“Was it like my small accident?” Kaylin asked. She moved—slowly—toward Bellusdeo to see what the Dragons both saw.
“No. Nothing I touched disintegrated. On the other hand, he considered both your age and your mandate—as Chosen—in his response to you.”
Kaylin winced.
“I’m not sure I have been fully apprised of an incident involving Kaylin. Or perhaps there are just too many,” Bellusdeo added.
“Ask the Arkon—but perhaps inquire when Kaylin is at home and you are at the palace,” Emmerian told her. “The Arkon was oft indulgent of the very young.”
“I’mnotvery young!” Kaylin objected.
“For a mortal, perhaps not. But were I you, I would not assert your ability to bear the brunt of his anger.”
“Is this why he always lectures me?”
“Ah, no. He lectures everyone—mortal or Dragon—with a handful of notable exceptions.”
Kaylin looked down. Set in silk in the worn case were two medallions. “Why are there two?”
“One, of course, is for you.”
“Look, given what my skin is doing, I’m not going anywhere near it.”
“That,” Helen said, “is due to the enchantments upon the case itself. I believe you will find the medallions will not exert the same influence when they are removed and the case itself closed. I believe you’ve worn one of these before.”
“I assume you are speaking of Kaylin; I certainly have not,” Bellusdeo told the Avatar. “I have not seen this emblem in a long, long time—and the last time, it was not Lannagaros who had the right to use it.” She reached out, ran her fingers along the crest at the center of the medallion. Her expression shifted, the corners of her lips turning down, her eyes narrowing not in anger or suspicion, but something that resembled sorrow.
Chapter 3
Bellusdeo seemed frozen in place.
Lord Emmerian was watching her, and managed to do it without giving the impression that he was staring, which was a neat trick, given that his eyes hadn’t moved. His hands hadn’t, either; for one moment, it seemed that he wasn’t even breathing. But he did turn as Kaylin shifted in place, his brows rising as if he were asking a question, but without the actual words.
Kaylin bent. “May I?”
Emmerian nodded. “I am aware of your strong reaction to magic, and I apologize for the necessity of the case; the Arkon was only barely willing to trust me. But given your current predicament, I thought it better than his initial suggestion.”
“And that?” Bellusdeo interrupted, her expression once again neutral.
“An invitation to attend him in person.”
“I’ll take the rash,” Kaylin said.
Emmerian smiled. His smile had no teeth in it, and his expression implied mild relief when Kaylin’s hand hovered over one of the two medallions. It seemed, to her eye, to be very simple; it had a stylized representation of flame at its core but, around it, a whirl of lines that implied wind or air. There were runes carved in a circle around this, and the whole appeared to be made of...stone?
“They both look the same,” Kaylin said.
“They are both identical; you may take either one safely. The Arkon felt that you would not be discomfited by the medallion, and the chain that supports it is gold, with a very light enchantment meant to keep the chain in one piece. He gives permission, however, to break that enchantment should it prove necessary for your comfort.”
“These are stone?”
Bellusdeo snorted, with smoke. “Yes.” Before Kaylin could ask another question, she added, “The Arkon did not make these. They are in his possession, and if you somehow manage to harm or destroy even the one you are holding, I cannot guarantee that you will survive. They are precious to the Arkon.”
“They are of value to all of Dragon kind,” Emmerian added softly.
“He has chosen to grant them to us, at least for the duration of your dinner.”
“At least” implied longer. Kaylin, however, now looked at the stone medallion in her hand with more visceral dread. “How old are these?”
