“But you’re not going to clear it.”
She shook her head. “My home isn’t a political place, all visitors aside. If I have to ask permission to have guests in my own home, it won’t feel like it’s mine at all. Plus, it’ll just piss Bellusdeo off. Especially if they say no.”
“And by they you mean the Dragon Court.”
“Diarmat’s going to flip a table. Or worse.”
“And the Emperor?”
That was the crux of it. “He won’t say no. He just won’t say it really, really loudly. If Bellusdeo’s around when he’s doing it, she’ll say something.”
Severn’s grimace made clear that he understood what “something” entailed.
“They’ve just started almost speaking like civil adults. I’d just as soon not break that immediately.”
Severn lead the way through Clint and Tanner before he continued. “And Annarion?”
“What if Teela’s right?”
“Look at it this way. If Teela’s right—and I consider the chance high—it’s information that would come out regardless. This way, they’ll have warning.”
This didn’t make Kaylin feel any more cheerful. “If the High Court can pretend the cohort doesn’t exist, the cohort are safe. But what if the High Court decides that they’re all to be made outcaste? Before the cohort made the decision to join Annarion, we could all pretend that they were normal Barrani.
“Now? Not so much. And if the not so much holds true, the High Court has to make a decision.”
“And this is part of Teela’s business.”
“Yeah. The part she asked us to stay out of.”
“Not us.”
Kaylin glared at her partner. “But...Candallar’s probably involved in it as well. And there’s the not insignificant fact that Teela is a Lord of the High Court and someone tried to kill her.”
“She considers that both normal and acceptable.”
“I’m not so sure.” Kaylin could clearly recall Teela’s expression in the infirmary. “Oh, about the assassination attempt? Sure. But not the method. She’s angry. If the High Lord attempted to kill her—without making her outcaste—she’d consider it normal and acceptable. She’s a power. He’s a power.
“But the Hawks? They’re not. For one reason or another, they didn’t take the Test of Name. They followed her when she came to join the Hawks, as far as I can tell. They’re not powers. It’s like they decided not to join the game when they decided not to face the Test. And they’re being dragged into it as well.”
“And you think Candallar has something to do with it.”
“You don’t?”
He shrugged. “What you are to Teela, I’m not. When she tells me to stay out of her business, I listen.”
“But—it interfered with the Hawks. It’s Hawk business.”
He was politic enough not to bother answering. Even the Hawks stayed out of Barrani business if the Barrani happened to be Hawks.
*
After filing her report, Kaylin made a detour to the infirmary, and was not surprised—or not very surprised—to see Teela sitting by the bedside of the man who had tried to kill her. She would have looked like thunder, if thunder happened in the middle of a very icy blizzard.
Moran gave her the side-eye as she entered the room. “If you were any other Hawk,” she said, her voice pitched low enough that it wouldn’t disturb the patient, but not low enough that it wouldn’t be picked up by Teela, “I’d tell you to mind your own business. I have, however, lived with you, and what you define as your own business is almost criminally broad.”
“Teela will be moving in with me for a while.”
“Then she either accepts that you’re going to be involved, or she is extraordinarily optimistic for a Barrani.” Moran did, however, catch her by the arm as she attempted to move past her to evade the rest of the lecture. “I’ve half a mind to ask Helen if I can come for a visit.”
“You just left.”
“And I regret my timing. I won’t tell you not to do what you feel is right. But I really want you to consider the ramifications.”
“So I’ll change my mind?”
Moran snorted. “So you’ll have some warning and be a little bit better prepared. That’s the trick to being a power. It’s also why anyone sane and reasonable doesn’t really want to become one.” She released Kaylin’s arm. “If this kills you or harms you...”
“I’m not going to feel any worse than you would have felt,” Teela said sharply.
“And I know how I would have felt,” Moran replied. “I think she’s probably in less danger right now—but I wouldn’t bet on it, given Mandoran and Annarion.”
“She invited the Consort to dinner. The Consort accepted.”
“I really wouldn’t bet on it.”
10
Kaylin did not understand the point of dinner guests. Or rather, of having guests over for dinner. She understood the concept of eating. She understood the concept of eating with friends. Clearly a meal that one was serving, and to which one invited friends, was somehow entirely different.
Bellusdeo, who disliked the fussiness of what was now considered good table manners, was inclined to agree, but without the frustration. Her eyes had shaded orange, but only slightly, when she had been informed of the Consort’s pending visit.
“No,” she said, before Kaylin could suggest it, “I think it highly unwise to have the Emperor and the Consort together at the same dinner table. I would like to meet your Consort, and I admit it might be amusing to watch the two of them in the same room—but in this case, amusement would likely be fleeting, and consequences would not.”
Annarion, on the other hand, was practically hyperventilating. Mandoran, the more laid back of the two—well, technically, the most laid back Barrani she had ever met—was also blue-eyed and tense. Since they occupied the dining room, which was kind of Helen’s equivalent to the mess hall in the office, Kaylin pulled up a chair.
Nightshade had once again been allowed to speak to Kaylin through the shared bond of his name. When Helen was not feeling charitable, he couldn’t—not when Kaylin was at home. Clearly, Helen was feeling charitable. Either that or she thought Nightshade would say something she wanted Kaylin to hear. Regardless of Helen’s motivations, Kaylin wasn’t terribly surprised to hear Nightshade, loud and clear.
The fieflord was not Ynpharion, but he found Kaylin’s entirely casual invitation almost as dumbfounding as the disapproving Barrani Lord did.
She is akin to an Empress, he said, in a chilly internal tone. To the Barrani, inviting the Consort to dinner is only slightly less political than inviting the High Lord.
It’s not political.
It is. You did not have political intentions. Your intentions, however, do not matter. I am slightly surprised that the Lady agreed to your request. And not entirely pleased, Kaylin thought. She disagreed. Politics was all about intention.
No, it is not. You are thinking like a Hawk.