Reign of Beasts (Creature Court) - By Tansy Rayner Roberts Page 0,72

if she was paired with Macready she would push him into the river.

‘I can keep an eye on the Haymarket without being spotted,’ Crane volunteered. ‘There’s an old nest near there.’

Velody nodded. ‘Take Delphine with you. Kelpie and Macready can stake out the lake. Livilla and I are best suited to search the river.’

She reached out one hand and Delphine watched in mild disgust as two small brown mice detached from the skin of her arm. One ran to Delphine, and the other to Macready.

‘If you see any sign of the sacrifice being readied, send it back to me,’ said Velody.

Delphine looked at the mouse and nudged Crane. ‘That can be your job.’

He grinned and scooped up the small creature. ‘Fine. But you have to kill any of the Lords and Court we run across.’

‘No problem,’ she said sweetly.

Delphine had been perfectly fine with never setting foot in the Arches again. The wet, musty underground smell got to her every time. She’d had to burn several outfits because no amount of washing could get rid of it, and if she hadn’t learnt the trick of washing her hair in mint and lemon, she would have been tempted to cut it even shorter.

Crane led the way down through winding tunnels (crawling; she would have been fine to avoid all future crawling as well!) to an alcove deep in the walls that surrounded the Haymarket.

‘I didn’t know there were any nests down here,’ she said as they squeezed into the small space together.

‘The Silver Captain made this one as an experiment,’ said Crane. There was really just enough room for one person, and Delphine was practically on his lap. ‘To see if he could do it without Garnet noticing. We would never have moved against him, but Cap wanted to gauge the Power and Majesty’s moods so he could pick the right moment to plead for our blades back.’

Delphine shifted uncomfortably as a corner of rock dug into her back. ‘Why didn’t it work?’

‘He died.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’

Delphine felt like she couldn’t turn around at the moment without putting her foot in her mouth. Though that was more acrobatic than she could contemplate right now. Crane smelled like wool and dried barley. The warmth of him was strangely comforting. Every time he shifted, even slightly, Delphine felt the planes of his body against hers.

There was one part where the wall was thin and they could actually see into the Haymarket. It was deserted.

‘Are you glad to be doing this again?’ Delphine asked, raising herself up on her toes to see better. The gap wasn’t quite a window, and if she looked too closely everything blurred.

‘I’m not glad that Garnet’s trying to sacrifice a child.’

‘That’s not what I asked.’

Crane sighed, a deep and weary sound for such a young man. ‘No, I’m not glad. Macready and Kelpie are born sentinels. It’s been a struggle for them to live without it. But I … was getting used to the idea.’

‘I know what you mean,’ said Delphine.

‘I would never walk away — I mean, I’m loyal to Velody. I left the Court because my duty was to her, and to Ashiol.’

She reached out to pat his shoulder and her hand closed around his upper arm. ‘You don’t have to explain anything. Velody’s lucky to have you.’

‘She doesn’t want me,’ he muttered.

Delphine remembered all those puppy-dog looks of his whenever Velody entered a room. The poor dearling. Velody’s taste in men was kinglier than Crane could provide.

‘I know what that’s like, too,’ she said.

Crane shifted and she felt his woollen cloak rustle against her. She was wearing hers, too, for the first time in months.

‘You?’ he sounded amused. ‘I thought you could have anyone you wanted. You got Macready easily enough.’

‘And lost him all over again.’

That came out more bitter than she had intended. She wasn’t going to dwell on Macready. Not now, not ever.

‘How long do we have to hide out down here?’

‘Hours,’ he said. ‘Until we’re sure the sacrifice won’t happen here, or we hear from the others.’

Hours jammed together like dormice in a pot, feeling sorry for themselves. No, that wouldn’t do at all.

‘We’ll have to find something to do to pass the time,’ she said.

Dusk was fading into nox. Velody glided high over the river, her chimaera form a dark shadow among many. Occasionally she caught a glimpse of Livilla in her creature form, or a shadow she thought was Livilla. The Wolf Lord was dangerously good at avoiding being seen, even if you