Cast in Flame (22 page)

“I didn’t tell him,” she said, reaching for a cookie, as well. “I haven’t had the chance.” To Evanton, she added, “Is there some kind of supernatural flyer that the rest of the world sees that bypasses the Halls of Law?”

“Of course. You wouldn’t read it; it would look too much like paperwork to your untrained eye.”

“Very funny.” The best thing she could say about Nightshade at the moment was that she’d gone there on her personal time and wouldn’t be required to file an official report. “What did you hear?”

Teela cleared her throat. Loudly. This implied that she was sitting far enough away that stomping on Kaylin’s foot under the table would cost too much dignity. Kaylin ignored this. She trusted Evanton. She didn’t trust his
mood,
which could be changeable and unpredictable, but she trusted what he would do with said mood.

“That there has been an inexplicable change in the configuration of what was previously known as Castle Nightshade.”

“I’m not sure the change will remain in force.”

“Ah.” Evanton cleared his throat and helped himself to a cookie. If he didn’t care for tea—except when drenched and chilly—he did like the cookies. “The changes were not made by the fieflord.”

Kaylin stopped eating. Notably, Severn did not. Then again, Evanton rarely grilled Severn. “No.”

“Does he remain fieflord?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?”

“I assume you have more ready access to answers. He will not, however, hear the answers you choose to share—not while you are here.” He glanced at her cheek.

“He’s still fieflord, for now.”

“Good.”

“Good?” She didn’t ask whether or not he knew Nightshade.

“If he is not a man of whom you would otherwise approve—and he is not, I am not a fool—his reign has been stable. He is not Barren.”

Kaylin stilled; she always did, when Barren was mentioned. But she didn’t freeze, and the pause in conversation went unremarked upon. “No.”

“An’Teela,” Evanton continued. “You had something you wished to say?”

“To ask.”

“Ah. From the cast of your expression, I’m going to guess you don’t want to ask it of me.”

“No. I want to speak with the elemental water in the Garden.”

Kaylin inhaled crumbs, which made her cough. “I’m not going in there with you,” she said. “I’m done with being a drenched, soaking sponge for at least a day.” Frowning, she turned to Evanton. “The water told you.”

His smile was indulgent. “Very good. Grethan.
Grethan!
”

Since Grethan had started moving practically the minute the first syllable of his name had left the old man’s lips, Kaylin thought the shouting could have waited. Grethan appeared instantly in the narrow door frame.

“Take Teela to the Garden.”

He froze.

“Is there something on my face, boy?”

“N-no.”

“Good. She wishes to speak with the elemental water, and I have a few words to say to Kaylin and Lord Bellusdeo. I am willing to allow this, and you are perfectly capable of entering the Garden on your own. Teela doesn’t,” he added, “have all day.”

Kaylin glanced at Teela, who shrugged in response. Her eyes, on the other hand, were the shade of blue-green that implied casual suspicion. She joined Grethan, who lead her away.

* * *

“How bad was it?” the Keeper asked, after the space of five minutes had passed. He was, of course, staring straight at Kaylin.

“Severn was there,” she replied, throwing Severn under the carriage.

“Corporal?”

“It was, as you suspect, difficult. The water did carry us to the exit.” Severn liked tea that was both bitter and hot. Evanton hadn’t poured a cup for him, so he did this for himself as he spoke.

“Yes. The water, however, was not entirely pleased to be carrying one member of your party. Elemental water is
not
a person, but inasmuch as it can, it trusts Kaylin. Or it trusts Kaylin’s intent. You asked?”

Kaylin hesitated. “Yes.”

“This is another of Teela’s lost friends?”

Severn nodded. Kaylin wouldn’t have; she would have asked him why he bothered to ask a question to which he already knew the answer. “Teela sees both Mandoran and Annarion as young Barrani men. I believe they see themselves as Teela sees them.”

“You understand that she is not entirely objective, in this?”

“Yes. But Evanton, I see Kaylin the same way.”

White brows rose. So, for that matter, did dark ones.

“Do not glare at him like that,” Evanton told her, although Kaylin wasn’t exactly glaring. “He is illustrating a point, and he is doing it with characteristic grace. You are Chosen. What this means—to you, to the world—is imprecise. You are not what you were when you lived as a child in Nightshade. But you are also not what you were seven years ago, when you first darkened my doorstep.

