She nodded again.
Teela was pinching the bridge of her nose, as if a headache had taken up residence and she had no hope of evicting it.
“What happened with the prisoner?”
“One of the Barrani Hawks was paid to pass a message on.”
“Paid by who?”
Her smile was grim. “Not someone human.”
“How ugly is this going to get?”
“Well, that depends.”
“On what?”
“We have an appointment in less than an hour. Go home and get changed.”
Kaylin wilted. “An appointment where?”
“At the High Halls.”
“But—”
“It’s the safest neutral ground we currently have. Trust me.” The High Halls was not neutral ground for Teela.
“Who are we meeting?”
“Evarrim.”
* * *
Evarrim was an Arcanist of long standing. Kaylin disliked him, which was a step up from the very visceral loathing she had felt on their first acquaintance. He was a Barrani High Lord, he was old, and he was power hungry; he disdained the merely mortal as ignorant ephemerals. And he wanted the power of the marks of the Chosen.
But she had watched him fight to save the same people she had fought to save—the Consort, for one—and she had seen him surrender some part of his power, and in one or two cases, put his own life at risk. She couldn’t like him. She didn’t trust him. But she knew there was more to him than the disdain he had always showed her.
She told herself this with as much force as she could muster while she dressed for the High Halls. She didn’t understandwhyshe couldn’t wear her tabard and her working clothing, but she accepted Teela’s grim command. She just wasn’t happy about it.
Severn was also required to change, which he couldn’t do at her house; he headed back to his apartment, leaving Kaylin with Bellusdeo and Mandoran. Bellusdeo had no intention of going to the High Halls, and there’d been some argument about the designated “neutral” venue, but Teela was having none of it.
Mandoran, on the other hand, wanted to go.
And Teela was having none of that, either.
“Don’t argue with her,” Kaylin murmured. “Not when she’s in this mood. It’ll just make her angry and it won’t change anything.”
“And not changing anything is making me angry.”
“No,” Teela snapped, “it’s making you petulant.”
Tain had absented himself from the argument, and came to stand beside Kaylin. She glanced at Teela’s partner, and he shrugged. “They’re siblings for all intents and purposes—and only a fool gets between siblings while they’re arguing. What will he do?”
“Mandoran? He’ll sulk, but he’ll accept it.”
“I heard that,” Mandoran said to Kaylin.
“If the Dragon accepts it, I don’t see that you accepting it is any more humiliating.”
