Page 133 of Cast in Conflict

“A tired parent, perhaps, who desires their child to know peace and happiness for the brief duration of their life.”

She said nothing.

“Consider the question, then. Consider the answer. You are living, you are breathing, and you dream. You have daydreams. None involve peace in the context of war. Come to me, return to me, when you have an answer. I will accept any answer you wish to offer.

“I will accept any lie you wish to offer. I will not believe it, of course; I am far too old for that. But I will accept it. I had hoped that we might dine, but I do not believe you will offer what I require today. Therefore retreat—in honor—and return.”

He gestured, and the cave’s mouth reasserted itself, a thing of rock and darkness, punctuated by torchlight.

“Honestly, Lannagaros, I cannot remember why I ever thought this was a good idea.”

“You will regret it far more if you continue to damage my desk,” the chancellor replied, although his eyes remained predominantly gold. Kaylin suspected the orange flecks denoted worry or concern for the Dragon who sat in the chair so close to his desk’s edge she could damage it simply by holding on.

“I don’t understand why you chose such a fragile desk,” Bellusdeo snapped back. She sounded almost petulant.

The chancellor rose and came around the desk to stand beside Bellusdeo. After a moment, he reached for the hand that was gripping the desk’s edge. “If you cannot remember why, will you change your mind?”

“You never wanted me to approach that Tower.”

“Candallar was its lord.”

“His.”

The chancellor shrugged off the correction. He really didn’t like Karriamis.

“He is annoyed, greatly annoyed, by Karriamis at the moment,” Killian helpfully said. He coalesced—slowly—in the air beside Kaylin; she had taken up a guard position near the wall in a vain attempt to give Bellusdeo some privacy. Bellusdeo didn’t care.

Emmerian, however, had wisely chosen to vacate the chancellor’s office; Mandoran followed immediately on his heels. Bellusdeo was not in need of protection here, in the heart of the former Arkon’s territory; of all of the living Dragons, it was Lannagaros who understood Bellusdeo best, and who held her in the greatest affection.

“You’re not?” Kaylin whispered.

“It is a matter for Karriamis and Bellusdeo. I owe Karriamis a great debt, and when this moment has passed, Lannagaros will remember that he, too, owes Karriamis a great debt.”

“I don’t think he’s forgotten,” Kaylin replied. “But...gratitude isn’t the same as love.” She flushed at her use of the word.

Killian didn’t appear to understand her embarrassment, or at least not to feel it. “I do not. Is it the wrong word? Did you wish for a different one?”

“It makes me sound naive. Like a child.”

“Because only children love?” Right. Building. Kaylin didn’t understand the odd alchemy that transformed person into building—but it seemed to leach experience from them, or understanding; Tara had once been human or at least mortal, but mortal subtleties caused her the same confusion they seemed to be causing Killian.

“No, of course not.”

“I fail to understand why you feel the word inappropriate. Lannagaros loves Bellusdeo and the ghosts of her many sisters. She was a gift to him; when you brought her back to Elantra, he felt a hope and an affection from his long-buried youth. She was proof that the home the Barrani destroyed in the wars still survived in some fashion.

“It would grieve him to lose her now; it grieves him almost as much to see her in such pain.”

To Kaylin, Bellusdeo looked annoyed. Clearly she couldn’t see what the chancellor—or Killian—could.

“No, but that is for the best. I do not think it is something she wishes to share. She is strong, but she is fragile, and fragility is weakness. She cannot afford to become someone so easily broken.”

The chancellor ignored Killian’s words, if he even heard them at all. He spoke to Bellusdeo, and only Bellusdeo. “What will you do? You cannot reduce the Tower to rubble, as you well know. Even could you, I very much doubt you would make the attempt; you understand why the Towers are essential.”

“I would not attempt to destroy someone for asking a question I could not answer. If I had simply chosen not to answer, I would not be here. I could not answer.”

“No,” the chancellor said softly, laying a hand on the back of her head with infinite gentleness. “And he knew it. It is not a question that anyone has asked of you since your return. We know what you lost.”

“He will not allow me to enter if I have no answer.”

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