“You are not, in my opinion, what you were a year ago. The essence of mortality implies constant change. The Barrani are not mortal, but they are distant kin—although I advise you to keep that to yourself. Be that as it may, the marks of the Chosen have changed you. They’ve changed what you believe you can—or can’t do. They have altered what you have to offer the world.” He nodded to Severn. “Your Corporal does not bear these obvious, distinguishing marks; he cannot make use of their power; he cannot shoulder the burden that comes with it.

“But he, too, has changed, and he has different things to offer.” He turned his attention to Severn once again. “You believe that the two are similar, in some way, to Kaylin?”

Kaylin’s eyes rounded so quickly they almost fell out of her head.

“They’re nothing like Kaylin,” was Severn’s quick reply. “But...I think there’s some similarity in their circumstances. They don’t yet know what they are, so they cling to the comfort of what they were.”

“Private,” Evanton said, to Kaylin, although he was in theory watching Severn, “One of these days your face is going to get stuck like that.”

“I wouldn’t have called the ‘what I was’ part particularly comforting.”

“That is because you have chosen to deliberately misconstrue the Corporal. Where you were is not all that you were; where you are now is not all that you are. Ah, and I have allowed myself to be sidetracked. I don’t have time to waste,” he added, the implication clearly being that Kaylin did. “So I will come to the point. You are at the moment living at the Palace, but you wish to live elsewhere.”

“Desperately. The longer I’m there, the less I care where that ‘else’ is.”

“I will not quibble. Most of the residents of Elani street would be thrilled beyond words to live in the Palace; it would generate a fair amount of business.” He had an elfin grin that he used rarely; clearly the idea of Margot in the Palace amused him.

It put Kaylin off her feed. Unless, she thought, the Palace did have dungeons.

“By a strange coincidence, an old friend of mine is looking to let a place in the city.”

It hadn’t actually occurred to Kaylin that the curmudgeonly old man
had
any friends who were still alive. It was a novel thought. “Who?”

“Pardon?”

“Who is this friend?”

He looked down the length of his nose. “I will pretend you didn’t attempt to pry into my personal life.”

“Evanton—”

He lifted both brows.

“If I’m going to rent a place, I’m going to have to meet with them anyway. They’re someone you trust?”

“They are someone I would not like to offend, which is why I’m ambivalent about even making the suggestion. But in my experience, there are very few coincidences. They are looking for a tenant. You are looking for a home.”

She wilted.

“You aren’t?”

Bellusdeo, who had been as silent as the small dragon throughout most of this conversation, cleared her throat. She, like Evanton, abstained from tea; unlike Evanton, she ignored the cookies, as well. “She is. But she is saddled with a Dragon for a roommate, and at that, a Dragon the Emperor feels possessive about.”

“Protective,” Severn said quietly.

“There’s no practical difference.” She brushed invisible crumbs off her sleeve. “Because he does, our first viewing was an unmitigated disaster. It has been decided that we will avoid all future similar disasters by viewing only apartments that meet with the approval of Lord Emmerian. If he believes the quarters are—or can be made—suitably secure, we will be invited to inspect them.” She lifted her chin. “We would therefore be wasting the time of the friend you do not wish to offend.”

To Kaylin’s surprise, Evanton chuckled. He really
did
like Bellusdeo. “Let me give you the address.”

“And the name?”

“The name will not mean anything to either of you. The address will at least mean something to someone who’s spent the better part of her life patrolling city streets.”

“We need a name to mirror—” Kaylin began.

“If, by some small miracle, your mirror can make a connection, she won’t answer. She hates mirrors, at least as a form of communication. If you wish to arrange an appointment, you will have to visit in person.”

“How much is she asking?” Kaylin asked.

Bellusdeo simultaneously said, “How large is the space?”

“The answer to both of those questions,” the Keeper said, rising, “is variable. If she is willing to let the place to you, she will not ask for more than you can reasonably afford.”

“The Emperor has offered to pay the lease,” Bellusdeo informed him.

“I believe Kaylin is about to turn purple,” Evanton replied, his grin deepening.

