Page 45 of Cast in Conflict

“Yes, dear. Because you would have done the same thing—but with far poorer results, in my opinion.”

“He burned down part of the house!”

“He caused damage that was, in the end, trivial to repair. I am not sure you would have survived—and I consider that far worse.”

Fair enough. Emmerian might not have spent all of his adult life fighting a war—a losing war—but he was still a Dragon.

“Teela isn’t angry with him. She understands the reaction.”

“And the rest of the cohort?”

“Are in the dining room.” Meaning, Kaylin could find out for herself. As there was no point in going back to bed—she wouldn’t sleep anyway, and if she did, she’d mess up her first day of new duties—she headed toward the open dining room door.

All of the cohort, with the exception of Serralyn and Valliant, had taken up chairs in the dining room. The cohort often just occupied a large corner of the floor, their arms, legs, and bodies overlapping like a puppy pile; they were all seated at the table, as if this were a council of war.

They were silent until Kaylin entered, but that certainly didn’t mean they weren’t talking. Or arguing, given the thunderous expressions and deeply blue eyes of half of them.

Mandoran was not among that half, and Terrano was at the foot of the table—as far from Sedarias as it was physically possible to be. He was emotionally close to Sedarias—Kaylin privately believed she was one of the people he’d missed the most when he’d chosen total freedom—but that didn’t mean he enjoyed her anger.

A chair appeared for her at the table. Given the color of the sky, it was an hour before breakfast, and breakfast had never been a full-house affair. Plates began to appear on the table.

Everyone turned to look past the food at Kaylin.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“It’s Helen,” Terrano said. “You don’t have to say anything. Why are you always hungry, anyway?”

“It’s not that I’m always hungry, it’s just that I learned to eat when food was available.” Because mostly, it hadn’t been.

Sedarias looked at the plate set in front of her as if it was a cockroach. She didn’t complain that it was there. In true Sedarias fashion she accepted its presence as Helen’s prerogative. She didn’t eat, though.

Teela, blue-eyed, did. Although she was no longer in residence officially—she’d moved in for the duration of the preparation for the Test of Name—she’d been spending time in the rooms Helen had created for her use. In theory, she’d moved out after the cohort had, as a collective, passed the Test of Name. Given Emmerian’s presence tonight, Kaylin was grateful for the difference between theory and practice.

Kaylin also ate. Among other things, it gave her something to do with her hands. It also gave her an excuse not to talk, as she’d finally mastered the art of chewing and swallowing before she opened her mouth. This had been surprisingly difficult.

The sound of only Kaylin chewing and swallowing filled the silent room. Kaylin put down her fork. “What exactly happened earlier?” She spoke to Teela.

“You pretty much saw it yourself,” Terrano began.

“Fine. Don’t talk about the parts I saw.” She was still looking at Teela.

Teela was silent.

“Teela.”

“Yes?”

“You drew your damn sword.”

“I considered it wise, but it was purely precautionary. I made no attempt to injure either Lord Emmerian or Bellusdeo.” Teela also set her fork down, swiveling in her chair to face Kaylin.

“Emmerian didn’t go full Dragon for no reason.” Kaylin folded her arms. She had never liked it when Teela’s eyes were this color, but she wasn’t thirteen anymore.

“He is unaccustomed to the cohort. I don’t believe Bellusdeo felt threatened by the turn the argument took.” She exhaled. “Lord Emmerian is generally levelheaded, but Bellusdeo is important to the Dragons. I believe he overreacted. I had no desire to harm him. I merely wished to show him—”

“That you could?”

“That it would be costly were he to attempt to kill us—any of us—yes.”

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