Across A Star-Swept Sea Part 19

"The beginning of one is better?" Persis had said. "Like that temper tantrum you threw with the princess the other day?"

"I didn't slip her drugs." Tero crossed his arms, probably because he knew how large and intimidating it made him look. "You know there's a big difference."

"There are complications that are making it particularly dangerous for regs to be in the League of the Wild Poppy."

"Oh, so I can drop out, then?"

"You're not that lucky, Tero."

Her friend sighed and handed her a pill. "No, not as lucky as you. Because while you were off drugging my sister and causing a ruckus in Galatea, I've made you a new palmport application. Allows for hand-to-hand exchangea"no flutters necessary. I've got one for Slippy, too. It'll record input to his optic nerves. You'll be the only one in Albion with a surveillance sea mink."

"Fantastic," Persis said, and downed the app. "Perhaps it'll start a new fas.h.i.+on."

Tero watched her swallow, and then with a slow dangerous smile said, "You're awfully trusting, Perse. What if I'd decided to take revenge for what you did to Andrine yesterday? That could be a knockout drug."

Persis started coughing, and he laughed.

"Joking. But if you mess with mixtures intended for my sister again, it's the last genetemps you'll ever get from me, Lady Blake."

Lady Blake? "Well, at least you're respecting rank today."

Tero narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't start with me, Persis, or I'll make you eat sand like I did when you were four."

"Funny," said Persis. "That's exactly what Isla said."

How in the world was she supposed to throw a party when she hated half the guests and the other half hated her? Persis fed Slipstream the surveillance app pill Tero had given her for the sea mink, then camped out near the wheel, running diagnostics on the programa"which was, admittedly, amazing, though it was too bad neither Tero nor Andrine was willing to try it out with hera"and hoping it would all be over soon, and she could go back to playing the part of the daring spy, rather than the foolish socialite.

Now, at Isla's urging, she lifted her voice above the wind and called out, "My friends, it'll be another half an hour before we reach our picnic on Remembrance Island. What shall we do to entertain ourselves until then? A poetry reading, perhaps? A game of questions?"

"Oh, please no poetry," said Lady Blocking as everyone on the yacht gathered in the center of the lower deck. "Don't we get enough of that in court?" Her husband elbowed her in the side and she went quiet.

"I love poetry," said Dwyer. "I've attended every reading that the princess has held since taking the throne."

"Tell me," Isla drawled, "were you such a fan of the art before I became regent?"

The Blockings looked scandalized, but Tero snickered behind his cup of punch, earning a radiant smile from the princess. Persis shook her head. Isla could afford to be openly cynical about Councilman s.h.i.+ft's obvious attempts to throw his nephew in her path, but not if she was going to openly flirt with a reg gengineer. Whatever was going on between her two friends, it wouldn't end well.

"Citizen Helo!" Isla called. "Have you heard Persis's poetry? She had quite a reputation for it at school, though I think she's fallen out of practice since."

Justen, still moping, lifted his head. "I have not had the pleasure, no."

Isla clapped her hands. "Well, you shall today. Persis? Grace us with a ditty."

Persis stared evenly at her friend. "I don't think I'm in the mood for extemporaneous composition."

"Of course you are," the princess insisted. "I'll take topics now." She pointed at Tero.

"Love," he said, and Isla rolled her eyes.

Persis sighed. As soon as this party was over, she and Isla were going to have to have a serious talk. There was a reason Persis had quit composing poetry after she'd left school. Cultivating a reputation as a wit was not conducive to her goals. But as long as she was being forced to perform like the princess's pet parrosprey, she could get in a few digs of her own. Lady Blake, indeed! After a moment, she responded: The fool says "Love," but I confess, I'd rather have a nice new dress.

He may be strong of build and fair of face But I prefer a frock's embrace.

The group chuckled appropriately, and Isla pointed next at Lady Blocking.

"Oh!" the woman said, stirring her beverage with a stick of sugarcane. "Um a oh, I know. The Wild Poppy!"

"Of course." Persis nodded, and flashed a glance at Isla, who shrugged almost imperceptibly.

Very well. But they were playing with fire: Across the sea and up the stair, The Wild Poppy's everywhere.

Though southmen search until they're blind, They know not what they seek to find.

"Wry, Persis," Isla drawled with a warning glare. Well, she had started it. Persis cast a glance at Justen, but he barely seemed to be paying attention. How disappointed his dear Vania would be in him. Here she was, dropping clues like jewels, and he hardly noticed.

