04 #2
sent them. But that mark is a giant flag for people who want my brother dead. They’ll recognize it. They might not know more
about its use than we do—but they won’t care. They’ll kill you to make a point. That’s not what the rest of us want—but if
we move to guard you, we’ll get ensnared in politics we don’t fully understand.
“Teela is looking into that, as well.” He hesitated. “Can you maybe just . . . visit the Consort later in the week?”
Ynpharion was annoyed. He was not enraged. He considered Annarion intelligent, if a bit too casual. The Lady is also, as Lord Annarion put it, looking into the war bands. It is not simple to move war bands within the city
itself. The fief of Tiamaris is closed to us; the fief of Bellusdeo is closed. She believes some cooperation from one of the
fiefs must have occurred.
She does not want Lord Nightshade to perish. She reminds you that your meeting is tomorrow in the morning.
“Terrano—tell Teela when we fled over a dozen Barrani were coming out of the fief. I’m not sure she’ll want to run into them.”
“She already knows,” Terrano replied. “And actually, she’s in a bad enough mood I think she really does want to run into them.”
“I don’t think Andellen will.”
“Oh no, he’s perfectly happy to join her.”
Kaylin glared at Terrano.
“It’ll be okay. Torrisant and Fallessian followed her. Annarion wanted to go, but Sedarias didn’t want him there. On the other
hand, Sedarias wanted to go, and Teela forbade it. As you can guess, it’s pretty bloody noisy on the inside of my head.
“To be clear, she doesn’t particularly care that they attacked Nightshade. He’s outcaste, after all. But she understands that Nightshade affects Annarion, and she’s afraid that it will affect you as well.”
Kaylin grimaced. “Meaning, she thinks it already has.”
“Meaning, she is deeply unhappy with the Consort’s request, yes. Look, I’d ask you to stay out of it, but we both know you’re
worse than I am. You’re going to do what you’re going to do because you think it’s necessary.” He winced; obviously Teela
or Sedarias didn’t find this amusing. “The thing is, you’ll probably even be right.”
With nothing resolved, they returned to the dining room.
Even if Kaylin accepted that the Erenne mark could be used, and she should attempt to leverage the connection it created between
her and the fieflord, she had no idea how. She’d never used it for anything, and if it hadn’t caused bleeding, she wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
“Serralyn’s going to ask the Arbiters. The former Arkon has no better idea—Dragons don’t have an equivalent. Kaylin?”
Kaylin blinked. There was food on her plate. She was seated at the dining table. Yes, it had been a long day—but not long
enough that she could barely keep her eyes open.
“You are falling asleep at the table,” Helen observed. “Mandoran, it is time to let Kaylin sleep.”
“I didn’t interrupt her,” Mandoran replied, glaring in Terrano’s direction.
“No, you didn’t. Do not start. Kaylin?”
Kaylin pushed herself back from the table. She knew a command when she heard it, no matter how prettily it was said.
She woke that night with a start. It didn’t take long to realize why.
The cohort was being fractious. Helen woke Kaylin for the midwives’ guild if they mirrored during sleeping hours; she let her sleep otherwise. Tonight, she hadn’t.
Kaylin rolled out of bed and reached for her clothing. If the emergency was big enough, she’d be better off dressed to leave
the house.
The door opened as she approached it, Hope grumbling in her ear. “You can stay in bed,” she told him. He bit her ear and stayed
where he was. This wasn’t really the best sign. “Helen’s here, and she’s not going to let anything hurt or kill me. Helen?”
“As you suspect, the cohort is arguing. I would have had them argue in the training room, as things are somewhat intense,
but Annarion refused to leave his brother’s side. Mandoran refused to leave Annarion’s side. Annarion and Sedarias had a rather
explosive argument, and they are not speaking to each other.”
“Are they trying to kill each other?”
“Not anymore.”
Kaylin stiffened.
“If it helps, they weren’t trying to kill each other; they were trying to injure each other.” Helen exhaled, which was entirely
affectation. “Sedarias is not, as you are well aware, emotionally attached to any of her family. She has long considered Annarion
and Nightshade to be inexplicable. Nightshade’s affection for his brother makes no sense to her; Annarion’s angry conflict,
even less.
“She has suggested that it would be best to put Lord Nightshade out of his misery, to cut the ties that bind, as Annarion
has been angry with his brother since he arrived in Elantra.”
Kaylin winced.
“Some of the cohort agreed with Sedarias. Some did not.”
“Did anyone else get involved in the fight?”
“Only in an attempt to prevent it.”
Kaylin left her room. There was no actual shouting, but the ground trembled beneath her bare feet. She turned back to fish her boots from under her bed and tried again. “Teela’s not back yet?”
