19 #2
“Serralyn, maybe? We were worried about Terrano. Sedarias was very worried. It took me longer to get to where Terrano was standing than most other planes—and Serralyn was offering what advice
she could. She’s not so good at making transitions, but she’s aware of the . . . she calls it the structure of the space or
spaces.”
There was a longer pause from Bellusdeo, and when she next spoke, she was Logia again. “Apologies,” she said. “Bellusdeo is—for
obvious reasons—very sensitive to any mention of Shadow. Shadow evolves. Its method of attack evolves. Things that seemed
harmless to us became deadly poison in an instant. But we didn’t have sentient buildings. We had the Norranir and their ancient customs, their drumming, their ability to sense approaching and
encroaching Shadow—but it’s not the same.
“Bellusdeo is a bit calmer, now. She’s usually a good tactician, but, well.” Logia’s shrug was not a fief shrug. “We often
tried to be the voice of reason in the past, but we all died. And even if we’re with her now, our deaths drove her while our
world still existed. If Helen thinks you’re safe—and thinks she’s safe—Bellusdeo will live with the risk.
“But I don’t believe you dropped that sphere.”
“Neither does Bellusdeo,” Mandoran replied, although Logia had been speaking to Kaylin.
“She says you’re perceptive only when it’s inconvenient.”
Mandoran nodded. “I hear that a lot.”
“I have so, so many questions. Most of them involve the planes that Terrano can naturally visit. But you have things you have to discuss. Helen?”
“Yes, Logia?”
“Can I visit again when things are a bit calmer?”
“Of course. Bellusdeo lived with me for a short time, but she was one of my guests, and as I told her when she left to take
up residence in her Tower, she will always be welcome here.”
Technically, Kaylin’s permission was required. But that was a polite fiction.
It’s not a fiction, Severn said, internal voice soft. If you demand otherwise, Helen will accept it. But she knows you pretty well. She chose you because of who you are. Helen is never empty; she’s never lonely.
Logia rose, offered Helen a bow, and opened the parlor doors.
Sedarias and Teela were waiting on the other side. Kaylin could see the Dragon’s back, but not her face. She could see Sedarias’s,
though—full midnight eyes and pale skin. Teela looked less uncomfortable, but Teela had never had problems with Dragons.
Sedarias and Teela entered. Logia took up a position by the wall nearest the door. She didn’t intend to join whatever discussion
ensued—but she clearly wanted to hear it.
Kaylin wanted to go to bed and stay there for the rest of the week. If she couldn’t sleep this early in the day, she’d settle
for hiding under it.
The chairs around the parlor table expanded in number as Sedarias took a seat; Teela joined her. Fallessian returned as well.
Terrano looked about as comfortable as Kaylin felt; Mandoran looked resigned. She waited for the rest of the in-house cohort
to join them, but no one else did. Annarion was with Nightshade and wouldn’t leave his side.
“Torrisant is keeping Annarion company, but I assure you all of the cohort are listening in,” Helen informed her.
“So,” Sedarias said. “You had questions for me.” It wasn’t where Kaylin had thought she would start.
“You asked them of Terrano, but you know how feckless he is. You know him well enough to doubt that his plan of attack—our plan of attack—was his. He doesn’t take commands well, and if you don’t watch him like a hawk, he’s easily distracted. ” Meaning
she’d watched him every step of the way.
“Were the plans yours?” Kaylin asked, reaching for one of Mrs. Erickson’s glazed buns. They had raisins, which Kaylin didn’t
care for, but she was hungry.
“They were ours,” Sedarias replied. “But Terrano probably doesn’t remember half of them.”
“He’s Barrani! He has perfect memory!”
Teela chuckled, a dry sound at odds with the color of her eyes. “We have perfect recall, yes—but even we are required to pay
attention.”
Teela rose and set something down on the table around which they were all seated. “This is an insignia taken from the corpse
of one of Nightshade’s attackers.”
It looked like a Barrani family crest, writ exquisitely—and expensively—small.
Sedarias glanced at Kaylin. “I don’t suppose you recognize it?” To Kaylin’s surprise, she spoke in Elantran.
Kaylin didn’t. Severn did. It’s the symbol worn by the Haverness guard.
Am I allowed to say that?
Up to you. There’s an advantage to being thought of as ignorant, but there is no advantage in being ignorant.
She settled, as she often did, for truth. “Severn says it’s the symbol of the Haverness guard. I assume Haverness is a Barrani
family?”
