“Kaylin. Kaylin. I know you’re awake.” Mandoran’s voice grew louder. “Teela’s pissed off. It’d be a huge help if you opened your eyes.”
“Is she pissed off at me?” Kaylin asked. As an experiment, she tried opening her eyes. They were sticky, and the light in the room was too damn bright.
“I think she’s pissed off at Gilbert. And if it’s any incentive, Bellusdeo’s eyes are almost bloodred.”
Kaylin sat up. This was not the smartest idea, but someone caught her before she regretted it too badly. Mandoran. The light in the room—which she forced herself to endure—was sunlight. She blinked, lifted her hands and rubbed her eyes. “Where am I?”
“In Gilbert’s house. Upstairs.”
“And there are no beds upstairs?”
“Not in this room, no. Severn suggested a different room, but Gilbert didn’t think that was a good idea. Did I mention that Bellusdeo’s eyes are red?”
“Yes.” Kaylin had been lying across a very ugly rug. It was a shade of green that would probably make anyone feel nauseous, and if that didn’t, it was fringed in bright orange. Orange. She looked at her hands. They were hers. They were no longer Severn’s.
Severn.
She tried to push herself off the ground and failed a second time. “I’m here,” Severn said, his voice coming from somewhere behind her.
“Are you okay?”
“He’s standing, and Teela’s not worried about him,” Mandoran replied.
“He’s also capable of speaking for himself.”
“When he can get a word in edgewise.” It was true that Severn wasn’t very chatty on most days. “Teela’s worry is like a big wall of silence.” He paused, lifting his head. “She’s coming over.”
When Teela failed to materialize, Kaylin frowned.
“Oh, she’s not here,” Mandoran said.
“She left?”
“You’ve been out for two days.”
“Two days?”
“The Dragon’s eyes didn’t start out red.”
“Two days. Why didn’t you wake me? Marcus is going to tear my throat out!” Or worse, fire her.
“You can field this one,” Mandoran said, over Kaylin’s head.
“We attempted it,” Severn said.
Kaylin digested that statement and assessed her physical condition. Her arms, when she lifted them, trembled. Her legs ached. Her mouth felt as if she’d spent the previous night drinking with Teela and Tain. And her stomach, not to be outdone, growled.
Mandoran snickered. She glanced at him. His eyes were almost entirely green.
“What’s funny?”
“Now she’s pissed off at you.”
“Thanks. A lot.”
“You don’t know what she’s like when she worries.”
“Believe that I do. Why didn’t someone take me home?”
“Gilbert thought it would be a bad idea to move you before you could move on your own.”
“Did he happen to say why?”
“Yes.”
Kaylin shrieked in frustration; it hid the noises her stomach was making. “Honestly, if my arms weren’t so weak, I’d strangle you. What, exactly, did he say?”
Looking, if it were possible, more smug, Mandoran repeated what Gilbert had said. To no one’s surprise, Kaylin couldn’t understand a word of it. “If it helps, he was talking to your familiar.”
“Not really. I’m guessing my familiar told everyone to leave me here.”
“Yes. Bellusdeo elected to stay. Gilbert was visited by another one of your Dragons last night.”
Kaylin wanted to cry. “Emmerian?”
“Lord Emmerian,” Severn said, both correcting and confirming the guess. “Bellusdeo chose to remain. She was not willing to leave the house without you.”
“Did you at least go home?”
Silence.
“So...Annarion is here, as well.”
“He’s downstairs in the parlor. I like that word, by the way. We have a bunch of questions for you.”
“Food first. If I don’t eat, you won’t be able to hear my answers over the noise my stomach will be making.”
*
Bellusdeo’s eyes were a steady orange when Kaylin made it into the parlor. She was standing; Kattea was asleep in the largest chair the room contained. Gilbert, however, was absent. “You look terrible.”
“I’ve been in the same clothing, unwashed, for two days, if reports are true. I haven’t eaten. I am terrified that Marcus is going to rip my face off.”
“Teela took care of that. Teela also dropped by your house and left word with Helen.”
“I heard Lord Emmerian was here?”
“He will be back shortly. I sent him on an errand,” she added, showing the first hint of a genuine smile—one that made Kaylin feel instant sympathy for the Dragon Lord. “Don’t look like that. I sent him to the market. With Gilbert.”
“On their own?”
“They were both beginning to annoy me.”
“Can I just go back to being unconscious?” Kaylin, however, entered the room and sat in the nearest chair. “Or sleep. I think sleep would be good. Did Teela say anything about the state of the investigation across the street?”
“Yes. In Elantran. And Leontine.”