She wasn’t entirely certain she’d heard him correctly the first time. “Protectme?”
“If I were our enemies,” Evarrim replied in the irritated and condescending tone she expected from him, “you would be the first person I would destroy, had I the opportunity. An’Teela and the outcaste are armed with weapons intended for our wars with the Dragons; they are both powerful in their own right, as am I. But you are the unpredictable power, here—and they will know that it was your hand, not ours, that...freed...their servants.
“I could not do what you did. The Consort herself could not do it. Ah, that is inexact. The Consort could possibly do what you have done. She has never, however, demonstrated that ability. No, Lord Kaylin, it is your death that must come first if they are to have a chance to finish what they have started.”
Edelonne cleared her throat. “Lord Evarrim is correct. You have some small chance. This ceremony was not intended to take place now; the arrival of the forsaken—”
“Forsaken?”
“The children of the green,” she amended. “It is what they are called by those who reside below. They are not children in any true sense of the word, and I believe they would find ‘forsaken’ less...insulting. Regardless, they were not expected to arrive now.”
“What difference does it make?”
“To the ceremony itself? None. But we are a political people. And they are a threat to our security, regardless.”
“They arenotmore of a threat than your so-called ceremony!”
Edelonne was silent; Kaylin could feel her agreement emerge from the chaos of thought and the tangled mess of her memory. Very like Ynpharion, in fact.
Take what Evarrim offers, Nightshade said. It was almost a command.
I don’t want—
To be in his debt? To be obligated to him?There was a dark thread of amusement in the words.You become more like our kin every day.
I don’t want to exhaust him before we even reach our enemies.
You will not. I understand that you dislike him, but he has served the Consort for the entirety of her tenure.
Her tenure is months long.
Yes. But before then, he was one of her closest advisers. I admit I find your dislike almost inexplicable.
He dislikes me.
Ah. He is, in temperament and behavior, much like a mortal. Of all of our kin in the Court, he would be considered most similar to you.
Not what she wanted to hear. Ever, let alone twice. But she knew from personal experience that he was willing to risk his life in service to the Consort. Where the Consort was concerned, she trusted him completely. She almost asked Evarrim if he was certain this was smart—he was wasting a lot of power.
She didn’t, because she knew it would annoy him, and at the moment, she’d take no joy out of it. Maybe later.
Surrounded by armor of flame—she hurriedly asked the fire not to burn off therestof her clothing—she began to talk to the fire. Fire was surprisingly normal, if you discounted its visceral need to melt or burn everything in sight. What it wanted from Kaylin—what it had wanted the first time it had not tried to turn her to ash—were the stories of its place in the universe, of things that were not burning or destruction, because it knew those quite well.
There was some comfort in providing those stories as they headed—at greater speed—down the hall, until the hall opened up to stairs. Those stairs went down, as expected.
Hope placed a hand on her shoulder, and Kaylin obligingly called a halt. He did not seem to feel the fire at all.
“There might be difficulty here. I think these stairs used to be part of the Tower itself, but Hope thinks that the Tower has withdrawn the protections that usually make them safe.”
The Consort nodded, absorbing the information. “An’Teela, has your cohort emerged?”
“Valliant has been joined by Serralyn and Mandoran. Or most of Mandoran,” she added with a grimace. “Annarion and Sedarias are not yet done. Mandoran says—” She inhaled. “There are Barrani at the base of the stairs.”
“Hope says the cohort haven’t been spotted. The Tower knows they are different, but the Tower has decided that the intruders are the greater danger. And Mandoran is doing...something—sorry, I don’t actually understand the word Hope used—to keep the others hidden.”
“He is,” Teela said. “It won’t last. At the moment, the Mellarionne forces are looking for Sedarias.” She frowned, and then added, “They’re looking for Sedarias and her companions in the wrong place.”
“Good. That will buy us some time. An’Teela. Calarnenne.”
