of comforting her. I’ve brought her straight back to the memory of the one she couldn’t save tonight.
“I’m sorry about Daoman,” I say quietly.
“We were family,” she replies, soft and simple. “We were often at odds—as my power rose, his had to decline. It might even have come to a confrontation eventually. But neither of us had anyone else. He helped raise me. He cared for me.”
“Skyfall, Nimh,” I murmur. “I didn’t know.”
She shakes her head, as if chasing away the sympathy. “I spoke the rites for him as we made our way down the river,” she says quietly. “Now I will do as he taught me, and focus on what is best for my people.”
“What’s best for your people right now begins with rest,” I say.
She raises her gaze, eyes hollow. “How can I sleep?” she whispers. “Every time I close my eyes, I see him. Or Elkisa. Or the temple’s devotees, cowering in fear.”
I keep my eyes on hers, willing her to see that she’s not alone. “I’ll bring some of the blankets up on deck. We’ll talk about something else. Until you feel like you can sleep.”
There are blankets and cushions down below, but it’s too stuffy to want to sleep there. I bring up as many as my arms will carry and begin laying them out on the deck. Once I’ve made us a little nest, I ease down with a groan to pat the spot beside me.
She hesitates for a moment, and the cat immediately takes advantage of the pause to claim her spot for himself. It breaks the tension, and with a soft laugh she scoops him up, cradling him in her arms as she eases back to rest her head against a cushion. “Tell me about your family, North,” she says.
That I can do. That, I can distract her with.
“My family’s very small,” I begin. “There’s just me, my bloodmother, my heartmother, and my grandfather. My bloodmother, Beatrin, is definitely the strict parent. She’s a power player, the real politician in the family. My heartmother, Anasta, is softer. Because of that, people tend to underestimate her, and I think that’s the way she prefers it.”
“What about your grandfather?” she asks.
“He’s the kind of king I wish I could be one day,” I say. “He’s wise, and his people love him. I love him. When he’s scattered to the clouds, I think Beatrin will be a different sort of leader. And after her …” And there I trail off, because right now the question of whether I’ll ever lead my people is looking pretty grim.
I scramble for something else to say before we can dwell on that possibility. “I think you’d like my bloodmother, Beatrin. Or rather, I think she’d like you, very much. She and my heartmother both keep trying to teach me how to be a better prince, a better politician, a better leader—but you seem born to it.”
“Divinely chosen,” she corrects me, but her tone is wry. “They sound like a formidable team, your mothers.”
“They are,” I murmur, trying very hard not to think about how they must be comforting each other right now. How they must believe I’m dead.
I feel Nimh’s eyes on me, and after a brief pause, she’s the one to change the subject. “Did a man play a part in your making?” she asks. I suppose it’s a valid question—things might be different up above, especially if we’re all supposed to be gods.
“Yes, a councilor named Talamar. His part was strictly biological—I only got to know him recently. It’s very strange to meet someone and realize the parts of yourself that have come from them.”
“What is biological?” Nimh asks curiously, with absolutely no concern as to the personal nature of the question she’s asking.
“Um.” I wouldn’t usually have a problem talking about sex, but with Nimh lying here beside me on the blanket, so close I can hear her breathing, suddenly the question makes me flush. “It’s … I mean, he provided the … My mothers couldn’t exactly make a baby without …”
“Ah,” Nimh says, sparing me. And, finally, her cheeks darken a fraction, eyes skittering away to fix on a loose board on the deck instead of my face. “Biological means to lie with someone.”
I could correct her, but at this moment I’m too tongue-tied to manage it. She seems less discomfited, and saves me answering by changing the subject herself.
“Are there others in the cloudlands who are important to you?” she asks.
“The next most important