"I don't get it," said Lady Blocking, her head c.o.c.ked, her mouth slack. Perhaps Persis should spend more time studying the woman's behavior to make sure her act achieved proper authenticity. She was never quite successful at playing dumb.

"Unfortunately, they can't all be works of art," Persis said, lifting her shoulders in pretty defeat. "And I did warn you I was out of practice."

"Better luck next time." Isla pointed at Justen. "Your turn, Justen. Challenge our girl."

His expression was as flat as his voice as he replied, "Reduction."

The guests began to fidget with their cups and plates.

"Ia"aha"don't know if that's quite the topic we're looking for, Citizen. A little serious, perhaps, for our purpose." Isla gave an apologetic smile. "Perhaps a different topic springs to mind?"

"No," he said. "I cannot think of anything else right now."

Good, thought Persis. When it came to Justen Helo, neither could she. Persis lifted her hand. "Oh no, I've got this one." She stared straight at Justen and began to recite.

Though long forgotten by the kind, Lucky enough to keep their minds, The threat sadly, remains most keen, To those who are called Galatean.

Justen rose, not breaking eye contact, and recited back, The world's content to sit and wait, While those in need suffer sad fates.

And while we laugh and ride the waves Our negligence will dig their graves.

Persis blinked. Well that was unexpected. Who knew Galatean medic students had time to fit in lyric lessons amid RNA transcription cla.s.ses?

Whatever had remained of the party atmosphere, however, had vanished. Andrine chuckled nervously. "We seem to have gone far off course."

Persis narrowed her eyes at Justen. "My dear Justen is, perhaps, not entirely used to the way we do things in Albion."

"But he's so well-suited for it," said Dwyer. "A Helo and a poet. Almost as good as a real aristo!"

At least three of the people on the deck rolled their eyes.

Persis smiled broadly at the guests. "Please excuse me. I'm going to pa.s.s my turn along to Andrine, who I recall spent many a night at school keeping us in st.i.tches with her limericks."

She crossed the deck, took Justen by the arm, and led him to the upper deck, out of earshot of the rest of the party.

"Your agreement with Isla demands not only that you accompany me to social events but that you look happy about it," she reminded him softly but firmly.

"You first."

She drew back. Who would have thought he was paying so much attention?

Justen looked out over the water in the direction of Galatea. "Those refugees are suffering and every moment I spend here playing your devoted admirer, I'm not able to help them."

And every moment she was forced to spend playing hostess was one she couldn't use to get to the bottom of Justen's lies.

He turned back to her. "Does Isla really think she's impressing the regs of Albion by setting off on a yachting trip with a bunch of aristos and a few token court regs? Is that what she thinks is going to keep the populace happy? Wouldn't they be much happier to know that we've found a way to protect the regs in Galatea?"

"Shh!" she hissed. "Lower your voice." The last thing she needed was for the Finches to find out the real reason she'd drugged Andrine. She leaned up against the rail and drew Justen against her. "People are watching."

"So?" He leaned his body toward hers. "We're supposed to be arguing."

She draped her arms about his shoulders and arched her back. Behind her, the sea spray frosted her skin, but heat radiated from Justen's body. The last time she'd held him this close had been in the star cove. It seemed like a world away. Then, she'd let down her guard, acted almost like herself, imagined that Justen was the sort of person she could tell things to. It had been her most serious lapse in judgment in a week that seemed full of them.

"Well, now we're making up. Isla hasn't authorized any fights." More's the pity. How she'd like to have it out with him here and now. How she'd like to pitch him over the side of the Daydream and sail away, no matter what secrets he might discover in his grandmother's files to help her mother. If Justen could find a cure in them, someone else could, too.

"I don't care what she's authorized," he whispered. "All I care about is my countrymen. I can't stand by and watch them suffer."

"You were happy enough to do so before." The words slipped out, unfiltered. He began to jerk away from her but she held him tight. "When you were in Galatea, there were citizens being Reduced all around you. Why was that all right?"

"It wasn't," he replied. "And there was very little I could do in Galatea with my uncle breathing down my neck. Here I can help the refugees in that sanitarium."

Persis was sure that was a great comfort to those regs already damaged by Justen's pinks. She lifted her hand and caressed his cheek, when what she'd rather do was smack it.

"Oh, lovebirds," called Lady Blocking, "are you going to rejoin the party or find someplace more private?"

He looked into her eyes, pain furrowing his brow. "You sound angry with me, Persis. If I've done something to hurt you, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Vania came to your house. I did not invite her, believe me. I respect your family's privacy."

