Then Pearl said, “If a Fell flight truly means to attack, we have to meet them outside the Reaches.”
Flame’s and Zephyr’s spines flicked in surprise. Celadon said, “I agree.”
Tempest tilted her head toward Celadon. Frost knew why; even she could tell Celadon and Pearl must have talked about this earlier. Tempest said, “I don’t. It would be giving up our advantage.”
Pearl said, “Our advantage is their advantage. We can’t pin them down in the Reaches. There’s too good a chance they can get past us and reach a colony.”
Tempest’s spines flicked. “They don’t know the fringe the way we do.”
Celadon put in, “Opal Night doesn’t know the eastern fringe. Does Emerald Twilight?”
The end of Tempest’s tail curled in ironic amusement. “We know it better than Fell who have never been here.”
Then Pearl said, “Which of you has had a colony taken from you by the Fell?”
The words dropped into a sudden silence. Everyone’s spines went still. Frost’s throat was suddenly almost too tight to swallow.
Pearl’s voice was hard and cold. “I have stood in a room filled with my dead Arbora and warriors. I will not do that again. Indigo Cloud will meet the Fell outside the Reaches.”
Celadon locked gazes with Tempest. Celadon doesn’t like her, Frost realized. And not in the way queens and other Aeriat sometimes disliked each other for no reason. Celadon said, “In this, Opal Night and Indigo Cloud are as one.”
Tempest’s calm was tinged with contempt. “Opal Night and Indigo Cloud appear to be one in other things, too.”
Celadon’s head tilted slowly. “Oh?”
Pearl seemed more amused than angry. She cocked her spines inquiringly. “Yes, please explain. We always await Emerald Twilight’s pronouncements with the greatest of interest.”
Frost saw Bone bury his face in his hands.
Tempest said to her, “When Indigo Cloud made its way back to the Reaches, it spread the word about the Fell’s new trick of capturing Arbora and consorts to breed with.” Her gaze went to Celadon again. “That Opal Night retrieved and kept the issue of these acts was a fact it shared only with Indigo Cloud.”
Frost leaned over to Bell and whispered, “Nobody’s supposed to know that.”
“We know,” Bell whispered grimly, and squeezed her wrist.
Knell muttered, “Idiot warriors can’t keep their mouths shut . . .” Heart poked him in the side and hissed, “Shut up!”
Pearl glanced at Celadon, her spines tilted in ironic comment. Pearl knew this would happen and warned her, but Celadon didn’t think it would, Frost interpreted, and was startled by how certain she was that she was right.
Celadon sat there in silence until Frost’s scales prickled with nerves. Then Celadon bared her fangs and said, “This is none of Emerald Twilight’s concern.”
Frost conquered the urge to leap up and bare her own fangs at Tempest, but it wasn’t easy.
Tempest’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “Since the Fell are attacking the eastern Reaches, it has become my concern.”
Pearl flicked her spines again, in agreement so polite Frost suspected it meant something else entirely. “Emerald Twilight has so many concerns, it must be a trial to keep up with them.”
Tempest transferred her glare from Celadon to Pearl.
Flame leaned forward. “Wait, what happened?”
Her voice tinged with acid, Pearl said, “It’s common knowledge that Opal Night’s eastern colony was attacked, and that Malachite returned here with the survivors to seize control of the mother colony after she destroyed the Fell flight. But the Fell had performed this ‘trick,’ as Emerald Twilight calls it, on their prisoners, and Malachite rescued the children as well.”
Flame exchanged a look with Zephyr, and asked, “But this doesn’t affect the royal bloodlines of either Indigo Cloud or Opal Night?”
“It does not,” Celadon said, her gaze not leaving Tempest.
Flame sat back, her brow furrowed. Zephyr said, “This is strange to hear. But is Emerald Twilight suggesting that this is the reason for the Fell attack?”
Tempest looked as if she wanted to suggest it, but couldn’t justify it. She said, “It needs to be discussed, and Opal Night and Indigo Cloud have given no sign they intended to reveal that it had happened.”
Celadon said, “It is no one else’s concern.”
Pearl said, “No, if Emerald Twilight wishes to discuss it, we should discuss it. Let’s put off any decisions on how to meet the Fell attack, of what preparations our Arbora should make, of where to station our warriors—”
Tempest’s spines trembled and the expression she turned on Pearl made Frost want to hiss.
Zephyr tilted her head, but she was smiling. She said, “That’s told us.” As Pearl and Tempest tilted their heads toward her, she said, “Perhaps it’s best to return to the discussion of whether to meet the Fell outside the Reaches or not.”
Frost was listening so intently she didn’t realize the sound echoing up from the greeting hall was noisier than it should be. Heart and Bell twitched uneasily, Bone cocked his head to listen, frowning, and Knell half-turned away, as if he meant to stand.
Then Aura shot up over the edge of the hall and landed on the floor. Floret’s expression was horrified. This was a huge breach of etiquette. But Aura shifted to groundling and blurted, “Pearl, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Malachite is here.”
Celadon looked startled and hopeful, and Pearl’s spines flicked in agitation. She said, “In the greeting hall with her warriors?”
Aura said, “Yes, I mean, I think she’s right behind—”
Then a great dark shape flung itself over the edge and onto the hall floor. Aura skittered out of the way as Malachite strode forward.
Frost stared. She had been formally presented to Malachite when the Opal Night queen had stopped here on her way to join Jade and Moon, but this was a shock. This Malachite was a completely different person than the one who had sat in the nurseries with fledglings curled around her arms and Arbora babies playing with her tail.
Pearl and the other queens stood. Pearl’s spines were tense as she said, “What news of Jade? She’s with you?”
Malachite paced forward. “No, but I left her well.”
Pearl’s spines twitched in relief, and Frost bounced excitedly. If Jade was well, all the others must be all right too.
But Malachite said, “I returned because the Fell are massing in the wetlands to the east, preparing to come here. There are at least five flights so far, perhaps one more.”
Bell gasped, and the other Arbora growled. Frost felt a snarl build up in her chest, squelching the first wave of panic.
“You’ve seen the Fell for yourself?” Flame sounded aghast. “The auguries were true?”
“I have. I—” Malachite’s gaze fell on Tempest, and she stopped.
Celadon looked from Malachite to Tempest, and her spines twitched in alarm. “Malachite—” she began.
Malachite said, “Emerald Twilight has no place here.”
Tempest’s spines flared. “We are the chief court of the eastern Reaches. The defense of this territory has always fallen—”
Malachite stepped forward, and was suddenly a pace from Tempest, towering over her. Frost stared, wide-eyed. She hadn’t even seen Malachite move. The Opal Night warriors tensed, looking to Celadon for orders. The Emerald Twilight warriors twitched nervously. The others, Sunset Water and Ocean Winter and Indigo Cloud all looked at Floret. Floret’s expression was appalled.
Malachite snarled, “Go back and tell your birthqueen to send another daughter. You insult me and this court with your presence.”