“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? What’s wrong with her?”
“These are only rumors. Or so I thought. But now that Jarrett asks after your health, I think there is some truth to the rumors.”
“I have to help her!”
“Xytheos medicine can keep her body safe. What it cannot reach is whatever the Stone changed. This is something I have considered for some time. After Jarrett’s questioning today, Isuspect her sickness lives there—in what the Concord Stone made of you and the other brides. Given how much the mental connection to Sophia troubles you, I suspect it is something similar with Maya.”
“You’re sure she won’t die? He’s not hurting her?”
“Maya will not die. And Jarrett is incapable of hurting her. He has already taken great risk to help Maya.”
“What did he do to help her?”
Rythar raises an eyebrow at me. “He appeared here. In my command center. To help Vorak accusemy brideof a criminal offense.”
“And just how does that help Maya?” I sputter.
“Jarrett’s true intention today was to ask after your health. He did nothing to help Vorak.”
“That’s completely crazy. Why didn’t he just ask you?”
The corner of Rythar’s mouth lifts. “I had forgotten how different a female’s mind works. If Jarrett simply asked me, he would confirm that he is having trouble with his own bride. This is a thing he cannot admit.”
Men and their pride. “How do you know about him and Maya? Can you spy like he can?”
“My jungle tells me what goes on within my biome, to a point. Other than that—” Rythar cuts off his sentence and holds up a tablet. “Myspyworkis in the data.”
“You’re reading reports?” I press. “The data transmissions? The Concord Council logging everything?”
“That,” he says. “And more.”
The High Lord watched us in my dream.
My legs remind me I’ve been standing since the alarms. Rythar sees it before I say anything. He pulls one of the chairs from the table, puts me in it, and crouches in front of me so we’re level. He reaches for my hand and turns it. The dim bride mark catches the overhead light.
“I want you. All of you,” I say. “And the connection to you. But I’m scared to open it up again. I don’t know how to help Sophia, and it feels like the High Lord is watching us.”
“The High Lord’s knowledge is not confined to reports,” Rythar says quietly. “Each biome lord is bound to the land he governs. You have seen some of my power.”
A chill slides down my spine. Or maybe it’s this room—all the hidden metal under the stone, the jungle costume stripped off. “And the High Lord?” I ask. “What is his biome?”
Rythar’s jaw tightens. “He governs all biomes.”
The words settle slowly. “Above you all? He can control all of them?”
“No.” Rythar frowns. “No one else controls my biome. Even the High Lord rarely risks entering the Green Reach. His powers are different. Difficult to use for an attack. Do not underestimate his knowledge. Or his trickery.”
“He’s your enemy?”
“Not at the moment. He is engineered to enforce peace on Xytheos. Like all the biome lords. He gathers information.”
“He’s a spy,” I guess. “He can see through others.”
“I have long believed so,” he says. “But within our strongholds, he is weakened. That is why the other lords tolerate the reporting structure to the Concord Council. It is balance.” His jaw tightens. “It was balance. The High Lord’s reach has grown longer than the agreement that made it. The Council pretends not to know.”
“And today?” I ask.
He studies my face, weighing whether to answer fully.
