“I won’t repeat what she just said.”
“Why not? I’ve heard it all before.”
“Yes, but the Dragon probably hasn’t, and you know the Emperor’s just going to blame you if she starts using that kind of language.” For a moment, his expression looked normal but his color was entirely off. His hair seemed almost white, his skin, blue. And his eyes were not Barrani colored at all.
The small dragon squawked, and Mandoran cursed. He turned toward the old town hall. Kaylin tracked the direction of his gaze with little effort.
She froze.
Standing at the peak of the decrepit tower roof was a Barrani.
* * *
Unlike Mandoran’s, his coloring was more or less the norm for Barrani: his hair was black, his skin ivory. At this distance, his eyes couldn’t clearly be seen, but Kaylin would have bet her own money that they were Barrani blue. She hadn’t managed to contain her surprise enough to look away, and although she couldn’t see the color of his eyes, she saw the subtle shift in their shape.
He was invisible, and had expected to remain so. She had seen him. Math had never been Kaylin’s strong suit, but even she could handle one plus one.
“Time to move.Move.”
Severn was armed, but had not yet unwound his weapon chain; not even in the fiefs did he fully arm himself unless it was night. She headed into the nearest narrow alley to break the line of sight, and everyone except Mandoran followed.
She practically spit his name in a whisper that would have been a hiss had his name had any sibilants.
“He can’t see me.”
“Don’t be so certain of that.”
“Even if I were visible, I wouldn’t be too worried. It’s the Dragon he’s going to be aiming for.”
“He can try,” the Dragon snapped. It obviously annoyed her to have to run and hide from Barrani. Then again, it often annoyed her to have to run, period. She was a Dragon.
“Are all Dragons like this?” Mandoran asked, as if he did have Kaylin’s True Name, and had heard the thought.
“Not the time for this,” Kaylin snapped back. “What is he doing?”
“Moving.”
“Coming down?”
“Yes. In case you’re worried, he’s not using the stairs.”
“Given the rest of the exterior, I doubt the stairs would support his weight.”
Mandoran swore.
“What’s happening?”
“He can, apparently, see me.”
Bellusdeo snorted smoke.
“I’m going to head back home now, while Teela is only enraged. She can’t leave the office if she wants to retain the tabard—but she’s considering it anyway.” True to his word, Mandoran faded from sight. Kaylin didn’t see him leave, but knew the moment he was no longer present.
“I’m going to strangle Mandoran,” Bellusdeo said, in a soft voice. “The minute we get home. I’m going to throttle the life out of him.”
“Fire would be faster,” Kaylin observed. She had retreated—they had all retreated—to the middle of the alley; there were walls to either side, and the windows they possessed weren’t large enough to cause tactical problems.
“Exactly.”
