Chapter Text
“To whom are you least loyal?”
“What?” The crackling of the ripped webs in the wind from the open side of the hallway had been too loud for Eris to hear the words.
Toland dragged long fingers in the muck coating the egg. Twitching gray slashes of static cut across his forearms. A reconnaissance, an experiment – both at once. He spoke as if he wasn’t quite paying attention, as if he walked light-headed and hungry.
"There are breeding pits filled with protein and tar.”
Eris folded her hands against her sleeves. “There is clear air on the Tower balconies.”
Suddenly Toland’s arms bled orange to the elbows. He twisted, dug around inside one of the last remaining eggs of the Titan brood. “This is an adaptation.
These would not be possible without the gravity and humidity of this world. The Wizards have been working. These are the children of Titan.”
"Our foothold here is hard-won,” Eris said.
The slimy mass Toland pulled out of the egg was curled and only as long as his forearm. Eris recognized the bare skull of a thrall, heavy and translucent. Tell Sloane, she remarked to herself. Tell Sloane that Toland visited her demesne, too.
"Give it to me,” Eris said, and killed the last of the brood herself, and silently gloried in a revenge like a deep breath, and Toland watched. Eris heard the muttered words clearly this time.
"To whom are you least loyal?”