“Not exactly,” Teela replied.
“Not exactly?”
“You are aware that there are, and have always been, political alliances among the Lords of the High Court.
Some of those extend to the West. Haverness is a league of guards; they were active—and respected—during the Draco-Barrani wars and rose to prominence because of it.
It was highly unusual to have a military force unattached to a familial line, but it was meant—we were told—to be a display of solidarity.
Haverness takes no family name, no matter how powerful that family might be.
“In times of war, they serve the Barrani people.” The words were spoken in the bitterest of tones. “They were not meant to
be a political force, but Barrani will be Barrani when they are adjacent to implements of power.”
“Who commands them?”
“In theory? The High Lord.”
“In theory?”
“The Haverness guards are supplied, armed, armored, and housed by the Lords of the High Court. During the wars, lords vied
for the right to send their people to the Haverness guard. The wars are over. It is considered less prestigious now, and will
likely not rise to prominence again, except in the face of another war against an external enemy.
“It is the Haverness guard that would stand against Shadow should the Tower’s protections fall. We do not labor under the
illusion that they would stand for long.”
Kaylin looked at the emblem on the table. “So what you’re telling me is anyone could have sent the guard.”
“Am I?”
“Did you recognize any of the dead? And if you did, were they actually Haverness guards?”
Teela turned to Sedarias. “You see? She struggles to retain ignorance, but she is logical when confronted with information she might have chosen not to learn in her youth.”
“This is not a case for the Imperial Halls of Law,” Sedarias said. “Teela has been investigating, but the investigation must be subtle. She is not the only person. Where I can, I have drawn attention.”
“You didn’t do that for this,” Terrano muttered.
“No. But my activities serve as distractions to those who might otherwise be attempting to subvert the guard or hide behind
their reputation, such as it is.”
“Unless they’re the same enemies.”
Sedarias smiled. “I don’t believe Nightshade is associated with Mellarionne. I don’t think he was attacked because of Annarion.
Annarion is Solanace, but he has not staked his claim, and Solanace is so greatly reduced in influence and power, he is too
insignificant a target.
“We do not have the name of the person who commanded the guard to assassinate Nightshade.”
“Is there a ruler of Solanace now?”
“There is, but she is young, and in the parlance of Elantra, it is believed she drew the short straw.”
Kaylin blinked. “There was a title available, and no one wanted it? And she’s Barrani?”
“Yes. From a Solanace perspective, Nightshade would only be a threat if his exile was revoked.”
“Pardon?”
“He was made outcaste for political reasons. He could be repatriated into the High Court for political reasons. Nightshade’s
return to Solanace would elevate the line; he is the bearer of one of The Three, and he acquitted himself extremely well in
the wars. But to the person who sits behind the Solanace seat, it might not be considered elevation.”
“Has Annarion heard from his family?”
No one answered. Not even Teela, a Hawk for whom this style of questioning was familiar.
“This is not your investigation, as Teela has made extremely clear.”
Mandoran rolled his eyes. Terrano snorted. “What? You know what she’s like. She trips over everything, and some of it might be useful. At least if we talk about it, she can walk with
her eyes wide open.”
Kaylin felt a bit of gratitude and a bit of annoyance. She squashed both. “So the Haverness war bands were rogue?”
“The High Lord made no commands with regards to the outcaste, but it is a very gray area. Outcastes can be hunted without legal ramifications from the High Lord and his court. It is seldom, however, that three full war bands
can be brought to bear.”
“You don’t think they were Haverness guards.”
Teela exhaled, glared at Terrano, and shook her head. “In ones and twos, it might be possible. If Barrani become Haverness,
they hail from the families that pushed them into service, and they are not required to disavow those families. The families
might put pressure on them—but their actions would not be considered part of the guard.
“Three war bands, however, is a different matter.”
“When did you know it was three?”
“After cursory investigation. It was Lord Andellen who apprised us of the third band; he is most familiar with the fief of
the lord he serves. In the absence of Nightshade, visitors are not permitted at the castle.”
“When you say cursory—”
“I did not investigate it personally. If the bands had gathered at roughly the same time, it would be trivial to find the
hand behind them; they did not. They have been building an unseen presence in the fief for longer than you’ve been alive.
You were never fond of Barrani,” she added. “You avoided them when you saw them on the streets.
“You assumed they belonged to Nightshade.”
Kaylin nodded. “How else would they have wandered the streets invoking his name?”