Page 99 of Cast in Conflict

“She has not,” Kaylin snapped.

“Oh?”

“Tara would never, ever take that risk. And Tiamaris wouldn’t ask it.”

“Ah. Perhaps you think all sentient buildings are somehow the same? That the beings who agreed to become their heart or part of their core become so uniform you cannot tell one apart from the other?” He snorted smoke, exactly the way the former Arkon would have.

“Candallar did not command me.” He rose and turned to Bellusdeo. “Had he tried, he would have been reduced to less than ash. I understand my own duties, my own responsibilities. But it has long been my belief that knowledge is essential, that new knowledge sheds light on the incomplete knowledge it replaces.

“It is the reason I wished to preserve the Academia in whatever small fashion I could. It is in the Academia that the library can be reached.”

“Candallar was your captain, but he did not command you.”

“Yes. Does Kaylin command Helen?”

“Yes, in her own particular fashion.” Bellusdeo exhaled. “And no, as it is clear you must know. Kaylin is her tenant. If Kaylin commanded Helen, I believe Helen would be forced to obey—but that is inferred. It is not a proven or known fact.”

“I don’t think she would be forced to obey,” Mandoran said.

“Helen has implied that she would.”

“She’s just being polite. Look—she damaged herself enough that she doesn’t even have all of her memories. She did this because she wanted the freedom of choice. And apparently the freedom of choice means she chooses mortals as lords, and offers them a home until age kills them. But she doesn’t need a tenant; there was a long gap, in mortal time, between her prior tenant and Kaylin.

“She wouldn’t take a tenant who would command her to do things against her will. And Kaylin’s garbage at hiding her thoughts, so she’d absolutely know.”

“You are not much better, young man,” Karriamis said, voice stern, eyes far less orange.

Mandoran shrugged. “I don’t care. You can’t keep me trapped here if I want to leave. You can possibly kill me—” He winced, no doubt at something Sedarias was saying. Or shouting.

“Let us not talk of killing. You are not interested in becoming a Tower’s partner.”

“So you only attempt to kill or injure those who are?”

“Any injuries you have suffered since you entered my domain were not caused by me.”

Mandoran’s eyes went indigo. Kaylin opened her mouth, but Bellusdeo reached out and placed a hand very gently on Mandoran’s arm. “My biggest regret is not that I didn’t injure you,” she said, head tilted slightly, “but that I will never be allowed to forget or live it down.”

Mandoran’s eyes lightened almost instantly as he laughed. So did Bellusdeo’s.

“I’ll let you take this from here,” Mandoran told her.

She raised one brow.

“I’ll do my best to let you take this from here?”

“More accurate, unfortunately.”

Karriamis gestured at the food on the table—food that Kaylin and Severn had been eating. “While I will not say that the food will be wasted when the starving might appreciate it, it would be a pity if you failed to avail yourself of my hospitality.”

Kaylin was severely underimpressed by the Tower’s hospitality, but struggled not to put it into words. Yes, the Tower would know—but Mandoran and Bellusdeo wouldn’t.

Karriamis snorted in her direction before turning, once again, to Bellusdeo. “Your rage and pain are dangerous. Were that rage and pain aimed only at Shadow, this would be a survivable flaw, at least among our kin. But strands of that anger threaten to overwhelm what would otherwise be pragmatism or common sense.”

“That’s not true,” Kaylin snapped. Mandoran got his arm patted; Kaylin got a warning glare. Sometimes life sucked. “No, I’m not going to stop talking.”

“Talking isn’t a requirement.”

“It is if he’s making statements like that.”

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