Page 149 of Cast in Conflict

Kaylin nodded. “She’s not going to be happy.”

“It has been a long time since Bellusdeo has expected happiness, or even desired it. I will not call the world that was destroyed her hoard. But it was, to her, what the Imperial library was to Lannagaros. If his situation was not easily remedied, there was remedy for it. Bellusdeo, however, cannot be Emperor. She cannot be queen to this world as she was to the one on which she was trapped.”

Kaylin nodded. “So...the guardian comment came from her. From her thoughts.”

He said nothing.

“Helen didn’t tell me what the two of you talked about when we returned home.”

“And you wish to know?”

“I don’t need to hear the whole thing, no. But...did you discuss the... I mean, did you talk about Dragon babies?”

“Yes and no.”

“I think it’s kind of important, given Karriamis.”

“It is deeply, deeply important to Karriamis. But he is...old. Old-fashioned. If the immortals change slowly, they nonetheless change. What a Dragon was in Karriamis’s time, and what a Dragon is in the Emperor’s reign, are not the same. He wishes to know what I want, and I wish not to tell him. We may discuss it in the hells.”

“Why? Why not just tell him?”

“Because it is not up to me, Corporal. It...did not occur to me that Bellusdeo had extended even that much thought to the question of...more Dragons. She has never professed even the slightest interest in such a discussion. Only Lannagaros was unconcerned about this; he wishes her to be happy. He wishes her to be herself, because he is aware that he does not know her; he knows only what she once was.

“That has been a comfort to Bellusdeo. It has provided an anchor, a sense of the home she once had on our world—and lost. But she cannot retreat to childhood, in this. As a child, she would never have been forced to make this choice. She knows this. She has always understood why it is important.

“Diarmat assumes, because she has not thrown herself into the logistics, that she does not. He thinks her feckless, reckless, ultimately selfish.”

Kaylin tried not to bristle. She tried hard. “That’s easy for him to say. It’s not Diarmat who has to have the babies. Or the clutch. Whatever.”

“As you say.”

“Wait, Diarmat has talked about this?”

“Kaylin, we have all talked about this. Lannagaros as well. The only person who has reserved opinion is Tiamaris—and Diarmat assumes that is because Tiamaris is young.”

“You don’t.”

He smiled. “No, I don’t. We are all agreed that this is important enough that it must happen, and until it does, Bellusdeo is not to risk her life needlessly.”

“But she’s here.”

“But she is here. The Emperor would vastly prefer that she remain in the palace, but Lannagaros argued forcefully against that. His prior experience with Bellusdeo led him to believe that this would not work well; the Dragon Court has existed for centuries and it functions well. Adding Bellusdeo to—”

“To any gathering that also includes Diarmat? That’s going to be a disaster.”

“Yes. Lannagaros was perhaps not as blunt, but it was not required. He believed—and believes—that she cannot be caged, and she will see all protection offered as a cage. It is too small to contain her.

“Helen was the compromise. But she would not be with Helen—and with you—if Karriamis chooses to accept her.” He inhaled; he exhaled smoke with a heart of red flame. None of this was pointed at Kaylin, and as there wasn’t a lot of architecture here that Dragon breath could destroy, Kaylin didn’t mind it. It made Emmerian seem more human.

“When Karriamis spoke,” he said, after the smoke had drifted further away, “I was...surprised.” His smile deepened, but it was rueful. “No, I was shocked. Bellusdeo has refused to discuss this element of her future with anyone; Lannagaros has not asked. Nor would he. I thought that she would bear the Emperor’s children, in the end.”

Kaylin’s eyebrows were still attached to her face, which was a small miracle. “Are you insane?”

21

Emmerian turned fully toward her; his eyes were orange-red.

Kaylin made no attempt to claw back what was only charitably a question. “He’s exactly the wrong person for Bellusdeo. And if she were somehow his Empress, she’d be part of his hoard. She’d be part of the Empire. If you can’t see how much of a disaster that would be, I don’t know what to say to you.”

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