Argent hissed. “He told you that?” Behind her back, Cerise saw Silver and Beryl exchange sour expressions.
“And he told us why.” Cerise let that hang in the air a moment. She flicked her spines, shaking the rain off, making it a casual gesture. “Sunset Water made a mistake in sending him to you. He was too young to be taken, too young to make this decision.”
Argent’s hard gaze flickered. Cerise thought, Yes, I’m giving you an out, you stupid creature. Take it. If Argent blamed this on the consort’s youth, if she set him aside as inferior, she could get out of it with her pride intact. Cloud’s pride would not be intact but that would be something for the queens of his birthcourt to worry about. Cerise added, “He’s obviously too inexperienced for a mature queen.”
There was a hint of uncertainty as Argent said, “He betrayed me.”
Cerise moved a spine in agreement. She could tell Argent was having difficulty resisting her. Cerise was a reigning queen and Argent only an inexperienced daughter queen without much self-control; instinct made Argent want to submit to her, even though they were from different courts, different bloodlines. Cerise made her voice just a touch more persuasive, just a touch more confiding. “He’s been very childish. At least he’s given you an excuse to be rid of him.”
Argent tried to hold on to her righteous anger, but her spines were relaxing. The chance to complain about her consort to an older and apparently understanding queen was too much to resist. “He was very difficult, from the moment I took him. Sunset Water isn’t a prestigious court. He should have been grateful to me.”
Cerise signaled agreement again, wishing she could have convinced Beryl and Silver to come inside, so that this conversation would have taken place in the greeting hall. With the rest of the court around her, their scents filling the air, it would have been even harder for Argent to resist this persuasion. She said, “It was a mistake on his court’s part. They should have known.”
Then Beryl, obviously damp, tired, and impatient with the whole situation, said, “Argent, if the little fool doesn’t want you, let him go. It’s not the end of the Three Worlds.”
Argent whipped around and snarled at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Cerise saw Tranquil clap a hand over her eyes in disgust. Yes, Cerise agreed, don’t be stupid, Beryl, and stop trying to help.
Beryl snarled back. Argent said, “He’s my consort, she stole him, and I demand she face me!” She swung around to Cerise again. “Stop trying to influence me. I know what I want. If she doesn’t come out, I’ll come in after her.”
Cerise heard a low growl from one of the male warriors. She hissed and he quieted. Tranquil turned to bare her teeth at the whole group, letting them know what she would do to malefactors once they got back inside the colony.
Still facing Argent, Cerise said, “You don’t want to go to war over this.”
Argent bared her fangs and stepped closer. “I do. And I can make you. You know I can.”
Involuntarily, Cerise felt her spines flare. Her claws itched. Yes, Argent could make the court go to war. They couldn’t keep the Arbora off the platforms forever. If Argent attacked them while they were out tending the gardens, or if she went after a party of hunters, the court would explode. Or if she tried to force her way into the colony now, and Cerise killed her, Beryl and Silver would have no choice but to retaliate. The thought of it made Cerise want to rip Argent’s head off, even though that would bring about all the consequences she was desperately trying to avert. Cerise forced herself to say, “What about Sunset Water, the consort’s birthcourt?”
Beryl, who was apparently still trying to be helpful in the clumsiest way possible, said, “Yes, they should be involved in this.”
Too quickly, Argent said, “They gave him up. It’s none of their concern.”
Cerise wasn’t so enraged that she didn’t register that. Argent didn’t want Sunset Water involved. Which meant she knew Sunset Water might be inclined to take the consort’s side. What Cerise needed was time to get one of their queens here. On impulse, she said, “If you want to go to war, we should do it right.”
Argent eyed her with suspicion and Silver and Beryl both tensed, wary. Argent said, “What do you mean?”
Cerise said, “Call a meeting of queens from the courts of our allies. Tell them your grievance. Let them decide if you’re right to attack us. If they decide in your favor, maybe they’ll help you.”
Argent showed her fangs. “I don’t need help.”
