Page 21 of Cast in Conflict

Severn, however, so silent he might have been absent, did not. “Not what is safe; what is best,” he said quietly. “I believe Lannagaros trusts that this is best for Bellusdeo.”

Tiamaris couldn’t pretend that safe and best meant the same thing. He didn’t try. “I have chosen not to argue with her.”

“My lord went to the Academia directly to speak with the chancellor,” Tara added. “He wished to confer with the chancellor in person, given the implications for the future.”

“The chancellor told him to mind his own business?”

Tara laughed, a surprising, chime-like sound that made her seem vastly younger than even Kaylin—as if joy were something only the young could experience. It was a striking thought.

“He did,” she said, as the laugh faded into sober echo. “But very politely. I believe he was annoyed, not at my lord—who, as you are, is accustomed to the chancellor’s very curmudgeonly outbursts—but at the Emperor. My lord tells me that Bellusdeo has been the subject of some contention since you first discovered her.”

Tiamaris’s lips were set in a tight, grim line, and his eyes were orange as he glared at Tara. Kaylin could not remember ever seeing him do so before.

“He does not do so frequently, it’s true. But if this were dangerous to you or Bellusdeo—”

“It is dangerous,” Tiamaris snapped.

Hope squawked.

“Yes. The chancellor, as Tara now calls Lannagaros, considers the dangers inherent in her internal struggle with despair to be far greater. But it will be dangerous to you, which is entirely unnecessary.”

“You’ve been talking to Emmerian,” Kaylin said, forgetting to speak Barrani.

“There has been much discussion.” Tiamaris’s eyes calmed. “I find it taxing. Bellusdeo is as old as Lannagaros. She is not a child. Were I Bellusdeo, were I in her position, I would have a clutch or five in order to escape the duties imposed upon me. I am not Bellusdeo.

“But having Tara, and having the fief and the weight of its responsibility, has perhaps influenced my thinking.”

“How?”

“It is,” Tara said, before Kaylin could continue, “a vast amount of work, and at times, the work can seem overwhelming. Not for me,” she added softly. “But for my lord. His decisions—decisions in which his people have little choice—will nonetheless affect the people of the fief. He cannot simply magically transform the fief.

“I can transform large parts of it,” she continued. “And I have offered to do so. But in the event of a disaster—in event of a breakdown of the barriers that keep Ravellon in check—I will have to withdraw the changes I have made and redirect my power.”

“Is the power used consistently? I mean—do you have to always use it?”

Tara nodded. “It is part of me; I will not ‘run out’ of power. But the consequence of an emergency will be, for the residents, a different emergency. After deliberation, my lord has decided to rebuild the normal way, as he calls it. But even that is fraught. Where? When? Money is not the issue it would be for most of our citizens—but it does remain an issue if we are to do things in the normal fashion.

“Regardless of the work and the stress of making decisions, having the responsibility is what defines him. It’s what defines hoard for him. I believe that the same could be said of the Emperor or Lannagaros. I do not understand Emmerian, but Emmerian is not easily read.”

“You can’t read him when he’s here?”

“Not always, and not consistently.” She frowned. “Yes, Helen can—but that is almost certainly because Lord Emmerian allows it. He has come to speak with Tiamaris three times in the past two weeks; he has passed through the fief to speak with Lannagaros. I believe he returned with a singed cape on the last visit; he has not gone again.” She glanced, pointedly, at Tiamaris.

Tiamaris rumbled. “Bellusdeo will accept you as a companion if you desire it.”

“I’ve already been seconded—by Sanabalis—to the Imperial service. So has he,” she added, nodding in Severn’s direction.

“You do not see your value clearly if you can be so casual.”

Kaylin shook her head. “I see my own value clearly. But I’m a Hawk. I serve the Imperial Laws. I’m the person who’s been trained and taught to interfere when interference is necessary.”

“In Elantra, yes. Not in the fiefs.”

“I’ve been sent to the West March,” Kaylin countered. “By command, not like last time. I’ve managed to survive.”

“So far,” was his dark reply.

“I believe that Bellusdeo is invested in your survival; I am not certain,” Tara added, once again glancing at Tiamaris, “that she is nearly as invested in her own. You can keep yourself alive in most circumstances of which we are now aware, but Bellusdeo sees you as a mortal, even if you are Chosen. You are part of her home.”

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