Yes.
She really needed to have a word or two with Helen.
You are not always within Helen’s domain, Ynpharion countered.If you wish to retain the polite fiction that this is unknown, may I suggest that this isnotthe time?
Kaylin agreed, with some anxiety. She started again. “Did you make clear in any way that the cohort is entirely name-bound to each other? Or that you’re name-bound?”
He stared at her.
It was Mandoran who answered, his voice devoid of his usual teasing humor. “Yes. He had to speak to us—to Sedarias—when negotiating. He didn’t make clearwhohe was speaking with, but...yes. Understand that it’s part of how we think, part of who we are. Hiding it—when we could hidenothing—didn’t seem either adaptive or relevant for almost the entirety of our lives. It didn’t matter that someone knew. Escape, for us, didn’t meancoming back. Some people,” he added, deliberately not glancing at Ynpharion, “consider being name-bound humiliating. It wasn’t, for us. It was wed to survival.”
Terrano nodded.
To the Consort, Kaylin now said, “Would Alsanis speak of this to anyone else, if asked?”
“He might speak to me if I asked,” she replied. “But the Hallionne are created to protect and succor their guests. To the Barrani of his acquaintance, exposing such a secret would be a betrayal.”
Kaylin nodded, frowning. “If it’s Coravante, if it’s Iberrienne, the natural assumption would be that Sedarias, at least, held Terrano’s name.” She hesitated again. “But that would be irrelevant if he wanted to cause the cohort to become instantly suspicious in a way that couldn’t be ignored.
“The only difference I know of between Terrano and any other member of the cohort is his name. He no longer has one.”
The Consort did not react. No one did. The trickle of falling water was the only sound in this tightly packed clearing for three long breaths.
“You suspect that An’Mellarionne knows this.”
“I think the Shadows have a different effect on Terrano than they would on any other Barrani present—and I include the cohort in their number. If he didn’t know, Terrano as the target would make no sense. Terrano was the only one of the cohort to be able to leave Alsanis before the lastregalia. He could be assumed to have greater understanding of Shadow, and greater control of it because of that fact.
“It wouldn’t make sense to attack him. If An’Mellarionne fears Sedarias—”
“If?”
“Fine. He fears Sedarias, and assumes she’s the power behind the cohort. Or the commander behind it. He might assume that she bullied a name out of Terrano. But... Terrano as a target makes little sense. Any other member of the cohort would do. But if hecouldsense the lack of name—or if something advising him could—it would make more sense.”
“Why do you assume Shadow would harm the nameless, if such a being truly exists?” the Consort asked.
Hope squawked.
“I see.” The Consort bowed her head. When she lifted it, her eyes were blue. “We must assume, then, that An’Mellarionne can see the nameless. Perhaps even see the named.”
Kaylin shook her head. “I don’t think he could do it on his own. Even Terrano can’t. But something within these halls—or beneath them—can.”
Chapter 18
“Are you accusing my brother of being a pawn to the Adversary?”
“Pawn? An’Mellarionne? Not intentionally. But I’m no longer certain intent matters.”
“Then I concur with your assessment,” Sedarias told Kaylin. “My brother can see names. He cannot—clearly—take them. Could he, none of this would be necessary. I would be his. In all likelihood, all of us would, and I make no exception for either the Consort or the High Lord.”
Ynpharion was up in arms instantly, but he was also uneasy.
“You can see names. It is neither natural nor simple. We know—now—that you can take the name, but the taking requires touch, and touch is not a guarantee.
“Terrano doesn’t currently have a name, which is why he’s here. He has no interest in Court, in family or in the rest of the Barrani—but his lack of name might be his truest protection against the Adversary. The Adversary won’t care what he looks like; the Adversary won’t be able to make the rest of us outcaste if Terrano chooses to disincorporate.”
For the next three hours, the cohort sat—or lounged—in the Consort’s private garden. Teela, however, sat apart from the general group huddle. Terrano would have, but Sedarias caught him by the arm, and the looming shadow of Allaron added gravity to her not-very-subtle command.
Because Terrano wasn’t part of their group mind, they had to speak out loud more often than they would have otherwise. But they didn’t speak as much in a way that Kaylin could hear; she got the impression that the big discussion—or debate, or argument—was happening behind closed lips, and Terrano was offered the eventual consensus. Spike asked her if she desired to listen, and Kaylin gave him a very hurried no. But she gavehimpermission to extract information—his words—because he was vibrating with concern.
