Terrano snickered. Hope, the traitor, also snickered. Kaylin left the house with both Mandoran and Terrano, on top of the Dragon. Bellusdeo chose to find their company amusing, rather than insulting.
Clint and Tanner, on door duty, gave Mandoran and Terrano the side-eye as they entered the building. They had become completely accustomed to Bellusdeo and didn’t blink when she entered the Halls of Law by Kaylin’s side.
The group made their way down the hall, but Terrano got caught up in the aerial exercises of the Aerian trainees. Kaylin didn’t blame him. She’d been part of the Halls for all of her adult life and a good chunk of her adolescence, and she still sometimes paused to watch them.
Today, however, she was a corporal, and she wanted that to have some meaning, so she struggled to remain responsible and reasonable. This involved dragging Terrano to the office by the shoulder so she wouldn’t be late.
Marcus was at his desk. He, too, had become accustomed to the Dragon as an unofficial Hawk—which was nothing short of a miracle, given how the sergeant generally reacted to Dragons in his office. Marcus had a long memory and could hold a grudge forever. He was less sanguine about Mandoran and Terrano, but then again, so was Kaylin.
“This is not a tourist zone,” he snapped, orange-eyed.
“That’s a pretty impressive pile of paper,” Terrano replied.
This didn’t make the color of Marcus’s eyes any happier. But at least his facial fur didn’t rise.
“Lord Sanabalis has sent a missive,” Marcus said, which wasn’t what Kaylin expected.
She wilted. “About?”
“Magic lessons and your inability to make any of them. He is, what was the word he used? Concerned.”
“We’ve been a bit busy.”
“Indeed. I heard you had a bit of an adventure in the fiefs yesterday.” He glared pointedly at a layer of paper near the top of one of his stacks. He also used the wordadventureas if it were a cursed and despised thing.
Kaylin cringed. “Yes, sir.”
“I see the Dragon returned unharmed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fine. Today, you are to take no shortcuts. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Why are these two with you?”
They were boredwas not an acceptable answer, and Kaylin prayed that Terrano wouldn’t give it. Mandoran had done this drill before.
“The fieflord of Candallar is Barrani,” Terrano said in a tone that was just this side of normal, for the office. “He’s an old acquaintance of my family, although he’s outcaste. We’d like to speak with him to ascertain just how invested he is—and was—in the events that transfigured the High Halls. I believe he’ll speak with me. I’m new enough that I present no obvious threat. But I am a Lord of the High Court.”
Marcus glared at Kaylin, his eyes unblinking.
Kaylin hadno ideaif anything that had fallen out of Terrano’s mouth was actually true.
“And the other one?” Her Leontine sergeant finally said.
“I’m backup,” was Mandoran’s cheerful reply. “I’m also technically a Lord of the High Court, for what that’s worth, but I’m Terrano’s guard.”
“And Candallar is going to accept you as guard, and your friend as diplomat while you’re also accompanied by a Dragon?”
Mandoran winced. Terrano, notably, did not. Somewhere in the distance, Kaylin was almost certain she could hear Sedarias shrieking in frustration.
“This is the modern era,” Terrano replied. “We’re ruled by a Dragon; we have individually sworn personal oaths to serve his empire. Lord Bellusdeo is of the Dragon Court.”
“I am not present as a Lord of that Court,” Bellusdeo unhelpfully said.
“No. But if things go bad in Candallar,we’regoing to be happy to have you present. Given Candallar’s possible involvement in the High Halls, and given the gray legality of some of those interactions—and his understanding of the Halls of Law and the rules of exemption—the Hawklord wants Kaylin and Severn to investigate.
