"What?" Atreus demanded. "The knowledge that I'll always be a monster?"
"Perhaps it was me."
"You?" Atreus took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was not the only person who had been deceived here. He took Seema's hand and shook his head. "Perhaps Sune is fickle, but she is not cruel, not when it comes to love. She would never have sent me to find you, knowing I would only lose you a few weeks later."
"Perhaps you do not have to lose me," said Seema.
"Then you can convince the Sannyasi to let us stay?" asked Rishi.
"That is not what I was thinking," said Seema. "The san-nyasi never changes his mind, because nothing he decrees can ever be wrong."
"He is wrong this time!" snapped Rishi. "We are not going to bring any harm to Langdarma."
"Your anger is harming it now," said Seema. "And there is no sense in it. The Sannyasi's will cannot be challenged."
"Then he is an ungrateful fool," Rishi said, his eyes burning with indignation. "I would not live in a place ruled by such a buffoon! But if he thinks we are leaving without our reward…"
"Reward?" asked Atreus. "What reward?"
"Our reward for saving the daughters of Langdarma," Rishi said. "I did not risk my life battling Tarch for free."
Atreus started to chastise the Mar for his greedy attitude, but Seema spoke first. "What is it you want, Rishi? You are welcome to take anything you like, but we have no gold or jewels in Langdarma, and yaks will not survive the Passing."
Seema's offer calmed Rishi as no argument of Atreus's could have. The Mar glanced around the hut with an appraising eye, then simply shook his head and muttered, "How can a people so poor be so happy?"
"Perhaps we are happy because we are poor." Seema smiled at the Mar's bewilderment, then turned to Atreus and said, "But as I wanted to say, I would be happy with you wherever we were. Could that be the reason Sune sent you here?"
"Not likely," scoffed Yago. "Seeing a beauty like you with a beast like him would only insult that prissy hag. He'd be lucky if she didn't strike him dead on the spot"
Atreus barely heard the ogre's appraisal of the situation, so astonished was he by Seema's offer.
"You would leave Langdarma for me?" he gasped.
"If that would make you happy."
"It would… it does." Atreus's heart was suddenly as light as a bird. He took her hands and said, "Just knowing that you would come with me makes me happier than I have ever been in my life."
"Would?" Seema echoed. "You do not want me to?"
"I want you to…"
Atreus paused to gather his strength, imagining what Seema's life would be like in Erlkazar. Court ladies whispering that she loved Atreus's gold more than him, freshly slaughtered meat at every banquet, jousts, bloodbaths, and wars that sprang up on the whim of an angry king.
"I can't ask you to leave Langdarma," he continued. "My world would poison you, just as surely as Tarch poisoned Langdarma."
Seema squeezed his hand. "You are not asking me to leave," she countered. "I am asking you to let me come."
Atreus did not even hesitate in saying, "I can't The Sannyasi is right about the Outside. It ruins everything it touches, and I would hate myself for allowing that to happen to you."
"I am strong," Seema insisted. "You cannot know-"
"He's right" Yago came around the table and laid a big hand on Seema's shoulder. "I'd like nothing more than for you to come with us-for Atreus's sake-but it wouldn't be right Sooner or later, you'd start missing this place more than you love him, and then you'd hate him for it."
Seema furrowed her brow and said, "I could never hate-"
"In Erlkazar, you could," said Atreus. "The Outside is full of hate. I love you more than my own life, but you are not the reason Sune sent me here."
"Then Sune is a cruel goddess," said Seema, "because I am going to miss you, and there was never any hope of finding what you came for."
"I found it for a time, and I will never forget that."
Atreus grew thoughtful, recalling how he looked in the reflecting pool, then thought of the beast he had glimpsed watching them.
"Perhaps she is not so cruel after all."
Seema scowled. "What are you saying?" she asked.
"That she told me to fill the vial from the fountain of infinite Grace, not the pool-"
Seema looked more concerned than ever. "There are no fountains at the Palace of Serenity," she said.
"Not outside," said Atreus, "but that water must be coming from somewhere."
CHAPTER 16
As Atreus and his companions splashed up the flooded stairs into the alabaster palace, a scaled tentacle flicked out from a second story archway and twined itself around one of the gallery's slender support columns. The expedition came to a stunned and breathless halt. The appendage was as thick as Yago's forearm, coated in stringy gleet, and as black as obsidian. It ended in a small scarlet mouth surrounded by a ring of finger-like tendrils.
Rishi stopped at the top of the stairs and reached past Atreus to catch Seema by the sleeve. "Good lady," he said, "you are certain we need nothing but these stones?" He hefted the bucket of pebbles in his hand. "Whatever awaits us at the other end of that tentacle, I would feel much safer meeting it with an axe in my hands."
"I do not care how you feel." Seema pulled her arm free, then stepped onto the gallery with her own bucket of pebbles and said, "If you are afraid, do not come."
Atreus winced at Seema's harsh tone. She had agreed only hesitantly to help him find the source of the twinkling stream, and even more hesitantly to bring his companions along in case of trouble. He paused at the edge of the gallery and turned to the nervous Mar.
"Rishi, there's no need for you inside. In fact, if something does happen, it might be better to have someone out here."
"Are you saying I am a coward? I have every right to be here. If you want to leave someone behind, leave Yago!" The Mar stepped past Atreus and followed Seema onto the gallery. Yago raised his brow and glanced back at the reflecting pool, clearly thinking it would be a fine place to wait.
"Sorry, Yago," said Atreus. "If we do run into trouble, you'll be our only advantage."
"I'd be more of an advantage with a club," grumbled the ogre. He shifted his hold on the heavy cask in his arms. "If that thing attacks us, what am I going to do with a bunch of pebbles?"
Atreus glanced at the huge tentacle stretched across the gallery, trying to imagine the size of the beast at the other end. "Probably the same thing you'd do with a club… not much."
Carrying his own bucket of pebbles, Atreus stepped onto the gallery behind Seema and Rishi. On the other side of the scaly black tentacle, the stream of shining water spilled out from the palace's central arch and split into two currents, one flowing toward Atreus and the other in the opposite direction. Though the water was only fingertip deep, Atreus could feel its magic prickling his feet through his boots.
Seema reached the tentacle and stopped to stare down at it. When the creature did not withdraw the scaly appendage, she shook her pebble bucket loudly, then squatted down and duck-walked underneath. When she stood on the other side, her chestnut skin had paled to the color of honey.
She waved Rishi under the tentacle. "Come along," she said. "The Dweller won't bother you."
"You are certain?" Rishi asked.
Atreus gave the Mar a gentle nudge and said, "Go on."
"Yeah… what you waiting for?" added Yago. "Ain't you got every right to be here?"
Rishi scowled over his shoulder, shook his pebble bucket as Seema had, and ducked under the Dweller's tentacle. When he reached the other side, he stood quickly and turned to face Atreus and Yago. Before the Mar could repay their taunts, the tentacle slowly untwined itself.