Authors: Michelle Sagara
Cast in Flame (57 page)
“You think I don’t see her.”
“You don’t.”
“Then help me
to see,
Chosen.”
She could feel Severn’s sudden amusement.
You asked for that.
I am
so
not the person to be giving romantic advice. I haven’t ever even managed to build
one
successful relationship. He’s insane.
Severn laughed.
I mean, the most useful advice I can give anyone about relationships is: don’t. And if you’re going to try anyway, don’t break someone’s jaw when they kiss you. That’s not
useful.
Flame and fury,
Severn replied.
It might be more useful to Dragons than you think.
It’s not
funny.
Given what I feared when you started this interview, it is. I figured Helen would save you and you’d be under house arrest for the rest of your natural life.
“I can command you; I have that right. You are a Hawk. But I will not. I
ask
it. Help me to see.”
“And if you don’t, or can’t? Or if you don’t like what you do see?”
The Emperor turned. “I will let her go.” His eyes were a shade of copper that Kaylin rarely saw.
“I’ll try,” she heard herself saying.
“I will leave her here. I believe that this home will not suffer the same fate as your last; I would find it almost amusing to see the Arcanists make the attempt.”
“Because you don’t think they’d survive it?”
“I am certain,” he replied, “they would not.”
* * *
Kaylin saw him out. It was weird to have to cross two rooms to reach the door. He didn’t ask to speak with Bellusdeo, and Kaylin didn’t offer. But as he turned to walk down the steps, she said, “Thank you.”
He turned back, one brow lifted.
“For not killing me,” she said, although he hadn’t asked. “And for not being what I thought—what I was certain—you were, in regards to Bellusdeo.”
He nodded. He offered no other reply.
* * *
“I think that he is not as terrible as you feared,” Helen said, causing Kaylin to jump and spin. The Avatar was standing three feet away. “He is perhaps not as flexible as one could hope—but I think there’s a chance, in future, that they may be able to speak to each other without melting the surrounding stone.
“Now, come to the kitchen. I don’t normally cook, but dinner was very rudely interrupted, and you’re hungry. We’ll want to discuss your various roommates.”
“What about them?”
“Who they are, and how many you think there will be.”
“I don’t—”
“Kaylin, if they mean you no harm and you wish to share your home with them, I will accept them. Your sense of home has been—by necessity—about the people in your life. I want to be your home. I want you to be at home here.” She slid an arm around Kaylin’s shoulders and drew her toward the kitchen.
Kaylin had never had a separate room for food. Or for eating. Or for sleeping. But she was tired, her body hurt, she was afraid of the news that waited her return to the office in the morning—and she let herself go, leaning into Helen and the sense, as they walked to the kitchen together, that this would be her home until she died.
* * * * *
But now Kaylin must find Nightshade and return him.
Don’t miss CAST IN HONOR!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have been in a frenzied state of “catching up” in the past year. This has caused a little more household stress than ideal—but my children were born into a writer’s house, and they more or less accept it. My husband, Thomas, is more actively helpful when I get snowed under (and I write this in December, 2013, when
snow
is the operative word).
My entire Harlequin team has seen me through the transition from Luna to Mira, starting with Mary-Theresa Hussey, but by no means ending there. I am, as of this writing, going to head out to watch my first ever cover model shoot, thanks to the energetic and lovely Kathleen Oudit, my art director, and I am really looking forward to it.
Terry Pearson not only read this book in its rough, chapter-by-chapter first-draft form, but provided his usual encouragement—and made sure that when I wrote “THE END”, it
was
actually the end.
Before I forget: C. E. Murphy & Laura Anne Gilman listened to me while I pulled all my hair out trying to come up with the Emperor’s
name
. (I had written background character sketches about the Emperor, since he’s a fairly important part of the city—but everyone pretty much calls him the Emperor. Or something far more obsequious.) In a round of suggestions, Catie came up with several syllabic suggestions, and Laura Anne pulled up one homage usage and the name eventually came out of all those things.
I cannot write with placeholder names. If I need a name, I invent one. If I get stuck on the name, I get stuck until I am unstuck. I envy people who
can.
I know people who do. This is not about artistic anything, but it
is
about process, and I’ve been reminded, at some recent cost, that every process is individual.
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ISBN-13: 9781460330326
CAST IN FLAME
Copyright © 2014 by Michelle Sagara
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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