Cerise showed hers, twice as long as Argent’s and the right one chipped where she had once killed an overambitious platform predator. “Yes, you do.”
Silver hissed, then said, “We agree. We agree to summon the other courts for a judgment.” She glared at Beryl.
Beryl flicked her spines. “We agree. Argent, you know your birthqueen will want it this way. The other courts will say they have to return the consort to you, and that Indigo will have to fight you.”
Unfortunately, she was probably right, but waiting for the courts to assemble would buy Cerise the time she needed. Argent rounded on Silver. “You’re enjoying this. You’re glad the consort humiliated me—”
Silver flared spines and wings, and all the warriors flinched in unison. “I don’t want to see you dead, you idiot!”
Beryl said, “The courts will side with us.” She tilted her head toward Cerise. “Your sister queen did steal the consort.”
The consort no one apparently likes or wants, who asked to be taken away, Cerise thought, but she didn’t want to fight that battle again. She just said, “We’ll see.”
Argent snarled, bitter and as angry at her sisters as she was at Cerise. “Very well. We’ll summon the other courts.”
Cerise took her warriors and retired inside, leaving the Emerald Twilight party to shiver in the rain for the rest of the night. They had said they would leave at dawn, to return to Emerald Twilight and send messages to their allies. Cerise just hoped that Argent didn’t change her mind before then.
Now she sat in the consorts’ quarters, in the little junction that Paragon used as a general seating area. Paragon and Cloud were the only consorts there; Cinnabar was fully occupied with Ruby at the moment and Paragon had chased all the younger consorts back to their bowers or the nurseries for the night.
Indigo, Fluff, and Tranquil took seats, while Cerise told Paragon what had been decided. She finished with, “So I’m sending messages to all our allies. Once Argent and the others return to their court, Emerald Twilight will be sending messages to theirs.” It gave them an advantage, as it would be at least five days before the queens could reach Emerald Twilight and Cerise could get her messages out by dawn tomorrow.
Paragon tapped his fingers on his knee. He was not pleased. “That seems to you a good idea.”
“Not really,” Cerise admitted. “But it was the solution that occurred to me first.”
“Our allies and their allies are not mutually exclusive groups.”
“I know that.” Cerise lifted her spines a little to make him back down, but as usual it had no effect. Older, settled consorts who had sired a few clutches were often so different from the young inexperienced ones that they might as well be from another species. “It’s a delaying tactic, while I contact Sunset Water.” She turned her attention to Cloud. “Is there anything specifically you’d like to tell your birthcourt? It would be better if I can include a note from you.” It would be best if Sunset Water knew immediately that Cloud wasn’t being held here as a prisoner. If Argent had any sense, she would have sent a message to them before she left Emerald Twilight claiming Cloud had been taken away against his will.
Paragon looked at Cloud, who kept his gaze on his folded hands. Paragon had been wearing a grim expression since this whole thing had started, so Cerise hadn’t taken much notice of it. Now she thought there was perhaps another cause. Paragon said, “Cloud has something he would like to tell Indigo.”
Everyone’s gaze went to the young queen. Indigo’s
spines twitched in agitation. Her voice soft, she said, “What is it?”
Cloud was silent. Paragon, almost under his breath, growled. Fluff and Tranquil exchanged expressions of weary dismay. Incredulous, Cerise thought, can this actually get worse?
Cloud eyed Paragon, then cleared his throat. “Everything I told Indigo was true. Except …”
Indigo stared. “Except what?”
He looked up and met her anxious gaze. “I don’t want to be taken by you either. I want to go back to Sunset Water.”
Ouch, Cerise thought. This … wasn’t exactly a surprise. Cloud had found himself with a queen who regretted her choice and didn’t care who knew it; it wasn’t believable that he would want out of that situation only to fly into the arms of another queen he barely knew.
Of course, Indigo hadn’t thought of that.
