“You can get away from me, yes. But look at where Allaron is sitting.” On the floor, documents moved as his hands moved. Right beside Terrano.
Terrano’s spine stiffened, as did his expression, but there was something in that expression that made Kaylin look away. When she looked back, that spine seemed to melt; for the first time, he folded himself into members of his cohort. To outside eyes, he seemed to be at home there.
She didn’t understand Terrano. She thought she never would. What they wanted for him, he was afraid to want. But it was what she had wanted, for so long, for herself.
“Here,” Sedarias said, lifting a slender sheaf of papers. “This will be our biggest problem.”
Chapter 5
Kaylin, Severn and Tain turned immediately in the direction of Sedarias’s voice; she held up one slender sheaf of papers in completely steady hands. Her eyes were a blaze of Barrani blue.
“Sedarias believes that Mellarionne is always the greatest threat,” Valliant said. His expression made clear that he didn’t agree with this assessment, but wasn’t willing to voice more of an argument where strangers might hear it.
“Mellarionne is in conflict with the High Lord’s house,” Kaylin said. “I mean, at least according to the documents about Mellarionne.”
“Every house is in conflict with every other house,” Sedarias replied. She wastryingnot to sound dismissive, but her early lessons about deportment still clung to her tone. “But when you returned from the West March the first time, Mellarionne began to make more conciliatory moves. Or at least the lower echelons of Mellarionne’s related allies. They don’t approach the Consort directly, of course; they don’t approach the High Lord directly. Theycanapproach the Lord of the West March. It’s taken time to build a reasonable base of power in the West March because the West March has been considered far less politically relevant.
“But given the presence of my sister there, that is clearly no longer the case.” She glanced, briefly, at Eddorian, which was clearly done for the benefit of outsiders; the cohort hadn’t moved. “Gennave has supported Mellarionne, but not in an obvious way. Eddorian’s sister is An’Gennave. Gennave is not beloved of the High Lord’s house. There has been very little movement on the part of Gennave since your first trip to the green; the loss of Iberrienne was costly. Iberrienne was the conduit through which Gennave could make contact with the Arcanum’s more private members; it was through the Arcanum—the Imperial service theorizes—that Iberrienne made contact with the humans, some of who...” She stopped.
“Some of who?”
“It is not relevant to the Consort and her arrival.”
“It’s relevant—it might be relevant—to anything that comes after. Can I see that?”
“There’s not much more.” Sedarias exhaled. “Fine. At least one of the men who frequently entertained Iberrienne is a lord of the Human Caste Court. A wealthy lord, by Imperial standards.”
“That means money,” Tain helpfully added. “The Barrani concept of wealth is broader and more complex; I imagine that the draconian concept is similar to ours, as well.”
“Don’t look at me,” Bellusdeo said. “Wealth in my world, by the end, was measured in armies and their martial prowess.”
“It was that way for us, as well,” Serralyn surprised Kaylin by saying. “During the wars in which we were...empowered. But the wars have passed; we learned martial arts—sword, bow, pole-arm—but they are no longer so highly prized as they were. Perhaps that will change in future; perhaps it will not. If Gennave was their contact—”
“They weren’t the only contact,” Eddorian finally said. “You remember—”
“I admit I could not decipher much of what Iberrienne said,” Sedarias said, as if the admission pained her. “And at the time, I did not think it entirely relevant.” Her look soured further, so the cohort was probably talking among itself again.
“Sedarias,” Helen said softly, “I have prepared some jewelry for the dinner tonight. I am uncertain what is acceptable to Barrani at this time, and wish to consult with you in the parlor.”
Sedarias looked as if she would dismiss this request out of hand. Instead, she took one long breath and rose from her chair, setting the documents she was holding on the tabletop. Everyone watched her go.
It was Eddorian, usually silent, who spoke—but only after Sedarias was no longer in the room. Why, Kaylin didn’t know. It wasn’t as if the cohort were any good at keeping things to themselves, with the exception of Teela, who had had centuries of practice.
“Sedarias was the bloodline heir. She was considered the member of Mellarionne with the greatest potential for power.”
Kaylin knew this already, but nodded, anyway, an indication that she was listening and she wanted the rest.
“Do you think she was surprised to find her sister within Alsanis’s core?”
“She didn’t look surprised.”
“No. Because she wasn’t. Her sister had tried to kill her before we were ever sent to the green. Her sister tried to be nominated to go in Sedarias’s stead—it was the only time in their mutual history her sister spoke up about how talented, how important, hownecessary, Sedarias was to the family. There was no love between them, and no admiration; the only time Sedarias might depend on that sister for support might be if the family home were attacked by the Dragon Flights. It’s just as likely that her sister would kill her and blame it on the Dragons, though.”
“Eddorian,” Valliant said, his tone forbidding.
Mandoran snorted. “Let him finish.”
“If Sedarias wanted this known, she’d say it herself.”
