Page 141 of Cast in Atonement

“I don’t understand the way in which they’re trapped. I did help to free the poor people Azoria had bound in her mansion; they were happy to leave. But Bellusdeo’s ghosts either can’t or won’t. I’m not sure which it is. If they were happy, I wouldn’t be concerned. Neither would Bellusdeo.” She smiled apologetically. “I never really learned to lie to people—to do that, I would have had to spend time with them.

“But if I had been more reserved and more careful, Bellusdeo would not be in so much pain.”

Kaylin nodded. She offered Mrs. Erickson an arm and managed to avoid grimacing when the old woman accepted it. “Shall we go talk to everyone?” When Mrs. Erickson lifted her chin and nodded, Kaylin added, “Helen won’t let Bellusdeo hurt anyone—or herself—if she loses her temper.”

“I should warn you both that Bellusdeo is very unsettled,” Helen, disembodied, said.

Kaylin frowned. “How unsettled?”

“Her eyes are an unfortunate shade of red.”

Considering the people present—and more significantly, the person not present, Kaylin winced. “Don’t tell me Teela said something.”

“I won’t if you insist, but as you have guessed, Teela herself may have been a touch intemperate. If she hadn’t been, all of the cohort assembled here would have been in that parlor; I have managed to keep Sedarias out, but she’s standing in front of the door.”

“I don’t suppose you could just teleport her to her room?” Kaylin’s tone was beyond gloomy.

“I don’t think you really mean that, dear.”

“Half of me does. Half of me dreads living with Sedarias if you actually do it.”

“Sedarias is just worried about Terrano,” Mrs. Erickson said.

Kaylin bit back a sarcastic reply, which was easy because the recipient really didn’t deserve one. “I know. Teela’s worried as well. Let me guess. Teela said dead people weren’t the concern here. Making certain there were no more dead people was.”

“Something like that. Bellusdeo doesn’t consider Teela frail, and therefore felt comfortable making her displeasure quite clear.”

“Do we still have chairs in the parlor?”

“I can always make more.”

Hope snickered. Kaylin flicked his snout with a finger.

Sedarias was, as Helen had said, waiting outside the parlor door. She was pacing ferociously back and forth in a tight circle, her arms practically glued to her upper body, she’d folded them so tightly. She was distracted enough they’d almost cleared the stairs before she realized they were there.

Not surprisingly, her eyes were the color of midnight; from this distance, they almost looked black. But her expression, as her gaze fell on Mrs. Erickson, was uncharacteristically soft. “I hope the Dragon screaming in rage didn’t wake you,” she said. For Sedarias, this was practically sentimental.

“I’ve heard the Dragon screaming in rage for a few days,” Mrs. Erickson replied, smiling. “I assure you, I don’t find it upsetting—and my ears aren’t what they used to be, so her voice doesn’t seem so loud.”

And Kaylin had thought Mrs. Erickson incapable of lying.

“Is it safe for us to enter?” she asked Sedarias.

“Bellusdeo isn’t trying to incinerate Teela, if that helps.”

“As long as she didn’t melt anything we can’t replace.” Kaylin gave a pointed glare to the dress she was wearing.

Sedarias was looking at it with an entirely different expression. “The green caused us so much trouble,” she finally said, some of the midnight bleeding out of her eyes. They remained blue, but Kaylin couldn’t remember offhand a time when they’d been any other color. “But the dress is beautiful. I don’t suppose you understand just how much of an honor it’s considered to be chosen to wear it.”

“I’m not sure Teela considered it much of an honor when she was chosen.”

“Well, she had other things on her mind at the time.” Sedarias’s smile was tremulous. “The green caused so much trouble—but none of us would trade that trouble for the lives we would have lived. Dragon wars. Killing each other. We would never have found each other, never have taken the risk of commitment, if not for the green.

“And we would never have made our way back to Teela—the only one we lost—if not for the green.” Sedarias swallowed as she unfolded her arms. “We know he’s not dead, but we can’t reach him. Find him, Kaylin. You found him before—find him again.”

Sedarias elected to remain outside of the parlor. Sighting Mrs. Erickson had taken the edge off her panic; pleading with Kaylin had dumped the responsibility onto Kaylin’s shoulders. Which was a very unfair way of looking at it.

But not entirely wrong. Welcome back. Severn was seated; he’d turned in his chair the moment the door had opened.

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