“I didn’t think,” Kaylin said, almost before her foot hit actual street. She glanced up at the Halls of Law, and at the door guards.
“You’re worried about Bellusdeo,” Severn observed.
“I’m not worriedabouther. The Consort would never try to harm her. I’m worried about what’s going to be saidto meif I don’t somehow clear the visit first.”
“But you’re not going to clear it.”
She shook her head. “My home isn’t a political place, all visitors aside. If I have to ask permission to have guests in my own home, it won’t feel like it’s mine at all. Plus, it’ll just piss Bellusdeo off. Especially if they say no.”
“And bytheyyou mean the Dragon Court.”
“Diarmat’s going to flip a table. Or worse.”
“And the Emperor?”
That was the crux of it. “He won’t say no. He just won’t say it really, really loudly. If Bellusdeo’s around when he’s doing it, she’ll say something.”
Severn’s grimace made clear that he understood what “something” entailed.
“They’ve just started almost speaking like civil adults. I’d just as soon not break that immediately.”
Severn lead the way through Clint and Tanner before he continued. “And Annarion?”
“What if Teela’s right?”
“Look at it this way. If Teela’s right—and I consider the chance high—it’s information that would come out regardless. This way, they’ll have warning.”
This didn’t make Kaylin feel any more cheerful. “If the High Court can pretend the cohort doesn’t exist, the cohort are safe. But what if the High Court decides that they’re all to be made outcaste? Before the cohort made the decision to join Annarion, we could all pretend that they were normal Barrani.
“Now? Not so much. And if the not so much holds true, the High Court has to make a decision.”
“And this is part of Teela’s business.”
“Yeah. The part she asked us to stay out of.”
“Not us.”
Kaylin glared at her partner. “But...Candallar’s probably involved in it as well. And there’s the not insignificant fact that Teelaisa Lord of the High Court and someone tried to kill her.”
“She considers that both normal and acceptable.”
“I’m not so sure.” Kaylin could clearly recall Teela’s expression in the infirmary. “Oh, about the assassination attempt? Sure. But not the method. She’s angry. If the High Lord attempted to kill her—without making her outcaste—she’d consider it normal and acceptable. She’s a power. He’s a power.
“But the Hawks? They’re not. For one reason or another, they didn’t take the Test of Name. They followed her when she came to join the Hawks, as far as I can tell. They’renotpowers. It’s like they decided not to join the game when they decided not to face the Test. And they’re being dragged into it as well.”
“And you think Candallar has something to do with it.”
“You don’t?”
He shrugged. “What you are to Teela, I’m not. When she tells me to stay out of her business, I listen.”
“But—it interfered with theHawks. It’s Hawk business.”
He was politic enough not to bother answering. Even the Hawks stayed out of Barrani business if the Barrani happened to be Hawks.
* * *
After filing her report, Kaylin made a detour to the infirmary, and was not surprised—or notverysurprised—to see Teela sitting by the bedside of the man who had tried to kill her. She would have looked like thunder, if thunder happened in the middle of a very icy blizzard.
