“Every single one. This would, of course, include you and Lord Severn.”
Kaylin muttered a few choice Leontine words. Mandoran laughed. Even Annarion chuckled.
“We’ve been asked,” Sedarias continued, “if there are any significant allies—those are the exact words—that we would like to honor with an invitation. Invitations of that nature are, of course, free to be declined.”
Unlike Kaylin’s, which was not an invitation so much as a royal command.
As one, all eyes—even Teela’s—turned toward Bellusdeo.
“You can’t be serious,” Kaylin snapped.
“It will take time for the Lords to gather,” Sedarias replied. Terrano, at the same time, said, “Of course we’re serious.”
The collision of words appeared to stop neither of them.
“The gathering will not, therefore, occur for some months.”
“Without her, we wouldn’t have made it out of the West March.”
“You weren’t trapped,” Sedarias then said—to Terrano. “We were.”
Terrano snorted and rolled his eyes—which were a shade of blue that only the cohort could achieve.
Kaylin dared a glance at Bellusdeo. Her eyes were orange. The mortal Hawk shoved food into her mouth at record speed before escaping the breakfast table.
“You are such a coward,” Bellusdeo said when they’d reached the relative safety of the street. The roads in and around Helen were sparsely populated at the busiest of times, which this wasn’t. They would soon join roads that were crowded at the slowest of times, but Kaylin was dressed for the office. The Hawk emblazoned on her tabard encouraged people to make space.
Had Bellusdeo hit the streets in her Draconic form, she’d have cleared far more of it—but some of that space would be created by panic, and panic could cause both accidents and the type of traffic congestion that caused the Swords to investigate. Also, it was illegal.
“It’s not cowardice,” Kaylin replied, scanning the windows of the buildings above ground level.
“What would you call it?”
“Wisdom.”
“Oh, please.”
“There’s no point in arguing with them now. Sedarias thinks it’ll be months before this ridiculous command performance occurs. We have months to attempt to talk her out of—”
“Out of expressing any appreciation or gratitude?”
Ugh. “You know they’re grateful. This isn’t about gratitude. It’s about rubbing that gratitude in the faces of the Barrani who attempted to brand you a—an army. An attacking army.”
“I believe the term you want is Flight.” Bellusdeo’s eyes were orange.
Hope squawked at the Dragon. Kaylin didn’t understand what he was saying. Bellusdeo did, but her eyes didn’t get any lighter.
“You know as well as I do,” Kaylin said, emboldened by Hope’s entry into the discussion, “that this is not the time to visit the High Halls. I’m not sure the Emperor has ever been a guest there.”
“We visited the Halls—more or less—when they came under attack, and the Barrani needed our help.”
“From theoutside. No one invited the Dragon Courtin.”
The chorus of Barrani voices that sometimes offered entirely unasked for opinions on the inside of her head maintained their silence for half a beat. The first person to break that silence was the fieflord. His words were tinged with amusement.
You cannot expect that the cohort would suddenly cease to cause any difficulty, surely?
I’m almost certain that the cohort understands why inviting a Dragon—any Dragon—to attend the High Halls would be a disaster.
