“And now the deluge,” We Suffer said, in as close to a good mood as Nona had ever seen her.
Pyrrha had the corpse prince over her shoulder. Kiriona Gaia was very good at playing dead, Nona had to admit; completely limp and believable. It was a good thing too. Even in her good mood, We Suffer did not like it when the body of Ianthe Naberius turned up, even once Palamedes explained. Nor did We Suffer want to put Kiriona Gaia in the same truck as them. “Eggs. Basket,” was all she would say. Palamedes was forced to relent. Nona was strangely relieved that she wouldn’t have to ride with the Prince, or have to look at her, even if the Prince was playing dead.
The moment We Suffer saw Camilla, she called a Blood of Eden medic over, who declared they could not do better on the dressing but immediately gave Camilla quite a lot of drugs. Camilla had tried to say, “No pain meds,” but Palamedes said briskly, “Every pain medication you have, please.”
Nona had never seen Camilla so meek or malleable. It was like all the times she had ever seen Camilla happy, all at once.
When We Suffer had declared that the body had to be kept apart, Camilla said instantly, “I’ll ride with it.”
Pyrrha said, “No. I will,” but Cam said, “No. You stay with Nona.”
Nona thought this was a bit cruel. “Don’t you want to stay with Palamedes?”
Camilla and Palamedes—Palamedes in the handsome, nice-haired body that smiled in a much nicer way than it had ever smiled for Ianthe Naberius—looked at each other. They had not moved much more than an arm’s length apart since Palamedes had fought for rights to the body and won.
Amazingly and fearfully, Cam looked at Nona and winked.
“We need some space,” she said. “I’m getting sick of him.”
“Not surprised,” said Palamedes.
And they parted with nothing more than Cam leaning forward to touch his forehead to hers again, very briefly. So the Prince and Camilla got their own truck.
They were only two trucks in a cavalcade of people-moving trucks, and theirs and the corpse prince’s and Cam’s were the middle ones, and theirs didn’t seem very full at all. The moment an unmasked, wild-eyed Pash hopped out of the truck to pull the ramp down for Pyrrha, she had looked at the corpse of Kiriona Gaia and said in the loudest possible voice, “Oh, fuck no,” and gone to sit in the farthest corner of Nona’s truck instead.
Commander We Suffer sat in the centre with a headpiece and a flip-top computer, and Nona crowded in next to Pyrrha and Palamedes. Palamedes sat next to Crown and Crown had laid the Captain down across three seats.
The Captain wasn’t looking very good, but she wasn’t saying anything. Palamedes had checked up on her—looked at her eyes and listened to her breathing as Crown watched, chewing on her littlest fingernail. In the end she said, “Is there nothing you can do, Master Warden?”
“Not in this body.” Palamedes levered open the Captain’s jaw—Nona craned her head to watch, knowing it was nosy but not caring—and noticed that the Captain’s tongue was bluish and purplish and swollen. He said, “She’s suffering micro-seizures. I’m worried about her brain.”
Crown said urgently, “Master Warden, please, she’s come so far and fought so hard.”
“Let’s trust her to fight a little harder,” said Palamedes, and he rolled the Captain onto her side. He tilted her head down a little, and threaded a strap across her middle. “Make sure she doesn’t choke.”
Meanwhile Pyrrha kept twisting her neck to look at Pash, of all people, scowling maskless in the corner. Nona was desperate for Pyrrha not to do anything stupid, like flirt with her. She really thought Pash would do something awful to her kneecaps if she tried, and if that happened Nona knew she would throw up. It had been a very long day already.
We Suffer said to Palamedes: “The shuttle?”
“Secure,” said Palamedes, which Nona thought was a flawless way of telling the absolute truth.
“I have left my most trustworthy guards at the barracks.”
“Tell them not to explore. Prince Ianthe Naberius left behind wards and necromantic traps. I have control of this body, but I can’t do anything about any nasty surprises she prepared for us,” said Palamedes.
We Suffer said, “You know that we would neutralise your people, not kill them.”
“I think they’ve been neutralised long enough.”
Crown said, “There’re fewer than twenty Cohort soldiers left in there, ma’am. They’re not in good shape. They may well kill themselves rather than be taken in by Blood of Eden forces … especially if my sister isn’t there to help. Their morale will break. Please wait.”