Evarrim said nothing. The Barrani were, and could be, subject to such a loss of control, which was the particular peril of allowing one’s True Name to be known. Humans, however, had no True Names. Control, if it was exerted, had to be exerted in an entirely different way.
“You haven’t heard of this.”
“No. But no information that travels in the political ether is complete. Ever. You are implying that you are aware of the mechanism used.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Ynpharion said,The Lady wishes me to advise you that caution is a virtue.He winced when Kaylin winced.
We’re here to get informationaboutthe damn mechanism.
If you will permit me, was his stiff reply. I stay as far from your thoughts as possible, and your domicile thankfully makes itimpossibleto approach without direct permission. I am not entirely aware of the events that have occurred, and the Lady wishes to know.
She asked?
Yes, in fact. She is unwilling to have me struggle to gain information you do not wish to share, but she feels that she is now at a disadvantage.Pleasecontrol your facial expressions.
Kaylin had one moment of satisfaction in that long day. Ynpharion’s eyes went almost blue black instantly when she let him in, and when he shared whatever it was he chose to offer the Consort, so did hers. She felt faintly smug, and then faintly guilty. Now was not the time to be petty.
The Consort then turned to Evarrim. “I believe,” she said, “that the time for certain negotiations or games has now passed.”
Chapter 22
Evarrim frowned, his gaze moving from Kaylin to the Consort and back. The Consort didn’t blink. Kaylin probably did, but that was now irrelevant. He could toy with Kaylin to his heart’s content, could condescend to her and treat her like an ignorant street rat. He would never treat the Consort that way.
He bowed. To the Consort, of course.
“The Oracle’s vision,” Kaylin said, “involved a Dragon, ringed by Aerians, flying above Ravellon.” Among other things. She chose which other things to reveal by continuing. “It also involved the currentpraevolo, or at least a person I assume is the currentpraevolo.”
“In the vision—” Evarrim’s eyes were now the same shade of almost black that the other Barrani eyes—with the exception of Teela, to whom this was semi-old news—had become “—was thepraevoloat the side of this figurative Dragon?”
“No. She was, in theory, standing alone.”
“Against the Dragon?” he pressed.
“It wasn’t my vision. I don’t think the Oracle in question implied combat on her part, but it definitely implied martial forces on the Dragon’s.”
“What color was the Dragon?”
“She didn’t say. She couldn’t say. It was too dark. This caused predictable annoyance on the part of the man who was forcing her to have this partial vision.”
“I can well understand why.”
“The method by which she was controlled involved Shadow.”
Evarrim stiffened. “Do you have proof of that?”
“Yes, actually. It isn’t the only time Shadow has been used—and in both cases, it was used to control someone. The man who came to force the seer to have her vision contained Shadow that did not appear to have significant control overhisactions. He used the power he’d been granted with no awareness at all that the driving force behind it was Shadow.”
“Impossible.”
“Is it?” the Consort asked, voice cool. “We are, none of us, servants of the Imperial Laws, but we are assured that those who do serve are well trained. Perhaps you suggest that Lord Kaylin was misinformed?”
It was not the time for petty, Kaylin reminded herself.“I wasn’t informed. I observed. Shadow was forced out of him, and when he realized what it was, he panicked. He didn’t intend to die, and he realized that he was no safer than his victim in that regard. He volunteered to aid us. Until today. Today, he demanded the protection of the human Caste Court, and a remand for his possible sentencing.”
Evarrim said nothing.
