Page 33 of Cast in Conflict

Eventually, she swallowed and turned to Severn. “Bellusdeo is helping the Arkon.”

Serralyn cleared her throat.

“The chancellor, sorry. Arkon was like his name for me, and I forget when I’m thinking.”

“That’s not what we generally call thinking,” she said, her grin very reminiscent of Mandoran’s.

“Can you hear the others while you’re here?”

She nodded. That was a second change. She wondered if that was Killian’s choice. Killian, not being Helen, did not immediately answer the question she hadn’t asked aloud.

“Was that Mandoran?”

Serralyn laughed. “It was. He’s bored.”

“Luckily, that’s not my problem.” She turned once again to her partner. “Bellusdeo is helping the chancellor. Do you think the chancellor is concerned that the Shadows will somehow enter the Academia now that it’s more corporeal?”

“If he isn’t, she will be. I’m sure that’s part of the reason she volunteered.”

The other being Candallar’s Tower. Kaylin kept this to herself, not because she wished to withhold information from the cohort—they already knew, now—but because she didn’t wish to have an argument about the Tower with Sedarias, who was no doubt busy fighting for their survival in the High Halls in a very Barrani way.

“Look.” Serralyn leaned across the table. “That’s Larrantin.”

He was the one Barrani man who was unmistakable, even at this distance: his hair was gray, the white strands very white, the dark, very black. The only other Barrani Kaylin knew that had nonblack hair was the Consort. She had never asked if the hair had started out the normal color and changed.

“You’ve heard of him?” It was Severn who asked.

Serralyn nodded emphatically. “He was—even when we were sent to the green—almost a legend. He was offered one of The Three, did you know?”

Kaylin shook her head.

“He wouldn’t take it. Or so the story goes.”

“Sedarias doesn’t believe it?”

Serralyn grimaced. “Of course not. It would have been an emblem of power and significance—what Barrani wouldn’t want that?”

“I’m tempted to say a rational one, but I’m not sure I’ve met many.”

To Kaylin’s surprise, Valliant chuckled—but she couldn’t be certain it was at anything she’d just said.

“You’ve met at least three,” Serralyn replied. “But we probably have the luxury of being your version of rational because Sedarias is on our side.”

“Can you ask Terrano if the Academia is barred to him?”

“Technically it’s not barred to anyone at the moment. People can visit if they’re willing to risk the fiefs. The chancellor can leave.”

“No wonder Bellusdeo is now aiding the chancellor.” Kaylin hadn’t considered Shadow encroachment as a threat. No doubt the chancellor had, and Bellusdeo never, ever forgot about Shadow. She knew that Helen could detect and protect against most incursions—but not all. Even some of the Hallionne had been compromised in Kaylin’s immediate experience.

The High Halls had also suffered from the influence and effect of Shadow. Of the heart of Ravellon. Kaylin had begun to distinguish between the two, but it was difficult. Ravellon had been home to Starrante’s entire race; she wondered if there was something about either his abilities or his physical form that required whatever Ravellon had been before its fall.

Kaylin shook her head. “This place was completely free of any taint of Shadow except what Candallar and associates brought with them. The Academia had been here, undetected, for a long damn time—and the Shadows couldn’t gain a foothold here while it was unoccupied.”

Serralyn’s eyes darkened for the first time in two days, but she nodded. “It’s an interesting question. The people in the Academia—trapped almost in stasis—were free from the danger of Shadow. If Bellusdeo—or anyone in the Academia—could figure out why, they might be able to suspend whole worlds in the same way.”

“You think that’s possible?”

Serralyn said, “I hope it’s possible. I don’t know. It’s one of the questions of import.”

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