Page 121 of With Wing And Claw

A small beat of foggy, gold-and-lavender silence.

Then Naxi slowly said, ‘Oh. You don’t want to tell anyone else about it?’

‘We’ve seen what happens when we tell anyone else.’ Thysandra rubbed a wet hand over her face, then sat up as well, feeling the drops rush down her wings with the motion. Their legs tangled together again, deep umber and rosy pale, muscle and lithe boniness, and she felt weirdly like swooning at the sight. ‘This time it was Gadyon. Next time it might be Inga. We really,reallycan’t afford any additional trouble this time.’

Naxi looked doubtful, but did not object.

‘So as long as we stay out of sight, we have until noon.’ Something like energy was seeping back into her limbs. Something like, gods help her,optimism. ‘Tared will probably show up as soon as he gets the message, which could be any moment after our messenger has reached the Golden Court, and once we tell him what’s going on, he could get the representatives of the other peoples together rather swiftly, couldn’t he?’

‘Oh, probably.’ Naxi’s eyes were still narrowed. ‘They’re always quick when there’s fae to be dealt with.’

‘Right. So then we meet with them in secret. Get their official confirmation of the rates at which they’re willing to trade. Have them takethe captives from Ilithia – surely there’ll be a few alves willing to handle that within a few hours?’

Naxi snorted a laugh. ‘Minutes, if you need them to. But then you have a trade deal and an angry army, and—’

‘Angry army,’ Thysandra cut in, ‘but happy everyone else, don’t you think?’

Naxi fell quiet.

‘We keep talking about the army as if they’re the only force at the court that matters.’ She drew in a lungful of humid, chamomile-scented air, pausing briefly to gather her thoughts. ‘And theyarea force. A significant one. But their numbers are … maybe a fifth of our total population? Or even less, after the battle? Most people the Mother sent out during the war weren’t permanent army members at all – people like all those teachers and archivists who were only called in when the need was high.’

It made so much sense, now that she was speaking the words aloud. And of course she’d never seen it before. She hadbeenthe army; it had shaped her entire world. Yet Inga had made a perfectly valid point: therewereplenty of fae at the court with no desire to keep fighting at all, and …

‘And they’ve all had military training,’ Naxi said slowly, blue eyes piercingly sharp now. ‘The teachers and the archivists and everyone else.’

‘Every single one of them.’ A joyless laugh. ‘No one survives into adulthood at this court without some skill with a weapon.’

‘So what you’re saying is …’

‘They aren’t the majority, the people who were clamouring for my head at the feast.’ There was no stopping the grin growing on her face now – the realisation, so perfectly crystal clear, ofwhoseHigh Lady she wanted to be. ‘And everyone else will be happy enough to have their peace and their daily meals. If I can rallytheirsupport, I frankly don’t think the army stands any chance at all.’

It echoed a little against the bathroom tiles, that outrageous, triumphant conclusion.

Naxi, somehow, didn’t yet smile – sitting perfectly still on the other side of the bath, a feverish blush on her cheeks, pink lips pressed together into a line of unspoken worries. ‘So why do we need the secrecy, then? If you need the whole court to suddenly grow a backbone, don’t you want to make the plan as public as possible?’

‘I need the trade prospects to be a done deal before we ask for help,’ Thysandra said, closing her eyes. She needed her focus, now, to keep track of the pieces moving in her mind. ‘I don’t think anyone will risk their life for just thepotentialof peace and security. And if the military knows we’re moving forward with the plan before we meet with the representatives, they’ll probably try to sabotage that meeting – so it has to stay a secret until the meeting is over, andthenwe can shout about it to every soul willing to listen, you see?’

A plan.

She had aplan.

To hell with Orthea and whoever had put that poison in her glass; to hell with the commanders champing at the bit to do away with her. She could still win this game. All she needed was a clear head and a few good hours of sleep, and …

And Naxi.

Old Thysandra would have thought it a weakness – but hell, it felt a damn lot like a strength.

When she looked up, Naxi still hadn’t moved on the other end of the bath, blonde head tilted like a clever little bird. Her blue eyes were swarming with thoughts. As if she was already making plans of her own … and then she smiled, her own dazzling, sharp-toothed smile, and all glimpses of calculation were gone.

‘Excellent!’ she declared, rising from the bath and clambering out in an excited jumble of limbs, dripping all over the pale purple tiles. She shook the water from her hair like a stray cat shaking off the rain, then snatched a towel from the pile and wrapped it around herself. ‘I’ll get ready to shout at Tared if he makes a fuss. Shall we go get a few hours of sleep, then, Sashka?’

Too easy.

But for once in her life, Thysandra could believe in easy.

Chapter 26

The Alliance was evenfaster than she’d dared hope.