Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra, #11)(56)

“Is it too much to ask,” Kaylin murmured, “that something be normal for a few days? Just—normal? Normal, venal criminals, ordinary stakes?”

“You are clearly not immortal,” Bellusdeo replied. She glanced at Kaylin; her eyes were fully orange now.

“Meaning it’s not boring.”

“Normal—for me—for centuries was the heart of Shadow. I do not yearn for it. Normal, for me, was the war that eventually destroyed my home.”

“I get it. I suck. I’ll stop feeling sorry for myself. Or,” she added, when Bellusdeo raised a brow, “I’ll at least stop whining out loud.”

“The latter is conceivable.”

“Thanks.”

“You should never have accepted the marks of the Chosen if you wanted a boring life.”

“I wasn’t offered a choice.”

“What is the phrase that Joey uses?”

“Joey? Oh, you mean at the office?”

“Yes. I think it’s ‘Sucks to be you.’ Did I say that right?”

“Yes.”

Kattea snickered.

“That’s funny?” Kaylin asked her.

“No. Gilbert doesn’t understand what it means. That’s funny.”

Gilbert was not present. Any hope that Kattea was not communicating with him in his absence—and it was very scant hope, given the observable facts—wilted.

“It’s around here somewhere,” Kattea told them. “There should be a door.”

“Should be?” Bellusdeo asked, her voice deceptively soft.

“The basement here is a bit confusing. It changes shape, sometimes. Gilbert says that’s normal.”

“It is so not normal,” Kaylin told her.

“I told him that. I think it confused him.”

“Gilbert sounds like he’s easily confused.”

“He really is. He says—he says that’s why he needs me.” The words trailed into silence. Kattea was a child. She was not a young child, but she was a child. But that meant nothing in the fiefs.

“Do you think he’s lying?” Bellusdeo asked. She had apparently decided to ask all the difficult, awkward questions that Kaylin had so far managed to keep to herself.

Kattea’s shrug was pure fief. Answer enough, as well. Gilbert was clearly competent, powerful, dangerous—any need he had for an orphan in Nightshade didn’t bear examination. Not when he was the only reason that orphan was still alive.

Had Gilbert found Kaylin after Steffi and Jade had died, she would have followed him. She would have asked no questions unless he invited them. And she would have done whatever she could to protect him, no matter what else he did. Because he represented food and shelter and another day or two of life.

No fear Kaylin had for Kattea would measure up against that, and why should it? The concern of an uninvolved stranger was worth nothing but sentiment and air. She couldn’t judge the child. She couldn’t ask that she make wise choices. What choices, in the end, did Kattea really have?

*

The door did not appear until they’d walked another thirty yards, and it did not appear where Kattea was looking for it. Bellusdeo was less obviously disturbed by this than Kaylin, and Kattea did not appear concerned at all. She did look very pleased when she sighted it, but she didn’t look relieved. She had expected she’d find it.

It was, in Kaylin’s estimation, not that hard to miss. It looked far more like a closet door than a door that would normally be found in halls like this one; even the doorknob looked old and worn.

Kattea didn’t open the door. Instead, she knocked. “Don’t touch the handle,” she said, although neither Kaylin nor Bellusdeo had moved to do so. “Gilbert will open the door.”

At her words, the door swung open into a large room, which was rectangular in shape. The floors of this room were covered in rugs—at least three, none matching. To the right was a large bed; to the left, a desk and two standing shelves. Those shelves had gathered books, dust and what looked, at this distance, like impressive cobwebs.

Kaylin took these details in before her gaze returned to the man who had opened the door. He looked pinched and drawn; his eyes were fever-bright, but a normal color. His face was long, but otherwise looked normal.

He did not look like the Barrani.

He did not look like a Dragon, either.

But Kaylin felt certain that he had to be immortal, because she thought Kattea must know his True Name.

*

Gilbert stepped away from the door to allow them to enter.

Bellusdeo went in first, cutting Kattea off to do so. Kaylin almost reached out to grab Kattea’s shoulder, but she knew how she would have reacted to that at Kattea’s age. Kattea’s trust of Gilbert was not trust as Kaylin had grown to understand it. It was necessity.

“Kattea said you were unwell.”

“I know.”

“You look...”

“Unwell.”

“Yes.”

“I said—” Kattea began.

“Kattea and I have a bit of a bet going.”

“Kattea has been attempting to explain betting to me. It is confusing.”

“It can’t be more confusing than basements that change shape and size and doors that aren’t where you left them.”