From the way Paragon was looking at Cloud, with a mix of sympathy and serious irritation, he knew that too. This was the first time Indigo had shown anything more than friendly interest in a consort, and whatever Cerise had thought of Cloud’s part in this situation, she had hoped … she let her breath out.
Indigo’s spines twitched, as she fought for control of her expression. “You said you wanted me.”
Cloud said, coolly, “I said that so you’d take me away from Argent.”
As much as she wanted to slap him in the head, Cerise admired Cloud’s self-possession. Paragon’s shoulders lifted a little, showing that if he had been in his scaled form his spines would have flared.
“You lied to me.” Indigo’s voice shook, and Cloud winced. She swallowed and regained her control. She settled her spines and said, “You should have told me the truth. I would have taken you directly to Sunset Water, and not put my court in danger for your sake.”
Cloud looked away. Indigo stood, and he flinched, then tried to make it look like a twitch of embarrassment. Cerise thought that told them everything about his relationship with Argent that they needed to know. Carefully not looking at him, Indigo hadn’t noticed. She walked out of the chamber toward the stair down to the queens’ level.
No one said anything for a long moment. Then Tranquil twitched her spines a little to ease the tension and said to Cerise, “Do you want me to check on the warriors who are taking the messages? They should be ready to leave by dawn.”
Cerise flicked her claws in dismissal. “Yes. I’ll come down and join you in a moment.”
Tranquil left. Cloud was still staring at the floor, shoulders hunched a little as if expecting a blow. Cerise said, “I’d still like you to write a note to your birthcourt. And explain everything. Including what you’ve just told us.”
Cloud drew a sharp breath and said, “Yes. I’ll do it.”
His tone mild, Fluff said, “Good.” He rummaged in the satchel he had brought. “I just happen to have some paper and ink right here.”
Cerise went back down the central well to the teachers’ hall, glad to get out of the fraught atmosphere of the consorts’ level. She had read Cloud’s note and he had indeed explained everything, so that was a relief at least. It was clear from what he had written that his situation was unfortunate and not something one would want for any consort, let alone one of your own bloodline. But it was also clear that he had rather mercilessly manipulated a young and inexperienced queen to get him out of it.
If the relationship between Cloud and Argent was as bad as it sounded, the reigning queen of Emerald Twilight was probably glad to be rid of him. Queens and consorts didn’t have to have a great deal of affection towards each other to produce royal clutches, but it was better if they were at least friendly. Both often took warrior lovers, and consorts were also expected to spread their bloodline among the Arbora who were hoping to produce mentors. It was rare for a queen and consort to dislike each other so much that it was obvious to even visitors to the court. And Cloud’s behavior had showed that he was anything but timid. If Argent provoked him so badly he attacked her, or if she had so forgotten herself as to physically injure him, the Arbora would have been angry it had been allowed to get to that point, and they would have forced the reigning queen to intervene.
The court was finally beginning to settle down for what was left of the night, though there were still plenty of Arbora and warriors awake. Fluff had told her the mentors had finished writing the messages to the other courts, and Cerise wrote the one to Sunset Water herself, to go along with Cloud’s note. The groups of warriors who would take them were all preparing to leave as soon as dawn broke. With all that settled, Cerise went to find Indigo.
It took some time, but Cerise finally tracked her down to the mentors’ library, below the teachers’ level and near the area of the colony where the Arbora did much of their artisan work. The large chamber was lined with shelves stacked with the hide-wrapped books that contained all the colony’s histories, its stories, its collected lore and knowledge. Shells provided light for reading, and a few piles of scattered cushions lay abandoned on the floor, but Indigo was the only one here.
She was in her Arbora form, smaller and softer, without wings. Queens didn’t have a groundling form the way the Arbora and other Aeriat had. Shorter claws and less pointed spines was as vulnerable as they got.
Indigo was staring at a shelf of books without seeing them. As soon as Cerise drew near, Indigo said, “I’ve been stupid.”