“She has not returned, no. The cohort is not worried.”
“Fallessian and Torrisant?”
“They are continuing to aid Teela in her investigation.”
Kaylin frowned. “She’s not in the fiefs, is she?”
“She is no longer within the fief of Nightshade.”
“Did she find the Barrani? They weren’t waiting for Nightshade to return, were they?”
“I believe Mandoran will answer your questions.” Kaylin could take the hint. She turned toward the room Helen had opened for
Nightshade’s use.
Mandoran met her at the door. “He hasn’t woken up.”
“I guessed. Has he gotten any worse?”
“There’s very little visible difference; he’s still breathing, and it seems to be even and steady. But you really have to do something about your cheek.”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“Did it ever?”
She nodded. “When we were on our Elani beat. I’d say midmorning. I don’t have a more accurate time, but you might ask Tiamaris
or his Tower. Or Severn; we were on patrol.” She frowned. “You could also ask Teela to ask Andellen about the timing of the
attack. It’s possible Nightshade made no attempt to reach out the normal way, as you put it, because he didn’t have time.”
“It doesn’t take a lot of time to speak through the namebond.”
No. It didn’t. Nightshade could have easily spoken through their bond—normally. It would make a lot more sense. “Could you
maybe not pile on new things to consider when my plate is already full?”
“Maybe? It’s just something to think about. Before you ask, Serralyn asked. I’m just the bearer of bad news.”
Kaylin didn’t care for the bad news. “Helen—you can prevent the namebound from reaching out to me when I’m at home.”
“Yes, dear.”
“But that’s a choice you make, right? Is it something intrinsic to you being a sentient building, or is it something else?”
“Everything I do is intrinsic to my construction.”
“Is it something you think an Arcanist could duplicate?”
“I am uncertain.” That sounded a lot like no. “But even if an Arcanist could duplicate the effect, it would take them some time.”
“Barrani have time, though.”
“They do. I can turn my shield on or off within my own boundaries, but as you are aware, a great deal of magic is involved
in the creation of a sentient building. If this murder were planned perhaps a century ago—in your years—it is possible the
same effect could be achieved.
“I highly doubt it could be achieved from within the fief of Nightshade.”
“It’s not the first time Arcanists—or worse—operated in the fief.”
“I do not believe those Arcanists intended to kill the fieflord.”
Kaylin grudgingly agreed. “I think the bulk of the fighting took place in the border zone between Tiamaris and Nightshade.”
“And the border zones are not under the strict influence of the Towers. I believe it was in the border zones that you first
discovered the entrance to the Academia. It was because of the nature of those zones that the Academia was preserved, in a
type of hibernation. There is power there—but it is a power buildings such as I were created to use.
“It was the Tower Bellusdeo rules that managed to broker the hibernation of the Academia. No one understands the function of, the existence of, the border zones; they are not strictly geographical. But you know that better than anyone currently conscious.”
Silence. “The portal paths between Hallionne might be like the border zone,” Mandoran finally said. “We lost contact when
some of us were confined there.”
Helen nodded.
“But that makes no sense,” Kaylin said, frowning.
“No. Sorry.”
Kaylin exhaled and shook off sleep. She didn’t want more details about the Annarion-Sedarias conflict, just in case it started
up again. “So where’s Teela?”
Mandoran grimaced. “We’re not entirely sure what Teela is up to now—but she’s been walking the border zone between fiefs.
It’s not contiguous, at least not in her current form.”
Kaylin sucked in air.
“Terrano is not helping. He’s giving Teela advice—and she’s the least flexible of all of us. She learns fast, and she can be submerged in
the group chaos, but it’s much, much harder for her to pull out. Terrano thinks he understands what she’s trying to figure
out, but Serralyn’s been grilling Killian, and she’s come up with questions Teela might be able to answer.
“Sedarias doesn’t want Terrano to join Teela. Neither does Teela. The reasons are a bit different, but Terrano flipped out—that’s
the right term?” At Kaylin’s nod, he continued. “Sedarias asked Helen to ‘contain’ Terrano.”
Kaylin flinched.
“Right. Helen made clear that unless Terrano attempted to harm either her or you, she wasn’t prepared to do that. Sedarias
then sent Valliant—from the Academia—to cross into the fief of Bellusdeo. Bellusdeo is obsessed with Shadow—and with the danger
it presents.”
“Please tell me Teela is nowhere near the Ravellon border.”
“I could, but I’d be lying.”
Kaylin dropped her face into her hands. “Helen, can you raise Tiamaris on the mirror network?”