It was Teela who spoke—but that made sense. Of the assembled Barrani guests, only Teela and the Consort had taken the Test of Name and passed it. “We are aware that the simple color of clothing is unlikely to cause you mortal offense. Mortal offense, however, has clearly been taken—or perhaps an attempt has been made to express it—by those intimately acquainted with our blood kin.
“We have returned from the green; we wish to return to our families. As you have experienced yourself just scant days past—and I admit I am impressed by the speed with which you returned to Elantra—some of those families are less sanguine about our return.” Teela’s eyes were blue. Her voice was cool but pleasant; it was a wall, not a weapon. “Designating a person outcaste requires the involvement of the High Lord—and his explicit agreement. Disowning a person does not.
“It would be politically difficult to disown only one of us. In one or two cases, I expect that the heads of lines are interested in the return of their long-forgotten kin.”
“Those cases coinciding with a lack of competition for the seat?”
Teela nodded, expression grave. “Or perhaps those whose families have declined in influence in power.”
The Consort inclined her head. “They will have to meet your friends in person, because they will require a pretext; to disown them for fear of their essential nature would give rise to difficulties for those whose families wish to embrace their lost kin.” Ynpharion was surprised by her response. Surprised and instantly ill at ease.
“But you and your friends—children trapped, until very recently, in the Hallionne Alsanis—are not my kin as kin is reckoned among our kind. I am not the High Lord; I am the Lady, the guardian of the Lake. My purpose has not been political, to the benefit of our race. If you decline to wear the colors of your lines because it might be considered presumptuous, I must ask: by who? For it seems to me your action implies that I answer to—that I will answer to—any of the High Court. For a purely personal visit.”
“And it seems to us,” Teela countered, “that you intend us to believe that your visit will be considered purely personal. We are willing to lend credence to your personal preferences in this regard; you wished to visit Lord Kaylin, and she wished to offer you her hospitality. But you must be aware that there are Barrani guards lining the perimeter of this property, and those guards—”
“None have been given permission to accompany me into Lord Kaylin’s home. My guards are personally loyal to me; they have no other allegiance.”
Which meant, Kaylin thought, that the second, unknown guard was almost certainly name-bound, as Ynpharion was.
“What I do not choose to divulge, they will not divulge.” The Consort’s eyes remained primarily green, but she adopted Teela’s tone. “I am observed, yes. I have been observed by less-than-friendly eyes from the moment I embarked upon the many tests that lead, in the end, to the Lake.
“But Bellusdeo is likewise observed, and she is considered above suspicion.”
Mandoran coughed.
“You disagree?” the Consort asked, looking quizzical.
“She’s a Dragon.”
“She is. But so, too, the Emperor to whom we have all sworn allegiance. All,” she added, “who become Lords of the High Court.” Her gaze swiveled to Kaylin. “Is that not so?”
“Mortals aren’t required to swear personal oaths of allegiance,” Kaylin replied. “Or at least not mortals like me or Severn. I haven’t been asked to swear an oath since passing the Tower’s test.”
“You are a Hawk; perhaps he considers the oaths required upon joining the Hawks to be sufficient.”
Kaylin shook her head. “The oath Hawks swear isn’t to the Emperor, personally. It is to the laws that the Emperor devised. We’re not soldiers. If, for instance, the Emperor personally commanded that we murder civilians, we’re honor-bound to refuse. He cannot order us to break the laws that we’ve sworn to uphold.”
“Lord Severn?”
“I have sworn an oath of personal fealty to the Emperor. The same oath has not been asked of Lord Kaylin or any of the Hawks.”
The Consort inclined her head and turned her attention, once again, to Teela. “A meeting with those who have yet to undertake the Test of Name is, by its very nature, considered personal; momentous events cannot be decided by the powerless.”
“We are hardly powerless,” Terrano snapped. His eyes were a disturbing shade of blue—disturbing because it was not the blue Barrani eyes normally adopted.
“Indeed. But your power is an unknown quantity. Because it is unknown, a polite fiction has developed: you remain young, frozen in time, and you are not therefore to be more feared than any of our young.” She smiled, the curve of her lips almost Leontine in nature, which, given lack of fangs, was as disturbing as Terrano’s momentary loss of control. “Are any of you hungry?”
It was the question Kaylin or Helen should have asked, but unless Kaylin was interrogating a criminal, she didn’t think to ask questions when she already knew the answer.
“I find that I have not yet regained my full appetite. The journey from the West March was arduous.” The statement invited response, but no one offered, and the cohort’s eyes had become a uniform blue. To Kaylin’s relief, that included Terrano.
The Consort gazed at them all. “You have come to us in a time of instability. My brother, the High Lord, is newly come to the High Seat, and as is common in our history, his rule is contested. Up to this point, that contest has been a matter for the Barrani High Court and its dependencies.
“Bellusdeo’s presence in the West March was a target of opportunity. It was not an opportunity that the High Lord would take, but it fuels his opposition. They feel that Bellusdeo is significant enough that invoking her, accusing her, might drive the Emperor into a corner.”
It was Kaylin who snorted this time. “Because the smart thing to do with a Dragon is corner him.”
“I did not say they were wise,” the Consort replied. “But the young who have no experience of war know only two things: its reported glory and the desire to avenge historical deaths, historical wrongs. We lost much, in the war. But,” she added before anyone could speak, “so, too, the Dragons. Do you understand the mode of thought?”
