not Priest. Priest was dead.
Ashiol was so far gone that his vision was almost clear again. He saw the Duc-Elected cross the floor, coughing, and saw the dust that emerged from his throat onto a handkerchief. He saw Velody under him, crying out, her skin so hot he couldn’t bear to touch her. He saw Livilla, head thrown back in a laugh, only it wasn’t Livilla at all, it was Tasha …
He saw Celeste, blood all over her white dress and wings, shrieking angry owl hoots at Garnet. A child. Not one of them had a child they hadn’t stolen from someone else or rescued from the streets. If Celeste had managed it, it had to mean something. Had to be for a reason.
The next drug they gave him made his skin so hot that he screamed. There were clockwork saints everywhere, holding him down, standing guard at the side of the Duc-Elected and his sons.
Dust. There was dust everywhere.
‘Forgive me for what I have done,’ said Priest, sounding older and sadder than in the entire time Ashiol had known him. ‘I am not myself.’
Ashiol opened his eyes, squinting through damp eyelashes, and a mouse ran over his pillow.
He smiled.
Velody waited, her tiny heartbeat chiming the seconds, until the old man in the brocade suit and his clockwork saints had left the room. Then she called in the rest of her, one mouse at a time, and formed her own body. Naked, she leaned over the sweating, shaking figure of Ashiol.
‘Wake up,’ she crooned. ‘Come on.’
He smelled of potions and salt, and he opened his eyes easily enough, but only to grin stupidly at her, his face feverish.
It wasn’t endearing.
‘Nearly nox,’ she said. ‘Snap out of it. We couldn’t get Kelpie in; she’s waiting at the trees. You can have her blood, as much of it as you like, but not yet. I need you on your feet.’
‘I love you,’ he said dreamily, to the ceiling and not in any way to Velody. ‘You can’t make me stop. You’re mine now.’
Velody sighed. ‘Fine,’ she said impatiently, and shaped herself into chimaera. The power buzzed through her muscles and broadened her back, and she was able to scoop him up from his bed as if he were a doll. He was heavy, but she was strong.
Somewhere, a clock was chiming. Everywhere, clocks were chiming, one after the other. The Palazzo shuddered with the sound of clocks heralding the hour.
Velody went to the balcony doors and pulled back the curtain. Three clockwork saints stood nearby, unmoving. She could hear every whirr and scrape of their inner workings.
‘You are too late, my dear,’ said a voice.
Velody turned, and saw an older gentleman in a bright red velvet suit — the Duc-Elected — standing in the doorway.
‘We do not need protection from the likes of you,’ he said politely. ‘As you can see, we have everything under control.’
Velody shifted into Lord form, her naked skin glowing white in the dim room, Ashiol’s body still cradled in her powerful arms. ‘Your saints betrayed the Court.’
‘They did as they were expected to do.’
‘They’re not defending the city,’ she said angrily. ‘They’re working for those … things that lie beyond the sky. Our enemy.’
‘Your enemy, perhaps,’ said the Duc-Elected. He coughed discreetly into his handkerchief. ‘But what on earth made you think that we are supposed to defend the city from them?’
Velody stared at him. ‘You’re behind this? You sold out your own city to them. Your own people!’
‘We will be safe beyond the sky. It is an honour that they want us there.’
‘Believe me, I’ve been there,’ she grated. ‘It’s nothing special.’
There was an eerie light in the Duc-Elected’s eyes. ‘That is not for you to say.’
Velody made a quick step towards the balcony, but the clockwork saints clanked into her path, preventing her escape. She went chimaera and flew at the Duc-Elected. He shoved back against her, unreasonably strong, and she stumbled, almost dropping Ashiol. She growled under her breath.
The glass doors shattered suddenly, shards falling everywhere. White owls and grey falcons filled the room with harsh cries.
The clockwork saints fell to pieces as a skysilver sword sliced through them as if they were made of cotton. Kelpie sat astride a lynx, swords bared, looking terribly pleased with herself. ‘Time to go!’