My mouth opened. I glanced down, my fingers straightening at the end of my arm, the unassuming band a black and glinting slash, golden moondust caught in orbit around my finger.
I closed my mouth. “Let’s go.”
“Until the ocean dries up,” Selena said at her door.
My mouth opened, but Pheolix’s voice came from behind her. “It’s her.”
Selena’s jaw stiffened. “I’m not taking any chances,” she whispered.
I nodded, unbothered by her need to protect hercordae, the function of the secret words she taught me suddenly clear as crystal. Thaan could shift his shape. I didn't mind offering her proof I was myself. “Until the moon burns out.”
She stepped back, allowing us inside, and we followed her into her ruined study where she plucked a broomstick away from its resting place against the wall. “What’s your question?”
I told her. Selena quickly turned her back on me. “Shield weed would do it.” She pretended not to fight the corners of her mouth from curving up, sweeping sparkling shards of glass. “Too bad I’ve simply no idea where to find any.”
The water had been called out the window an hour ago. I’d sensed it, Venusian salt dumping into the Juile Sea, and wondered at the fact that I’d immediately known what had entered my realm.
My realm—words I never dreamed I’d say.
I darted a sideways glance from Selena to Kye, annoyance fletching the end of my gaze like the stunted feathers from oneof Diara’s arrows. He looked as though he stifled a laugh as well, walking across the floor still saturated in limp shield weed and crouching to locate a sprig in the corner that hadn’t been trampled by feet or abused by glass. I sighed as he found a lacy handful that passed his inspection.
I supposed an afternoon stomachache would suffice in lieu of a swollen belly, but I didn’t relish the thought of either option.
“Just a tiny leaf. No larger than half your pinky nail. And you’ll want to be near a toilet when you eat it,” Selena warned, eyeing the mossy filaments in his hand as he returned to me. “Or a bowl. Something to catch the contents of your stomach when they come up.”
I gave a short sigh. “Great.”
“A cool bath might also help, since you’ll likely run a fever. Sea water would be best. That weed is fresh and green, so its effects won’t last as long as eating a handful of it, but keep in mind you’ll still lose your ability to water call for a few hours.”
My mouth thinned. I snatched the shield weed from Kye’s open hand.
Not very civil,Kye’s voice drifted in my head.
Curses to the moon fired back in his. His mouth twitched again.
"I thought it would take weeks to metabolize," I said.
"A tiny piece of leaf? It won't take that long."
"And the ash of it?"
Selena stopped. "Do not eat any ash."
I rolled my eyes. "I won't. I came into contact with it in Rivea."
“Ah," she said, returning to her broom. "The ash is more potent. Toxic. But it will wear off faster than green leaves, if it doesn't kill you. A few days, if not less, depending on how you come into contact with it." She gestured toward Kye's hand. "Don’t eat anything for a few hours,” Selena continued. “Drink plenty of water, though.”
Want me to drink a vat of caster oil with you?
Don’t be stupid. There’s only one toilet in your apartment.
There’s one in yours across the hall. But I don’t mind sharing. Imagine how romantic it would be.
I shoved at his side, but standing a full foot above me, he barely moved. Selena paused her sweeping to watch us, curiosity in her gaze.
“Anything else I should know?” I asked, tucking the weed into my pocket.
“A messenger from Winterlight came while you were in your tower,” Pheolix said. His healing Naiad blood had mended his burst blood vessels, though the open sores in his skin hadn’t yet faded since we’d last stood in this room. They’d shrunk into pale pink lines, stretching anywhere his skin might have torn from the burden of daily movement.
