Free Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts

and more steam filled the station.
    â€˜What are you doing?’ Ashiol demanded, striding towards Velody. ‘We have to stop him.’
    â€˜Are you deliberately trying to weaken the city?’ Garnet demanded, approaching from the other side. ‘Do you want us to become a floating graveyard like Tierce?’
    â€˜Being a King isn’t just about gathering strength, or what we have to do,’ Velody snapped. ‘It’s about looking after our people.’
    â€˜Priest can’t just run away,’ said Ashiol between gritted teeth. ‘You can’t let him go.’
    The train began to pull out of the station.
    â€˜You’re one to talk,’ Velody yelled at Ashiol. ‘You’ve been trying to run away since you got here. You gave this city to me .’
    Gone. The train was gone. Priest was gone.
    â€˜You left,’ Ashiol retorted. ‘Sacrificed yourself to the sky — what’s that but another form of giving up and running away? At least he’ — he nodded to Garnet — ‘didn’t mean to get himself killed. You both left me here. This is my city now.’
    â€˜And how have you used the time, Ashiol?’ Velody hissed. ‘What grand changes have you wrought? You never even took their oaths!’
    â€˜If Mama and Papa could stop fighting for a moment,’ Garnet said, sounding far too amused. ‘Let’s work this out like seigneurs. Velody has allowed Priest to escape. That leaves us with four Lords. I have Poet’s oath.’
    Ashiol hesitated. ‘I have Lennoc’s.’
    â€˜You have Livilla,’ Ashiol and Garnet said in unison, then looked at each other in surprise.
    â€˜Interesting,’ said Garnet.
    â€˜Warlord says he will follow me,’ said Velody. ‘It comes down to Livilla’s vote.’
    â€˜Vote?’ Garnet said dismissively. ‘The Creature Court is not a democracy.’
    â€˜Nevertheless, we have a choice,’ said Velody. ‘We can try to fight to the death over who leads the Court, or we put the decision in Livilla’s hands and find an answer without spilling blood.’
    Ashiol and Garnet looked at each other. ‘Fight to the death,’ they agreed.

8
    S ome might reckon I deserved what I got, for being daft enough to trust Tasha like that. You might even have put together that Madalena was more likely to have been torn apart by a demme who changes into a lion than a Lord who changes into birds. Aye, I was gullible, but that’s beside the point. I was already lost. I was sick for months, through Aphrodal and Floralis, sweating and feverish, drowning in crazy dreams. Tasha didn’t send me back to the theatre; she tended me, whispered motherly words into my ear. By the time I was right again, I was used to doing what she said, even if it was just opening my mouth for the soothing syrup, or turning my head so she could take the soaking pillow out from under me.
    I was hers. There was naught for me back at the Vittorina Royale. I’d been gone too long and without Madalena to be sentimental about me, I’d have been replaced within a week. Not much point going back to Oyster, either. The only family I’d ever known was the Mermaid Revue.
    Once, before my fever broke, I saw Bad Cravat sitting in a corner of my room, watching me. He was on his own, which was unusual. Tasha normally didn’t let anyone else in unless she was there too, so either she was with me or I was alone.
    Garnet, his name was. I remembered that. He was a mite taller than he had been, but fitted his fancy clothes no better than before. He’d be of age in a year or two, maybe. He was also drunk off his face. I was hazy, but I could smell it on him. He was talking, muttering to himself like he didn’t expect me to hear him. I was just there. It was all manner of nonsense about skies and blood and burning that made me think he had more than gin in his cup.
    I stirred,