"And what about the princess's good opinion?" Persis said. "Entertaining her enemiesa""

"Don't worry about Vania. All she cares about is the Wild Poppy."

That was plenty to start with.

"I thought," he said, "that we were becoming friends. In the star covea""

"I made it clear what we're doing here," she finished. "At least, I thought I had. If there was any confusion a" She shrugged. "This is a role, Justen. Play it."

He glared at her, his jaw set, his dark eyes burning. And then he kissed her.

She couldn't pull away, not with half the party watching and the other half judging. And after a second, she didn't want to. There was something desperate and wild about the kiss, about Justen himself. In the star cove, he'd touched her gently, tentatively. Now he cupped her face in one hand, tangling his fingers in the windswept strands of her hair, while he slipped the other around the small of her back, pulling her up from the rails and holding her against his body.

This was not the Galatean medic she knew, cautious and serious and sarcastic. The petals of her skirt whipped in the wind, molding about his hips as tightly as her arms wrapped around his back. He moved his mouth over hers, hot and hard and hungry for understanding or absolution or something else entirely unexpected.

And then, just as suddenly, he lifted his head, and there was no pleasure in his face. "There," he said. "Satisfied?"

Not even a little. Persis caught her breath before speaking, afraid of how she might sound otherwise. "It's a a definite improvement."

Down on the main deck, Princess Isla pointed at the sky and screamed.

Twenty-one.

EVERYTHING DISSOLVED INTO CHAOS. Persis vanished from his side, hurrying to her princess. Justen tried to focus, taking in the situation. Moments ago, he'd been kissing Persis Blake like his life depended on it. Now, everyone was pointing up into the sky, gasping and chattering.

"What is it!" cried Lady Blocking. "What is it?"

Justen s.h.i.+elded his eyes and peered into the cloudless blue. It took a moment, but he found it, a tiny, golden glitter in the sky. At first, he thought it was a flutternote, but its movements were too measured for that. Flutters moved in lazy floating motions only to a certain height, and then they zipped off at maximum speed to their intended recipients. This a thing, whatever it was, was circling. Also, he got the sense that it was a lot larger, and a lot higher up, than any flutter ever went.

Persis reappeared in front of him. "Do you know anything about this?" she spat at him. "Is this one of Citizen Aldred's new tricks? Attack the princess regent of Albion from the air?"

Justen shook his head, baffled.

"I thought," Isla said, her voice faint and a little lost, "I thought it was just a flutternote gone astray. But it's not. It's high, and big a"

Tero took the princess by the arm. "Your Highness, we must go below for your safety."

"Um," said Lord Blocking, "maybe we should all go below. We're the perfect targets out here."

Andrine was staring up at the object hanging in the sky. "For a sniper, I suppose. But if they wish to bomb us, we're as much in danger in the cabin as we would be on the deck."

"No one is bombing anyone," Isla insisted. "Not even Citizen Aldred would dare such a move."

"And if he did?" said Lord Blocking. "What would be your response?"

Princess Isla shot the aristo a poisonous glare and went below. Persis was still on deck, staring at the thing as if she could bring it down by will alone. Justen couldn't decide what was more unusual: Persis or the object that held her transfixed. All the other women had gone below, but she remained, in her silly green dress, like some ancient sea nymph defying the sky.

Flying machines. He'd read about them, of course, and seen the images. In the last war, unmanned flying machines had been the ones to carry the explosives that had torn apart the world. It was his ancestors who'd done thata"his and all the other regs'. Safe and secure in their own, giant flying machine, they'd sat far above the Earth and destroyed the rest of it.

When the creators landed on the pristine soil of New Pacifica, they'd made a pact: no more flying machines. Even skimmers hovered less than a meter above the surface. Never again would mankind be able to destroy the world from a distance. It was inconvenient for travel but worth it for the preservation of the sc.r.a.ps of humanity who remained alive.

What if Uncle Damos had broken the creators' pact? After all, he could argue that it was a limitation set by the aristos, and the revolutionaries were not bound to follow it.

"Whatever it is," Persis said, still staring upward, it's leaving." Her tone was clipped and businesslike, nothing at all like the husky, breathless whisper she'd graced him with after their last kiss.

They were the only two left on deck. She strode to the side, dipped her head over and called out, "Slipstream, up!" The mink came scrambling up the hull and onto the deck. He shook himself until his sleek fur stood out in all directions in damp spikes, chattered once at Persis, then rolled over.