“They must have cost a fortune.”
“The ocean deeps are full of priceless resources. Our queen exploited them cleverly to fund this project.”
“Why?”
She faced him fully. She had a wonderfully curvy body, he’d noticed. With the sort of ass he’d like to sink his teeth into. But … the River Queen’s cold face rippled through his mind, and Tharion turned to the windows behind the commander.
Beyond the wall of glass, a bioluminescent cloud—some sort of jellyfish—bobbed by. Suitably unsexy.
Sendes asked, “Why does your queen involve herself with the rebels?”
“She’s not involving herself with them. I think she merely wants something that they want.” Or used to want, if Pippa was to be believed—though after they’d blown the suit to pieces, maybe Ophion would be back on the hunt for the kid. “I don’t think her motivations for wanting it are necessarily to help people, though.” He winced as he said it. Too bold, too reckless—
Sendes huffed a laugh. “Your opinion is safe here, don’t worry. The Ocean Queen is aware that her sister in the Blue River is … moody.”
Tharion blew out a breath. “Yeah.” He took in the control room again. “So all this … the ships, the rescuing of rebels … Is it because the Ocean Queen wants to overthrow the Asteri?”
“I’m not close enough to her to know whether that’s her true motive, but these ships have indeed aided the rebels. So I’d say yes.”
“And she intends to make herself ruler?” Tharion asked carefully.
Sendes blinked. “Why would she ever do that?”
“Why not? That’s what the River Queen would do.”
Sendes stilled, completely earnest as she said, “The Ocean Queen would not set herself up as a replacement for the Asteri. She remembers a time before the Asteri. When leaders were fairly elected. That is what she wishes to achieve once more.”
The dark ocean passed beyond the glass. Tharion couldn’t suppress his bitter laugh. “And you believe her?”
Sendes gave him a pitying look. “I’m sorry that the River Queen has abused your trust so much that you don’t.”
“I’m sorry that you’re na?ve enough to believe everything your queen says,” he countered.
Sendes gave him that pitying look again, and Tharion tensed. He changed the subject, though. “What are the odds that either you guys or Cormac will release Sofie’s body to me?”
Her brows lifted. “Why do you want it?”
“My queen wants it. I don’t get to ask questions.”
Sendes frowned. “What use could she have with a thunderbird’s corpse?”
He doubted Cormac would appreciate Sofie being referred to as a corpse, but he said, “Again, no idea.”
Sendes fell silent. “Does … does your queen have any necromancers in her employ?”
Tharion started. “What? No.” The only one he knew was hundreds of miles away, and she sure as shit wasn’t going to help out the River Queen. “Why?”
“It’s the only reason I can think of to go to such lengths to retrieve a thunderbird’s body. To reanimate it.”
Cold horror sluiced through him. “A weapon without a conscience or soul.”
Sendes nodded gravely. “But what does she need it for?”
He opened his mouth, but shut it. Speculating on his queen’s motives in front of a stranger, even a friendly one, would be foolish. So he shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out.”
Sendes saw right through him, though. “We have no claim on the body, but Prince Cormac, as her lover and a member of Ophion, does. You’ll have to take it up with him.”
Tharion knew precisely how that would end. With a giant, burning NO. So, short of becoming a body snatcher—not high on his list of life goals—he wasn’t delivering the goods. “Time to begin the spin cycle,” Tharion murmured, more to himself than to Sendes. He’d have to either lie about ever finding Sofie’s body or lie about why he couldn’t steal it. Fuck.
“You could be more, you know,” Sendes said, seeming to read the dread on his face. “At a place like this. We don’t need to lie and scheme here.”
“I’m content where I am,” Tharion said quickly. His queen would never let him leave anyway.
But Sendes inclined her head knowingly—sadly. “You ever need anything, Captain Ketos, we’re here for you.”