Matiu looked back at him, dark-eyed gaze steady and without judgment. “Can you sense any of them in some way?”
Nathaniel shook his head. “I can sense theKlovod’s intent in the back of my mind, but notrionetkas. Even when I was under his control, I never knew who the others were.”
Caris was the only person he knew of who could differentiate between arionetkaand a person who still had their own free will, and that was only because of her ability to hear clarion crystals sing.
Matiu nodded, his grip tightening on Nathaniel’s arm. “Let’s get you back to your berth.”
Nathaniel swallowed and dipped his head in a nod. At least they weren’t taking him to the brig.
Eight
NATHANIEL
Binh came for him hours later, when the sun he couldn’t see would be high in the sky, and she didn’t come alone. Farren smiled at Nathaniel from the corridor where the star god stood behind the warden, dressed like a sailor, their Leviathan tattoo hidden beneath a linen shirt. Binh did not seem to notice, or perhaps she didn’t care, who had joined her wanderings. Wardens were nameless and starless, or so all the teachings went.
He wondered how true that would be after this war.
“Akeheni wants to see you. Bring your gear,” Binh said.
Nathaniel nodded jerkily. If they wanted him to bring what he’d boarded with, perhaps they weren’t going to do him harm. Treaty or no treaty, having arionetkaattempt to murder anUri’kadid cast doubt on his situation. He could understand why the Tovanians might not want him on their ship-city any longer. Their reasoning for sending Binh made sense as well. Wardens were best suited to this kind of threat. They handled the walking dead, after all.
Binh waited patiently while Nathaniel hauled out his small travel trunk from beneath the bolted-down bed and stuffed only the necessities into the rucksack stored within. The rest could be tossed overboard for all he cared. Shrugging the straps over his shoulders, Nathaniel followed Binh and Farren out of the room.
They traversed the ship-city to a higher level but not quite as high as the captain’s deck. Officer’s quarters, Nathaniel realized once they made it to the central area of the ship-city, judging by the paint on the walls. The sailors on guard duty in the corridors they walked down practically bristled with weapons. Farren went seemingly unrecognized, even if Nathaniel was hyperaware of the star god following at his heels. He bit his tongue against the questions he wanted to ask, knowing he had no right to speak them in this place that was, for all intents and purposes, a foreign country.
Binh eventually came to a stop at the end of a corridor, the iron door there guarded by a tall, broad sailor who looked strong enough to lift a Zip gun without assistance. Not that one would fit in the corridor. Binh spoke in rapid-fire Tovanian, and after a moment, the sailor turned to push open the door just enough to speak through the crack. After a moment, he shoved it wider and gestured for them to enter.
Nathaniel stepped into a brightly decorated room, the port windows providing enough illumination that the gas lamp lights were cold. Everything was securely bolted down or locked into place, but the space was decorated more in the way of a home than an office. He could see an open door to a bedroom beyond the receiving suite, a place Akeheni should be but wasn’t. Instead, theUri’kawas ensconced on the small sofa, shirt off, her breast band on clear display as the magician finished tracing the red and swollen—but miraculously closed—knife wound with her clarion crystal–tipped wand.
Nathaniel hastily jerked his gaze away, cheeks heating. “Apologies. I didn’t realize?—”
Akeheni cut him off with a raspy bark of laughter. “We don’t stand on manners like that. None of us go in the water clothed when we swim. Skin isn’t anything to be ashamed about. If it was, I wouldn’t have summoned you.”
Nathaniel politely kept his gaze averted. “I am at your disposal.”
He heard a rustle of clothing, a murmur of Tovanian he couldn’t understand, and then Binh was nudging him toward the chair. Nathaniel slid his rucksack off his shoulders and placed it on the floor before sitting, sparing a swift glance at Akeheni. She’d leaned back on a stash of pillows, grimacing from pain. She waved off whatever the magician said next, pinning Nathaniel with her fierce attention for a moment. Then her gaze slid away, focusing on the star god standing at his back. “My guiding star.”
“If you could refrain from getting stabbed while I ferry the Ashionen back to land, that would be wonderful,” Farren said lightly, their words causing Nathaniel to jerk in surprise. “Your people need you for the upcoming battle.”
Akeheni snorted. “It was not my intention to be stabbed in the first place. How goes hunting therionetkas?”
“Three-quarters of the crew have been checked, and all of the Ashionen soldiers as well. We found two of your people so far who have been turned intorionetkas, excluding the one killed in the depth charges hold,” Binh answered.
Akeheni’s gaze became hooded, the look in her eyes a mix of anger and grief. “Can you wardens save them how you did with Nathaniel?”
“I can’t offer that.”
“It’s your people who created the threat.”
“One traitorous warden shouldn’t paint the whole as bad,” Nathaniel cut in. “And what Ksenia did to me wasn’t a fix. Not how you wish it to be.”
He could admit that now, so long after the damage was done. No one would give him back the heart he’d been born with, and it was magic and alchemy that let him still walk his road these days, but he knew there was no guarantee it would last. That was a false hope he would give no one.
Akeheni sighed tiredly, closing her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. “My people believe you brought the threat with you. I need them to focus on the threat in our waters and not a perceived one within the ranks. We’ll be hitting the Daijal ships of the line tomorrow, and a sister ship-city has already warned of Urovan submersibles in our area. I need you off my ship-city before then. For your safety as much as my people’s.”
“Of course.”
“Binh will accompany you and escort you through the poison fields in Solaria.” At Nathaniel’s surprised look, she quirked him a tight smile. “Did you think we’d abandon you in Daijal?”
