Rift climbed up to stand atop it, and explained, “This makes heat for the bathing rooms above. They only use it when it gets cold.”
A copper-sheathed chimney led up from it, and for a moment Moon thought Rift meant them to escape through that. It looked far too small and it was going the wrong direction. But there was a grate in the wall behind it, and Rift pried it open with his claws. It opened into a much larger shaft that led down through the wall of the tower. A cool breeze flowed from it, carrying the faint odors of outside air. “This is for ventilation,” Rift said as he climbed inside. “Ardan doesn’t know I’ve been down here.”
“Then why didn’t you escape before?” Moon followed him reluctantly. There were so many things he didn’t like about this that he couldn’t settle on which was the worst.
Rift hung from chinks in the wall, let Moon get through and then, one-handed, he tugged the grate back into place. “I didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Moon helped him pull the grate closed, which left the shaft with only the small amount of dappled vapor-light that shone through the bars. “What court are you from?”
Rift eyed him uncertainly as he clung to the grate. “I don’t have a court. I was traveling alone.”
Moon’s spines snapped up, his first impulse a renewed fury. He’s lying, he’s lying to make me think— Except Rift couldn’t know anything about Moon’s past.
Rift shrunk back against the wall at Moon’s reaction. Moon made himself lean back, settle his spines. He started to climb down and after a moment, Rift hurried to catch up. Moon asked, “How did you get here?”
Rift hesitated, as if afraid to provoke another angry reaction. It was already too dark to read his expression. He answered, “I came here a couple of turns ago, not by choice. I was traveling along the eastern shore and got caught in a storm. I got blown out to sea and couldn’t fly against the wind. I was exhausted, about to fall out of the sky, and I saw a trading ship. I landed on it. They locked me in the hold, chained me up, and brought me here to sell me to Ardan.” He took a sharp breath. “I know I should have let myself drown, but I wanted to live.”
Moon had wanted to give up more times than he could remember, and he was ten turns older than Rift, at least. He muttered, “You shouldn’t have let yourself drown.” He heard Rift miss a handhold and scrabble to recover. Moon added, “You’re lucky Ardan didn’t stuff you and stick you in his exhibit.”
“He had other plans,” Rift said, still sounding wary.
Moon clamped his claws into the stone and waited until Rift drew even with him. Going by sound and instinct, he grabbed Rift’s shoulder and felt the young warrior’s spines flatten into instant submission. He said, “You went to the Reaches with him. You led him to the Indigo Cloud tree. You could have escaped any time while the groundlings were traveling through the forest.”
Rift wriggled to get away, then made himself stop. He said tightly, “I didn’t want to leave him then. He was kind to me. He helped me.”
“You’re eager to leave him now.”
Rift sounded genuinely anguished. “I’d been to that colony tree ten times over the turns, I used to shelter there. That court must have been gone for generations—”
Moon let go of him and started down again. Rift’s story cut far too close to the bone. “It was. But they were attacked by Fell. They— We had to move back to the colony tree.”
Rift caught up with him, his claws scraping the wall. “You’re a consort. What are you doing here alone?”
Moon didn’t answer, and Rift froze for a moment in startled realization. “You’re not alone. There are others.”
Chapter Twelve
Not much further down the air shaft, they reached a grate that opened into a small dim room, most of it blocked by the bulk of another stove. Unlike the one on the upper floor, it was giving off warmth, and it smelled faintly of fish oil. “This way,” Rift said, tugging at the grate.
Moon set his claws in a crack in the wall and looked down. The scents of outdoor air still came from below them. “There’s a way out further down.”
“It’s too small. And the warding barrier blocks it, like the big doors on the ground floor.”