Cast in Honor (Chronicles of Elantra, #11)(70)

Mandoran snickered. She glanced at him. His eyes were almost entirely green.

“What’s funny?”

“Now she’s pissed off at you.”

“Thanks. A lot.”

“You don’t know what she’s like when she worries.”

“Believe that I do. Why didn’t someone take me home?”

“Gilbert thought it would be a bad idea to move you before you could move on your own.”

“Did he happen to say why?”

“Yes.”

Kaylin shrieked in frustration; it hid the noises her stomach was making. “Honestly, if my arms weren’t so weak, I’d strangle you. What, exactly, did he say?”

Looking, if it were possible, more smug, Mandoran repeated what Gilbert had said. To no one’s surprise, Kaylin couldn’t understand a word of it. “If it helps, he was talking to your familiar.”

“Not really. I’m guessing my familiar told everyone to leave me here.”

“Yes. Bellusdeo elected to stay. Gilbert was visited by another one of your Dragons last night.”

Kaylin wanted to cry. “Emmerian?”

“Lord Emmerian,” Severn said, both correcting and confirming the guess. “Bellusdeo chose to remain. She was not willing to leave the house without you.”

“Did you at least go home?”

Silence.

“So...Annarion is here, as well.”

“He’s downstairs in the parlor. I like that word, by the way. We have a bunch of questions for you.”

“Food first. If I don’t eat, you won’t be able to hear my answers over the noise my stomach will be making.”

*

Bellusdeo’s eyes were a steady orange when Kaylin made it into the parlor. She was standing; Kattea was asleep in the largest chair the room contained. Gilbert, however, was absent. “You look terrible.”

“I’ve been in the same clothing, unwashed, for two days, if reports are true. I haven’t eaten. I am terrified that Marcus is going to rip my face off.”

“Teela took care of that. Teela also dropped by your house and left word with Helen.”

“I heard Lord Emmerian was here?”

“He will be back shortly. I sent him on an errand,” she added, showing the first hint of a genuine smile—one that made Kaylin feel instant sympathy for the Dragon Lord. “Don’t look like that. I sent him to the market. With Gilbert.”

“On their own?”

“They were both beginning to annoy me.”

“Can I just go back to being unconscious?” Kaylin, however, entered the room and sat in the nearest chair. “Or sleep. I think sleep would be good. Did Teela say anything about the state of the investigation across the street?”

“Yes. In Elantran. And Leontine.”

Kaylin winced. Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes. She opened them again when food arrived and had the guilty impression that the interval between these two states wasn’t exactly short.

Lord Emmerian glanced at Bellusdeo when he entered the parlor; seeing the color of her eyes, he relaxed. Gilbert, however, paused in the doorway. He offered Kaylin a very formal, very ostentatious bow. He then went to the chair Kattea occupied and woke her. She yawned, stretched and then noticed that Kaylin had joined them.

“You sleep a lot.”

“Not usually.” She attempted to look at Kattea when she spoke, because otherwise, she’d be staring at Gilbert. She recognized the longer lines of his oval face, the straight lines of shoulders, the length of his arms.

He smiled, as if reading her thoughts. “I am well,” he said, voice gentle. “You have my gratitude.”

What he lacked was the third eye. Kaylin didn’t ask him where it had gone. Given Emmerian’s presence in the room, she thought it smarter to keep her own counsel.

“Do you have a working mirror here?”

“I do. I will take you to it after you have eaten.” Gilbert bowed again and left the room. Kattea leaped off her chair and followed, chattering in his wake.

Lord Emmerian’s eyes were shading to gold as Bellusdeo’s did. “You are well?”

Kaylin, wary, nodded. “Hungry,” she added.

“Do you expect more difficulty?”

“I didn’t even expect the last bit. But no, I’m not going to be trying anything I don’t understand in the next little while.”

He met Bellusdeo’s eyes. Bellusdeo wasn’t glaring, but it was close. “Then I shall depart. The Arkon conveys his best wishes and requests the pleasure of your company at your earliest convenience.” He bowed—to Bellusdeo—and left.

“He’s not much like Diarmat, is he?”

“Thankfully not.” Bellusdeo exhaled. Given her expression, Kaylin was surprised not to see smoke. Or steam. “What happened?”

“I tried to heal Gilbert. I think I mostly succeeded.”

“You have certainly altered his appearance. He looks vaguely Barrani.”

Mandoran coughed.

“He looks more Barrani than he does human. I think it’s his skin. Or his ears.”

“His skin?”

“It is remarkably flawless. His eyes, however, are not Barrani—or Dragon—in nature; I do not believe they have changed color once. What is he, Kaylin?”