‘No. Well, yes, but that isn’t it. The Wild singled us out, came for us above the others. Vasin, they singled me out. When I landed, they came for me, and me alone. It was like they knew I was coming. How can that be?’

‘I don’t know, I thought all but strongest of the Wild feared us. Surely they were easy prey for you.’

‘We slaughtered them, but they didn’t seem to care.’

Vasin’s headache got suddenly worse, as if trying to match his sense of foreboding. The odd behaviour described at Anuja’s hunt seemed to chime with Quiverhive’s activity. ‘I think this was another experiment,’ he said. ‘They tested the Godroad, and now they’re testing us.’

CHAPTER SIX

Vasin followed the servant, trying to order his mind for what was to come. He was being led to a night gathering of House Ruby’s guests. This would be in part to discuss the business of the hunt, and in part to posture, to politic. It was Vasin’s chance to solidify the quiet work of the last sixteen years, and gain allies against Yadavendra. It was also a chance to fail long before the inevitable confrontation with High Lord Sapphire.

Nerves flew like angry hunters in his stomach.

The strangeness of his environment didn’t help. House Ruby was more sparing with its gemslight than he was used to, leaving patches of the narrow corridors dark. He noticed the individual rubies were not all cut to the same size. Some were a few millimetres thicker than others, and some stood slightly taller. You had to look to see them, the differences minor, but to his eyes, the imperfection was telling. The ceilings were too low, too cramped, and he had the absurd sense of them pressing downwards, trapping him.

Despite the late hour the castle seemed empty as he travelled, and this too disturbed him. A Sapphire castle always had guards at stairwells and key corridors. As much as he hated that – the feeling of always being watched was one of the things that drove him into the sky after all – he also found it reassuring.

They arrived at a room Vasin had not seen before, and he heard laughter echoing through the arched entrance. The servant waited for it to fade and then sang to announce his arrival and request permission to enter. Vasin felt a brief pang of fear that he would be rejected. Ridiculous, irrational, but in the moment, impossible to ignore. It was soon refuted by Lady Anuja, who gave permission, prompt and clear. The servant showed him inside.

The room was of a reasonable size, heptagonal, and filled with long, low seats, puffed up with cushions. Each chair was accompanied by a tiny squat table with drinks and small baked treats.

He saw three Deathless faces turn in his direction, smiles slowly fading from some shared joke.

Here we go.