“Please come in,” Helen said, before Teela could respond. “Kaylin hasn’t eaten yet.”
No one had eaten yet. No one really felt like eating, either, as far as Kaylin could tell.
Teela and Tain quit what might have devolved into a staring contest as Helen ushered everyone into the dining room. They took their chairs as if chairs were weapons or armor. Teela even turned hers around so the back faced the table and she could fold her arms over it.
“Why,” she said again, “are you here?”
“I told you.”
“My friends are not your problem.”
“No.”
Teela’s eyes narrowed; she turned to glare at Mandoran, who shrugged. Her words, however, continued to be aimed at Tain. “I don’t want you to endanger yourself needlessly.”
“I’m not. I’ve always been far more cautious than you are.”
This was arguably true, but Kaylin was not nearly suicidal enough to make the argument. She looked at breakfast as it appeared on her plate, and wondered if it would be safer if breakfast for everyone else—or at least the Barrani—could be finger foods for just one day. Teela was giving the cutlery a side-eye that suggested she might use it for something other than food.
“You are not taking the Test with them.”
“I haven’t taken the Test. Ican.”
“You’ve never wanted to be a Lord of the High Court. And babysitting—”
“Hey!”
“—is not nearly a good enough reason to change your mind.”
“No. It’s not.”
“Tain—”
“The cohort are coming to Elantra.Sedariasis coming to Elantra. The High Court has maintained the polite fiction of joy at the rescue of the cohort.”
Teela said nothing.
“How long do you think that joy is going to last? Annarion is the bloodline heir. Karian is the bloodline heir. Mandoran is—god help his family—the bloodline heir. And Sedarias is the bloodline heir.”
Kaylin turned to Tain. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“Annarion is not the only person present who intends to take back what Nightshade lost. Sedarias, however,would havebeen the Lord of her line had she not been sent to the green. The others are technically heirs because of politics or deaths due to the wars.” He exhaled and turned to her.
“Is this really the time for a teachable moment?” Kaylin demanded. Tain continued to stare at her, which was his answer. “Fine. Their family lines—what are they, anyway?—have been ruled just fine since they were sent to the green. The Lords of those lines probably have no interest at all in being displaced.”
“I have no interest in reclaiming my family holdings,” Mandoran said.
“You said your family was gone!”
Mandoran shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, they are.”
“The High Court would not agree,” Teela said, her voice dry as tinder.
Mandoran made clear what he thought the High Court could do with its disagreement.
“You are correct,” Tain continued, speaking to Kaylin as if there had been no interruption. “Those families have held power for centuries. The children of the green were a myth—a sorrowful myth, perhaps—one that could be safely used. Now they are a very real fact.
“Teela is Lord of her line. She has had centuries to establish her rule. She is secure enough in that rule to be a Hawk—an Imperial Hawk. But the alliances she’s built to maintain that power are going to shift.”
