the area. The young consorts watched him warily as he crossed the balcony and took a seat near Moon and Shadow. Shadow greeted his arrival with a somewhat ironic nod. If he had said, You’re here and I can’t do anything about it, so I might as well accept it, it couldn’t have been any clearer. He said, “Are they talking yet?”
Stone regarded Shadow thoughtfully. “They’re getting there.”
“I told him about the seed,” Moon said, figuring if it was the wrong choice, they might as well get the consequences over with.
Apparently it wasn’t, because Stone just grunted an acknowledgment.
Shadow said, “I was just realizing how little I know about the seeds. No one has needed to create a new colony tree for uncounted turns, so there has been little reason to speak about them.”
Stone nodded. “Got any extras?”
“I’m sure we must have.”
They went further down inside the mountain-thorn’s trunk, a level or so below the consorts’ bowers, toward a chamber where Stone said the queens were gathered. Shadow stopped at the intersection of the passage that led to it, saying, “Go on. I must speak to Ice first.”
He took another doorway, and Moon and Stone started down the passage. Moon asked, low-voiced, “Is he going to help us?”
Stone shrugged. “He’s going to tell his queen what we told him. It all depends on her.” He added, apparently serious, “When we left you in the greeting hall, I thought this might happen.”
Moon threw him an exasperated look. “You did not.”
The way opened into a big round chamber and, like the upper passages, the walls were closely woven branches, allowing air and light to pass through. The floor was made of squares of different woods, all smoothed and polished to show the grain. It didn’t seem elaborate enough for this court, until Moon glanced up. Between the two wells that opened into the domed roof hung a giant circular sculpture of queens in midair battle. It wasn’t a particularly good omen for this encounter.
There were seating cushions scattered in the center of the room, and Jade, Flower, and the sister queen Tempest sat there, with three other queens. All four Emerald Twilight queens had consorts with them, all about Moon’s age, and from even a cursory glance he could tell that like the consorts up in the bowers, they were all better dressed and prettier than he was. At least Ash wasn’t present, which would save some embarrassment.
As Moon and Stone stepped out of the passage, all the queens and consorts turned to look. Moon froze for a heartbeat, pinned by those concentrated stares.
Jade touched an empty cushion next to her. Stone put a hand on Moon’s lower back and gave him a little push forward. Moon forced himself to move at an even pace, to walk to Jade and sit down. “Where were you?” she whispered.
Settling next to Flower, Stone answered for him. “He got in a fight with a daughter queen then ran off with the reigning queen’s consort.”
Jade stared at Stone. “What?”
Flower leaned around Stone to frown at Moon. “Where was this?”
Moon threw a glare at Stone. “I saw Shadow and he said—”
But Tempest cleared her throat, making it obvious they were being rude. Jade turned back to face her and the other queens, her jaw tense as if she suppressed a hiss. Moon sat back on the cushion and tried to hide his impatience.
Tempest formally introduced the other queens and consorts. Three of the other consorts had been born in different courts, Sky Cinnabar and Sunset Water. The way this was presented made it clear they represented very important alliances. Then it was Jade’s turn. She introduced Stone, and then said, “My consort, Moon of Indigo Cloud.”
There was a short expectant silence. Then one of the other queens tilted her head inquiringly. “Of a different bloodline within Indigo Cloud?”
Oh, here we go, Moon thought, gritting his teeth. They had to know the answer already, either from someone who had seen the confrontation with Ash in the greeting hall or who had heard him talking to Shadow in the bowers. If Flower’s sardonic expression was any indication, she thought so, too. Stone just looked bored.
Jade didn’t betray any irritation by so much as a single spine twitch. She said, “No. He’s the only survivor of a court that was destroyed almost forty turns ago.”
There was another silence, this one far more uncomfortable. There weren’t many replies the other queens could make without calling Jade a liar, or calling Moon