“Does he know why?”
“I doubt it. I can’t imagine he doesn’t know who hired him, though.” She hesitated. “I think they’ll bring in the Tha’alani.”
Moran was as grim as Kaylin. The Tha’alani could, if they made physical contact with a person’s skin using the stalks on their forehead, read thoughts. They could rifle through them as if they were drawers. There wasn’t a secret you could keep if they came calling.
But theyhatedto do it.
Most crimes could and would be easily solved with consistent use of the Tha’alani. And most of the Tha’alani would be slightly insane if they were used that way. The Emperor did occasionally demand their services—he was the boss, after all. The Tha’alani had agreed because he was also a Dragon, and he could breathe them out of house and home if he felt like it. But if he considered their obedience necessary—and Kaylin privately hated him for it—he also knew it was costly, not only for the Tha’alani in question, but for the entire race.
They didn’t naturally keep secrets from each other. Only a few of themcould.
“It’s a good thing he was human, then.”
“I’d be more interested in knowing what this morning’s assassins knew. You know that Grammayre is going to fight the remand, right?”
Moran sagged. Kaylin almost kicked herself. She didn’t understand Moran, and probably never would—but she respected her. “This case should be ours,” she added, trying to keep defensiveness out of her voice. “You’re ours.” She shook herself. “The bracelet?”
“It’s largely ceremonial. It has a place of honor among the artifacts of the pilgrims, as they’re sometimes called.”
“The ones who first arrived here?”
Moran nodded. “It was apparently worn by thepraevolo. The first one. It’s worn by thepraevolowhen they come of age.”
“...But that would be you.”
Moran nodded.
“Was it offered to you?”
Moran lifted her head. Her eyes were a very dark blue. “Yes. The first time, it was offered as a bribe. I was forcibly adopted into the dar Carafel line at that time. I was a child. I donned it before the Caste Court. But then it was refused on my behalf—by my mother. So it was returned to their keeping.”
“And the second?”
“After my grandmother’s death. I would not wear it. I was told that if I had been wearing it, my grandmother would have lived—and I hated them for saying it. Hated myself for the guilt I felt anyway. If it weren’t forme, my grandmother would be alive. She’d be living in the Outer Reaches, but she was happy there. She died because someone wantedmedead.” She closed her eyes.
Kaylin was surprised when the Aerian woman continued. “It does funny things to you, to know that the cost of being loved is death. I hated the Upper Reaches. I hated everyone who lived in them.”
“What does the bracelet do?”
“I don’t know. I only know that it belonged to the first person to bear these wings. In theory, it’s a mark of honor.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“Oh, I believe it’s considered a mark of honor—but I think it does more than that, and I’m not sure what that is. I wouldn’t trust the dar Carafel, though.”
“Meaning?”
“They could have had a replica made, with their own specific magical spin. I keep thinking of Margot; she was being physically controlled by her visitor. What if they had altered the bracelet, or enchanted it, to do the same thing?”
“Why are you so certain it’s the Aerians who were responsible for what happened to Margot?”
“You trust my people,” Moran said, voice softening. “But you trust them because you’ve only seen those who became Hawks. I love my job, and I’m good at it. It took me years to win a place for myself among the Aerian Hawks, but the rest of you accepted me, wings and all, without complaint.
“Now I’ve lost the Aerians. Again. I don’t know if I’ll ever get them back.”
Kaylin clamped her jaw shut to stop words from escaping. The small dragon warbled what she assumed was approval. Sighing, she reached into her pouch and pulled out the bracelet.
Moran’s jaw would have hit the water—and sunk—if it hadn’t been attached. Her eyes shaded into purple, which was Aerian surprise, before returning to a familiar blue.
