mouth tightened. Moon thought, he guessed we were responsible for the jolt, but he was hoping he was wrong. Ardan said, “I felt the leviathan’s distress. I take it that was something you did?”
“I don’t think the leviathan was distressed. I think it was relieved.” Moon hoped they were right about what the crystal piece did. If Ardan laughed in his face at this point, they were going to be in a lot of trouble. “The thing that was telling it what to do is gone.”
Ardan’s self-control wasn’t quite perfect, and Moon could hear the tension in his voice. “What thing?”
“The metal piece with the crystals. The one down there, in the pillar that cuts through the leviathan’s hide. The one that lets you use the power in the seed to send the leviathan all over the sea, anywhere you want.”
There was an uneasy ripple among the guards, but no one seemed surprised or appalled—as if they suspected Ardan had been lying to the whole city but didn’t like to hear it mentioned aloud.
Ardan’s expression hardened into annoyance. He glanced at the guards, and said, “You’re wrong, of course, no one can steer the leviathan. But that device, the leviathan’s bridle, is almost a legend. I’ve seen drawings, but…” With grim urgency, he said, “This creature could decide to sink at any moment. You could kill us all.”
Yes, that’s the point, Moon thought. He said, “Then give us the seed. It’s useless to you without the bridle, isn’t it? You’ve got a choice: lose all of your control over the leviathan, or just part of it.”
Ardan took a deep breath and watched him appraisingly. “You don’t have it with you.”
Moon flicked his spines, though Ardan couldn’t read that as a gesture of dismissal. “Of course not.”
“The others have it,” Rift said suddenly. “I’ve seen it.”
Ardan gave Rift a slight nod of thanks. Still thoughtful, he said to Moon, “As you must have guessed, I wasn’t able to open the sanctum. There is a wheel on the inside that operates the door, and whoever is in there was clever enough to find a way to jam it.”
Moon was fairly certain that a queen and a mentor working together had had absolutely no difficulty finding a way to jam the mechanism. Especially since they would have felt no need to be careful with whatever materials were available inside the dome. He just said, “They’ll open it for me.”
Ardan lifted a brow. “And would your companions trade both the seed and the bridle for you?”
Moon showed all his teeth. “If you try that, they’ll smash your bridle and scatter the pieces in the sea.”
“Why should I believe you?” Ardan smiled thinly. “Perhaps you’re too valuable to them. You are a consort. I know what that means.”
Rift said, “No. He’s like me, he was a solitary. His queen is the only one who wants him and she’s trapped in the sanctum. They won’t trade for him.”
Moon flinched. It wasn’t true; it was just Rift trying to help, melding truth with lies, which was apparently what he did best. It was just an accident that he had hit so close to the bone.
Ardan’s brow furrowed. His sharp gaze hadn’t missed Moon’s reaction. He said, “You’re certain?”
Rift had nothing in his voice but complete conviction. “They would never have sent a consort they cared about into your tower. Not even to save a colony tree seed.”
Moon set his jaw, and tried to ignore the sinking sensation in his stomach. They didn’t send me, I sent myself. Jade would never have agreed to the plan if she had been there to object. Somehow knowing that didn’t help.
Ardan hesitated, his face hard. He doesn’t want to make the trade, but he can’t see another way out, Moon thought. You hope he can’t see another way out.
Then a guard approached from out of the shadows in the direction of the mortuary’s main entrance. He moved forward cautiously, saluted Ardan with a half bow, and said, “Magister, please.”
Ardan said, through gritted teeth, “Excuse me a moment.” He turned and moved back to the line of guards to talk to the man. They faced away, speaking in whispers, and not in Kedaic.
Quietly, in Raksuran, Moon asked Rift, “Can you understand them?”
Rift glanced down. “Yes, they’re speaking Ilisai, a trader’s language. He said Magister Lethen is at the gate with Magisters Giron and Soleden. They have all their guards with them, and they say they have firepowder.”