Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra, #11)(57)



Gilbert frowned.

Kattea said, “That’s what I told him.”

“Did any Barrani come to this house yesterday?”

“No.”

“But something else did?”

Gilbert was silent for a long beat.

“Let me lose a bet.”

“I do not think that would be wise. The injuries you heal are not the same injuries that my people sustain. My injuries would not, I believe, make sense to you.”

“They don’t have to make sense to me.” Kaylin lifted her arms. Gilbert, seeing them, froze. He turned to Kattea.

“Her arms—were they glowing like that when she entered the halls?”

“You couldn’t see it? You can see everything.” Kattea said this without apparent sarcasm.

“I can see it now, yes. I— May I examine your arms?”

Kaylin unbuttoned the cuffs of her sleeves in reply. She rolled up the loose material and winced; the marks were bright. She rolled her sleeves down again instantly.

“Kaylin?”

“Sometimes they— Sometimes the words leave my skin.”

“Yes.” Gilbert now looked confused.

“You’ve seen marks like these before. You called me—”

“Chosen.” The most disturbing thing about his gaze, Kaylin realized, was the fact that Gilbert didn’t blink. Nor did he look away. His glance never strayed.

“You lived in Ravellon,” Kaylin said, changing the subject.

He nodded.

“How do you know what these marks mean?”

Bellusdeo folded her arms. Her eyes remained a bright, intense orange as she studied Gilbert.

Gilbert frowned. “I do not understand the question.”

“Ravellon is at the heart of the fiefs. Kattea’s told you about at least one of them—you found her there.”

“Lord Nightshade’s home.”

“Yes. The fiefs exist because of Ravellon. The Towers—or castle, in his case—exist to prevent Shadow from encroaching upon the rest of the city. Gilbert, was Ravellon your home?”

*

Gilbert turned to Kattea. “Go upstairs,” he told her quietly, “and entertain our guests.” He glanced up, as if the ceiling of this very ordinary room was transparent to his gaze. “Kattea. Go. We do not have much time.”

Kaylin glanced at the girl. She had folded her slender arms tightly, clearly intending to stay.

“Kattea, you gave me your word.”

Mutinous, the child hesitated.

“Do as he says,” Kaylin told the girl. “It’s never wise to break a promise made to someone as powerful as Gilbert.”

“I didn’t promise to obey,” Kattea said, voice low. “Not everything.”

“You must go to our guests. While you are with them, they should be safe.”

“From what?” Bellusdeo demanded.

“I would tell you to leave with Kattea, but it would be pointless. You will remain with the Chosen. I intend her no harm.”

“But you send the child from the room.”

“I am not what you are. I am not what she is. She has made a bet with Kattea.” He spoke the word as if it were a sacred oath. “I am not what I was. I am...ill. There is a possibility that she can heal me.”

“Healing is not, generally—”

“But there is a possibility that she will fail. Or that I will. You will, in all likelihood, survive such a failure. The Chosen is likely to survive. Kattea is not.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Bellusdeo demanded of Kaylin.

Since the answer was more or less no, Kaylin didn’t bother with it. Kattea was already afraid. “Keep your promise,” Kaylin said.

“You don’t even know what the promise was.”

“I don’t have to. You know, and Gilbert knows.”

Gilbert cut in. “Go upstairs. I will meet you there.”

“You promise?”

Gilbert was silent. He was pale now, far paler than he had been when he’d opened the door. His eyes, however, were just as bright, just as clear. No, Kaylin thought, they were brighter and clearer; it was as if light was now attempting to escape his body, and his eyes were the only possible exit.

“Bellusdeo.”

“I am not leaving you here.”

“Kattea has to go. I don’t want her to get lost in the halls—”

“I won’t get lost in the halls!”

“You don’t get lost because Gilbert guides you. He’s telling you he might not be able to. You need to be somewhere safe.”

“There’s nowhere safe!”

“Fine. You need to be somewhere safer. There are two Imperial Hawks in your parlor. Go there and stand behind them if something else comes to the house. But do it now.” Speaking, she reached out and grabbed Gilbert’s hands. The light that she saw in his eyes was familiar. It was not the gold of Dragon calm or Barrani surprise; it was the gold of the marks on her arms, legs, back and, she imagined, the mark on her forehead, which had not yet returned on its own to the Barrani Lake of Life.

Bellusdeo’s eyes were a deeper orange. Her gaze moved from Kaylin to Kattea and back. Kaylin wasn’t certain that Bellusdeo would, in the end, do what she’d asked, but she had hopes.

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