past my lips before I think better of it—her people are holding weapons, and I’m not. But my anger is spiked by bitter disappointment, my throat aching with it as I force myself to swallow, as I steady myself.
Nobody from Alciel is coming. My people all still think I’m dead.
I’m not going home.
But I’m not going to let Inshara have the satisfaction of seeing my pain. I’m not going to give her anything. So somehow, from somewhere, I find a casual voice that sounds like it’s coming from someone else. “I’m not sure red is your color, Insha.”
She gives me just the tiniest flicker of irritation for the fact that I’ve chopped the goddess part off the end of her name, and then it’s hidden. She smiles, glancing down at the robe and smoothing it with one hand. “I wear what duty dictates,” she says with a wry smile. “Interesting to see that you do too.” Her gaze is a little keener as she takes in my sash, a match for her robe.
She’s wearing Nimh’s crown, and she still has on the odd assortment of trinkets and necklaces she wore when she first broke into the temple. When her hand slides down the chain that hangs around her neck, my eyes involuntarily follow it. My gaze stops short when I realize what’s at the end of it. A small, square face, green numbers faintly glowing.
A chrono.
“It’s a holy relic,” she says, following my gaze, fingers tightening around its illuminated face. “Fallen from the gods above centuries ago. But, of course, you know what it is.”
I manage to keep my mouth shut, because I do know what it is. Better than she does, apparently.
That thing isn’t centuries old. I’d be surprised if it was even decades old. My grandfather has the same model, claims he can’t figure out the controls on the latest designs, or focus his eyes on the holographic displays. Where did she get it?
“I’m interested that you wear holy relics,” I say, “when a few days ago I saw you murder a high priest.”
Beside her Techeki very nearly winces—it’s just a slight narrowing of his eyes, and then he’s as smooth as ever. I can hardly believe this guy. He spent most of Nimh’s life serving her, and now he’s here beside her greatest enemy without even a hint of an apology.
Inshara sighs, eyes lowering. “I would have preferred not to kill anyone,” she says. “But Daoman ruled the temple with an iron fist. Nimh was discovered so much younger than any divinity before her. Did you not wonder why? It was so he could control her completely, after my mother was such a disappointment to him. He was an ambitious man. He found Nimh, he raised her, and he taught her to see the world just as he wanted it seen. He used her, and she was owed justice for it, as much as anyone was.”
I want to tell her to take her false sympathy for Nimh and shove it where the birds don’t fly. But I have to admit her thoughts are eerily similar to my own, when I first learned about Nimh’s childhood.
Inshara’s eyes are grave as she watches me, and I get the sense that she can see and measure exactly the impact of her words. “I want you to help me find Nimh,” she says simply.
I snort involuntarily. “Why would I even consider doing that? Didn’t we just finish discussing how you wish people didn’t have to die, but apparently sometimes they do?”
There’s not even a ripple in her calm. “You should consider it,” she replies. “Because once you’ve assisted me, I can send you back to the sky, Your Highness.”
My heart just about stops. She has a chrono. Could she have other tech?
But even as I want to shout a yes at her, the rest of what she’s said strikes home.
Your Highness?
I’ve told exactly one person in this world about my family: Nimh.
“How could you … ,” I begin, though words fail me before I can get any further.
Inshara raises one eyebrow. “I do have the spirit of the true Lightbringer speaking to me, North. He tells me many things. Like, for instance, that the boy Nimhara has cast in her version of the prophecy is actually a prince in the cloudlands. That he fell to this world by accident, not because of destiny. That his mothers worry about him very much and want nothing more than to see him safely home.”
I