“I don’t see why he shouldn’t,” the Dragon said, although she carefully avoided meeting Kaylin’s narrowed eyes. “Given that most of the difficulties caused are caused by his
ridiculous
demands, it should be considered compensation.”

“I will not argue with you,” Evanton said. “Nor will I disagree. Neither agreement nor disagreement will change Kaylin’s opinion. If she is to live somewhere, she can’t feel at home if she isn’t responsible for her own upkeep.”

“That is a luxury I do not have at the moment.” Bellusdeo stood, as well. “But you are, of course, observant. If you believe that this is a space in which we could both feel at home, we will take the address.”

“Oh, I’m not claiming that you’re certain—either of you—to feel at home. Home is a very personal concept, and I’m not in the business of giving personal advice. If I were,” he added, his voice sharpening, “I would have a few choice words to say to your Emperor. I believe Teela is just finishing up in the Garden, and she’ll be with you shortly.”

* * *

Kaylin was dying of curiosity. Bellusdeo, however, was not. The word
Emperor
set the Dragon’s teeth on edge—even when she was the one who used it. When they found themselves on the street side of Evanton’s door, she exhaled a couple of regal inches of height. “I like him,” she said. She sounded pensive.

“You could probably visit him. He doesn’t get much company except poor Grethan, and I think he’d be happy for yours.”

“And not yours?”

Kaylin winced. “He met me when I was an angry, thirteen-year-old girl. He didn’t throw me out of his shop—probably because I was with Teela. He certainly didn’t bow when we were introduced.”

“But he makes you tea and he bakes you...cookies?”

“He bakes those for himself and pretends he’s doing me a favor,” Kaylin countered. She began to walk, in the deliberate, slow stride the Hawks used on patrol. Bellusdeo fell in beside her. “Teela?”

The Barrani Hawk was quiet. It wasn’t a murderous silence—Kaylin was familiar enough with those she wouldn’t have uttered Teela’s name if it had been—but it was a softer sort of grim.

“Yes, I spoke with the water. No, I’m not about to tell you everything that was said. It’s complicated and—with luck—completely irrelevant to your current situation.”

“You know what my luck’s like.”

“I do. I’m hoping, however, that it won’t rub off on me any more than it already has. What did Evanton want to say to you?”

Kaylin considered withholding the information, since that’s what Teela was doing. She decided it was unforgivably petty, as opposed to the usual kind of petty they both indulged in. “He gave us a possible lead for an apartment.”

Because Teela was ancient and had the benefit of experience, she didn’t miss a step. It was, judging by the shift in her expression, a close thing. “Where?”

“Somewhere on Ashwood.”

She frowned. “Ashwood is a tiny street in the East.”

“You know where it is?”

“Yes. You wouldn’t be terribly familiar with the street; it’s not heavily trafficked in
any
way. I doubt we have reports that even mention its existence, in the Halls. It’s not as close to the Halls as your previous home.”

“Is it much farther than the Imperial Palace?”

“Not much farther, no. Where, exactly, on Ashwood did he say it was?”

“It’s number, umm—”

“Three,” Bellusdeo supplied.

Teela’s frown deepened. “Three.” She shook herself. “When are you going to look at this place?”

The Dragon and the private exchanged a glance. “About that,” Kaylin finally said.

“About that, what?”

“We have to
go
to the place to make an appointment to see it.”

“What, this place doesn’t even have mirror access? How old
is
it?”

“Well, the owner is a friend of Evanton’s, if that’s any clue.”

Teela pursed her lips. “You’re going tonight?”

“We’re going to drop in to make an appointment to see it—but we won’t really have time to do more. We’ll probably try to inspect it tomorrow.”

“Why won’t you have time?”

“I was hoping...” At the moment, she kind of hoped a large hole would open up in the middle of Elani to swallow her. Given that she was in front of Margot’s, it would kill two birds with one stone.

“I am not sure I’m constitutionally capable of listening to your explanation without a large inflow of alcohol. Unfortunately, you’re working. What, exactly, are you planning?”

“I was going to ask Annarion if he wanted to...well...never mind.”

“No, please, continue. Given the success of Annarion’s last outing, this might be the one instance in which a suggestion of yours, no matter how outrageous, might not be an unmitigated disaster.” Teela was in a mood.