Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra, #11)(50)

“On its own.”





Chapter 11

Ditching Annarion and Mandoran proved to be much, much more of a problem than Kaylin had anticipated. Helen was willing to allow them to leave if they accompanied Kaylin, as her familiar could more or less keep them hidden from the non-mortal Shadows who seemed to hear them so clearly.

Teela didn’t particularly care for either the Arkon or the Imperial Palace; she could tolerate them, but she never sought them out willingly. She hadn’t, therefore, insisted on accompanying Kaylin. Severn had shown up at the front door as a reminder of the appointment she’d already managed to miss once.

Annarion was willing to follow Teela’s lead. Mandoran was not, and Annarion wasn’t willing to let Mandoran be the only Barrani representative from their collective crew. But Severn considered the visit less risky than Kaylin did, and in the end, Kaylin had agreed to let them accompany her. She was fairly certain Marcus’s fur—all of it—would be standing on end if he knew, but it was easier to grovel and beg forgiveness than to ask permission.

The Arkon had wanted to meet them, anyway.

Bellusdeo, uncertain that the argument would ever end, left first. “I do not find Lannagaros’s company taxing,” she said on the way out. “Given recent events, I find it exactly the opposite.”

Since Annarion and Mandoran were now part of the visit to the Arkon, Teela also accompanied them, and wasn’t entirely pleased about it. Or quiet.

“...And I’m warning you now that if the two of you touch anything in his collection, we’ll all be smoldering ash. Just—if you could be quiet and still, it would be helpful to my continued employment. And existence. And when I say ‘you,’ I mean Mandoran.” Teela could have said this silently; she had their True Names. She didn’t need to speak out loud.

“Plausible deniability,” Teela said, correctly guessing Kaylin’s thoughts. “Honestly, the primary reason I’d never give you my True Name is because it wouldn’t be advantageous to me—what you think is so plainly written across your face I don’t need you to speak out loud to catch it.”

Mandoran pulled a face. “I swear, once we’ve gotten your brother, I’m going back to the green.”

Annarion winced, but said nothing.

Kaylin didn’t believe him, because she wasn’t that lucky. She kept this to herself, with effort. Gilbert. Kattea. Evanton’s concern about ancient, mysterious ruins. The bodies that disappeared when she looked at them the wrong way. There were too many things that were strange and wrong, and Kaylin was attempting to juggle them all.

She was a crap juggler. Eventually they were going to come raining down on her head.

She’d appreciate it if that didn’t happen while the Arkon was present.

*

The Arkon met them at the library doors, although the library was well-staffed during daylight hours. Said staff were watching the visitors with barely concealed interest; they appeared to be tending to their various jobs. Kaylin had no doubt they would all be talking in muted whispers the minute the visitors were out of earshot.

The Arkon’s eyes were a shade of orange that immediately set Kaylin’s teeth on edge. “You said you wanted to meet them,” she began.

“You will be silent for at least the next fifteen minutes.” He paused. “My apologies, Lord Teela, but I must insist that you, and your companions, also comply with my request.”

It certainly wasn’t phrased like a request.

“Morgrim, please call the librarians to the desk. The interruption to their regular duties should be minimal.”

*

“This should cause no discomfort.”

“What should cause no discomfort?” Kaylin asked.

The Arkon’s answer was typical: it had nothing to do with the question she’d asked. “You have brought two visitors.”

“You wanted to meet them.”

“Yes, I did. I am delighted to have the opportunity to do so.” Delight was clearly the same as suspicion, at least for Dragons. “But they have—to use your colloquial phrase—tripped a number of protective wards on their passage through the gallery. I wish to ascertain that their presence here will not harm the more susceptible parts of my archive.”

She glanced at the library’s front desk. The librarians were gathered behind it. Actually, they were huddling behind it. This did nothing to ease her worry. But her arms didn’t ache; her skin didn’t feel as if it was being peeled off. If there was magic in use, it was not the type of magic to which she was apparently allergic.

The Arkon began to speak. His lips moved in slow motion, and he raised his hands, turning his palms slowly toward the ceiling.

Kaylin felt the air crackle. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see lightning strike, but had the suspicion that it wasn’t the floor it would hit first. Teela’s eyes were very blue.

Mandoran’s and Annarion’s were almost black. They didn’t arm themselves; they didn’t run. They didn’t try to stop the Arkon. But their mouths, unlike the Arkon’s, were compressed, tight lines and white around the edges.

Words began to form in the air around the Arkon. Literally.

*

If true words had irrevocable meaning, they clearly also conveyed tone. Or perhaps it was just the choice of words. These were a deeper blue than any previous words the Arkon had chosen, laboriously, to speak, and although they were glowing, they felt...dark. And cold. She had walked around the visible representation of ancient and unknowable words such as this before; she had even touched them.