“Ah, no. He chose to support a cousin who had a reasonable claim and the right lineage; it was not clear to any observers that either of the two sons of the High Lord would succeed him.”
“So how much of a threat is Karellan, then? Or Coravalle? Technically, couldn’t Solanace and Coravalle exist side by side if they hashed out the problems with the estate?”
Sedarias snorted, but said nothing out loud. Teela pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Understand that while the Barrani claim power, they seldom allow it to be put to the test in a public venue. In this case, public means, in Elantran, ‘where anyone else can observe it.’ Karellan is first of his name, but head of what remained of Solanace. He has a daughter, Reyenne; she is his most active agent. There are scattered cousins, lieges. I have not tested myself against Karellan or Reyenne. Nor have they tested themselves against me. Reyenne spent some time within the Arcanum, but did not choose to struggle her way up that hierarchy.”
Great. Another Arcanist. But Teela had spent some time in the Arcanum in her distant past, and Teela was her friend. Being an Arcanist, or being a student Arcanist, didn’t mean you had to be monstrous. It was just the likely outcome.
“So Annarion is likely to come up against Karellan and Reyenne if he stakes his claim to his family lands.”
“Yes. But not only those two; against just two, I don’t think he’d have too much difficulty.”
“You said we shouldn’t underestimate Karellan.”
“Yes, I did. But, Kaylin, they willallunderestimateus.” Her smile was feline—but the cat it most resembled was Leontine.
Chapter 2
Kaylin loved her job. At the moment, surrounded by paperwork and the need to memorize huge chunks of it, she wished she were at the Halls of Law. Or at the foundling hall. Or at the midwives guildhall. Anywhere but here.
She wondered if this was how Marcus felt when he had to deal with reports. Given the stacks of paperwork onhisdesk, this was a comforting thought.
Sadly, Marcus had made clear that she’d be missing chunks of her throat if she showed up at the Halls of Law, and she half suspected that if she did, Clint and Tanner would turn her away, orders being orders, and Kaylin being a private.
She was sick to death of Barrani and in need of a break; the cohort, being Barrani, and being at the center of what was not yet all-out war, weren’t. Kaylin soldiered on, mostly keeping her whining on the inside of her head, where only Helen could hear it.
Not just Helen, Ynpharion very helpfully pointed out.I imagine that anyone listening can hear every word of it. This would include—
Helen keeps everyone else out.She wondered why Helen didn’t keep Ynpharion out. She’d have to ask, but later.
“Ynpharion is, unlike the rest of your nameheld, remarkably up front for a Barrani. He is open in his hostility, open in his disgust. If he is actually capable of manipulation, I have yet to see it. I consider some of his commentary unreasonable, but I consider none of it harmful. And although his opinions are often expressed in the rudest possible way, they are nonetheless occasionally useful.”
Meaning that she agreed with them.
“With some of them, yes.”
Ynpharion did not find this insulting, which was what Kaylin would have expected.She keeps the others out?
“Yes, dear, I do. I will allow Lord Nightshade to speak on occasion, when the discussion might affect his relationship with his brother. I have chosen to keep the Lord of the West March at a distance. If Kaylin wishes to speak with them,” she added, her tone changing, “I, of course, allow that.”
Everyone was staring at Kaylin. She managed not to say that Helen was talking to Ynpharion, on the very off chance the cohort didn’t actually know that he was name-bound. This both surprised and almost pleased Ynpharion, although he thought she was foolishly optimistic.
I admit to surprise at the extent of the reports you’ve read so far, he said.And perhaps it justifies your exhaustion. You are only mortal, after all.
If you don’t have anything useful to add, could you just shut up?Kaylin privately disagreed with Helen’s opinion. Yes, Ynpharion was rude and openly condescending; yes, it would probably kill him to attempt to be friendly or, gods forbid, charming. And yes, he was never going to stab her in the back. But in her work as a ground Hawk, Kaylin had had people attempt to stab her from the front, and while that hadn’t worked out well for them, she didn’t see how that was any less dangerous.
That is because you are lowborn and your first response to everything is simple, physical violence. Were you capable ofanysubtlety at all, you would not be in this position.
Oh?
“Please don’t tell me you’re attempting to hold a rational discussion with any of your name-bound,” Teela said. When Kaylin turned to look at her, she added, “Your knuckles are white, you are creasing that page and you have all but slammed the side of your fist into the table. Perhaps you wish to take a break?”
“The Consort is coming to dinner,” Kaylin replied. “And I think we need to know this stuff.”
“It would have been better, by far, if you had learned some of thisstuff, as you call it, before you extended the invitation.”
That, Ynpharion said with enough smug satisfaction it should have been poison,is exactly what I meant.