Cerise wasn’t going to argue with that. She did counter, “You’ve been young.” She toed a cushion away from the pile and sat down. She needed to get some sleep soon. The room smelled of the past, of tanned leather, of pounded reed paper and ink. “And this is not a situation any queen expects to encounter.”
Indigo shook her head, still facing the wall. “I still want him,” she admitted, sounding bleak. “I just don’t like him very much right now.”
Cerise knew she should just let that go. It would be easier to settle this dispute and prevent a war if Cloud went back to Sunset Water. But instead she found herself saying, “You should try courting him.”
Indigo frowned, as if the idea had never occurred to her. Cerise knew she had had these conversations with Indigo before, but apparently Indigo hadn’t thought any of it actually applied to her. It had been a concern, but there had always been queens who preferred the company of their female warriors to consorts, and consorts who preferred male warriors or other consorts. Usually if you could get them to have at least one clutch you counted the court lucky. Cerise had never been certain if Indigo was uninterested in consorts in general or had just failed to find one who attracted her. She said, “He was offered to Argent and he agreed, because his court probably needed the alliance. He’s never been courted before.” She shrugged her spines. “Maybe that will make a difference.”
Indigo ran her finger down the rolled hide cover of one of the books. “You think so?”
“I think so. And just talk to him, like you would talk to your clutch-brothers.” Indigo was accomplished in everything that didn’t involve choosing a mate; Cerise couldn’t imagine that a sensible consort wouldn’t be intrigued by that. She was certain to pass these traits down to her clutches. “Get to know each other. Maybe you’ll find that you don’t want him.” Like every other consort we’ve ever tried to interest you in, Cerise thought. If Indigo could for once use her uncanny power to be indifferent to beautiful consorts for good, it would be a relief, but Cerise wasn’t going to urge her one way or the other. “Just don’t be alone with him, not while all this is going on. Take one of the mentors with you when you visit him. Or sit with him down in the teachers’ hall.” Cerise trusted Indigo, and her gut instinct said that Cloud wouldn’t lie to bring more trouble on them, but there was no point in being careless.
Indigo considered it all, flicking her spines in indecision. “But it would be better for the court if we just sent him back to Sunset Water. Even if the other courts settled the dispute in our favor, Emerald Twilight will always hate us now” She leaned her forehead against a shelf. “I really have been very s
tupid”
“Emerald Twilight was never that fond of us to begin with.” Cerise sighed. “For now, you let me worry about everything else. Whatever you and Cloud decide, I can make it work.”
She hoped she was right.
To everyone’s relief, the Emerald Twilight party left in the morning. Shortly after that, Tranquil dispatched the warriors with the messages to summon their allied courts. The date set for the judgment was thirty days from now, which was plenty of time for the word to spread among the other courts and for the interested parties to travel here. Cerise had stipulated that they weren’t feeding any of them, which would probably eliminate some of the interest among non-allied courts. Close allies of Emerald Twilight and Umber Shadow were bound to show up, though. As long as Sunset Water comes, Cerise thought. That was the only one she cared about. And the sooner they came, the better.
For ten rainy but thankfully dull days life in the court went back to normal. Cerise spent her time worrying about Ruby’s impending clutch and consulting with the Arbora about the best choices for post-cool-rain season planting, forming a plan for the trade that needed to be done for the next season, and discussing how best to acquire the supplies necessary for producing the court’s own trade goods. A large predator appeared in the hunters’ territory which had to be dealt with, and the teachers presented two warrior fledglings who had misbehaved so badly as to need an audience with the reigning queen.
And as far as Cerise could tell, Indigo and Cloud did not speak or acknowledge each other’s existence in any way during the entire time.
Cerise had had plenty of opportunity to observe this because Paragon’s favorite rainy season activity was to go down to the teachers’ hall and listen to the Arbora read aloud. Cloud often followed him along with the other young consorts and fledglings, and Indigo and Lapis were usually there as well. Indigo and Cloud ignored each other in a way they both probably thought was discreet but that Cerise found as pointed as possible. And when they thought no one was looking, they watched each other.