Jade perched on the railing, looking down at the ground passing below, and Stone was up in the bow. Chime was in the steering cabin, yawning and leaning on the control pillar. Malachite sat in the center of the deck, facing back toward the way they had come, her eyes on the sky. She wore her Arbora form, though she didn’t look much less formidable. On the softer Arbora scales, it was easier to see her scars.
Moon went to sit near Malachite. She acknowledged his presence with a flick of a spine and tilted her head to regard him.
He started to speak, had to clear his throat, and said, “I’m sorry I said those things to you, back at the court.”
Malachite acknowledged the apology with a nod. “You’re angry at what happened. You’ll be angry for a long time. So will I. All we can do is try not to let it rule us. Or hide it better, when it does.”
Moon thought she was probably right. He looked into the wind, squinting against the dawn light. “I want to be with Jade.”
It was encouraging that Malachite’s reaction was a resigned snort. Her voice dry, she said, “I gathered that.”
“Ivory seems like a good queen, but I don’t want her.”
Malachite’s spines rippled in annoyance. “Ivory is presumptuous.” So no one had been behind Ivory’s offer for him except Ivory. That was also encouraging. Malachite added, “I could get a queen for you from any court in the Reaches you wanted.”
Moon said, “I want Indigo Cloud.” He was aware that Jade had been listening intently to the conversation from the beginning, and that Malachite knew it. Now Stone strolled back from the bow and sat down several paces away, keeping his expression carefully neutral. In the steering cabin, Chime had shifted to his Raksuran form so he could hear them better.
Malachite turned to face Moon, her head cocked skeptically. “Because she lets you do whatever you want?”
“She trusts me to take care of myself, even when she doesn’t want to. I can’t be like a normal consort; I’ll just cause trouble. Look what I did at Opal Night, and I wasn’t even trying.”
Malachite didn’t dispute that. Then she asked the question Moon had been dreading. “Why haven’t you had a clutch?”
Moon sensed Jade react, a flinch that rattled her spines. He set his jaw, gathering his resolve. If he admitted it, Malachite would have to realize no other court would take him. Jade apparently still wanted him, but there was no telling what the rest of Indigo Cloud’s reaction would be. Let’s just concentrate on getting back there first. He said, “Because I’m infertile.”
Malachite’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, a reaction that was not what he had been expecting. She also gave the impression that this was the first thing he had ever said that surprised her. “You’re not infertile.”
Jade said, “Of course you’re not infertile!” She hopped down from her perch and came to sit across from him. She hissed in exasperation. “We’re queens, we know.”
“How am I supposed to know that?” Moon floundered for a moment. He had been so certain. He blurted, “Then why haven’t we had a clutch?”
Jade folded her arms and looked away. “I don’t know.” From her expression, it cost her something to say the words aloud, but after they were out she seemed almost relieved. Her spines twitched anxiously. “I was afraid it would be blamed on you, that the court would think you weren’t trying.”
It had never occurred to Moon that Jade might be as insecure as he was, that she might have wanted to avoid the subject for reasons of her own, that she had been just as afraid as he had been. “But—” He began, then cut the word off with a yelp when Stone clipped him in the back of the head.
Obviously caught between fury and exasperation, Stone said, “It didn’t occur to you to ask me?”
“You were gone!” Snarling, Moon moved out of arm’s reach. He saw Chime, in the steering cabin, clap a hand over his eyes. Celadon, who had wandered up from the stern at some point and leaned against the railing, shook her head. He protested, “I was waiting for you to get back!”
Stone flung his hands up to the sky as if asking it to witness what he had to put up with. He turned to Jade. “You didn’t ask Pearl?”
“Of course not.” Jade sounded as if that was the most idiotic thing she had ever heard. “I can’t talk to her about anything.”
Stone glared. “Can’t or won’t?”
Malachite hissed, and everyone abruptly stopped talking.
Malachite tapped her claws on the deck. She didn’t look like she was struggling to hold on to her patience, but then she wouldn’t. She asked Jade, “You’ve suppressed your fertility in the past?”
Jade gritted her teeth. “Yes.”
Malachite tilted her head. “With other consorts?”
“No!” Jade bared her fangs briefly. “Moon is the only consort I’ve ever been with.” After a moment, she explained, “The Fell attacked our old colony. I couldn’t risk a clutch.”
Malachite sighed, though the tension in her body didn’t ease. She said pointedly, “We can’t get clutches at will, even at your age. And suppressing your fertility your first time with the consort you plan to breed with can delay conception later. Especially if the court is under stress.”
Jade frowned, but her spines gradually relaxed. “But it’s been three changes of the month.”
Stone buried his face in his hands and growled.
Malachite said, “The line-grandfather is right. Three changes of the month is not a long time. Especially under these circumstances.”
“Oh.” Jade looked at Moon. He looked at her. She said, “Next time, ask me if you think you’re infertile.”
“All right,” he agreed. “Next time, ask Pearl how long it takes to get a clutch.” She hissed at him.
Stone cut to the point. He asked Malachite, “So? Can we have him?”
She stood. She said, “I’ll consider it,” and walked toward the stern, collecting Celadon on the way.
Jade let her breath out in a long sigh. Watching Malachite’s back, she said in a low voice, “That’s an improvement.”
With a hiss of relief, Stone said, “Just both of you stay out of it now. Give her time, and wait till she makes the first move before you talk about it.”
“Oh, you’re going to help, now?” Jade asked him, lifting her brows. “I noticed you being conspicuously silent before.”
Stone gave her a dark look. “If you think me sticking a claw in would have helped, you’re wrong. Since you got here, it’s been between you and her.” He jerked his head toward Moon. “And she’s just like him. In her head, that Fell attack on the eastern court happened yesterday. We’re lucky we’re getting out of this with so little trouble.”
Stone walked away. Moon and Jade regarded each other. Moon said, “Little trouble?”
“I suppose it could have been worse,” Jade admitted.
There were a couple of things Moon still wanted to get straight. He asked, “What about Ember?” If she said “Who?” like Stone had…
“I didn’t know they were bringing him.” Jade met his gaze directly. “I told you, he was Emerald Twilight’s idea of an apology. And I didn’t take him in your place. I don’t think I exchanged two words with him before we left. I was busy trying to keep the hunters from being eaten.” Her voice softened, and she added, “I tell you now, if I ever take a second consort, it will be with your approval.”
Moon immediately felt guilty. He didn’t want Jade to change to accommodate him, and he didn’t want to hurt Ember’s feelings. But this was something that should probably wait until they got back to Indigo Cloud. He said, “It should be someone older, and not as pretty as me.”