Page 6 of Cast in Atonement

Kaylin had never seen the gold Dragon like this before.

Kaylin glanced at Sanabalis; his eyes were practically welded to Mrs. Erickson and Bellusdeo.

“You’ve carried them for so long,” the old woman said softly. “I won’t take them from you—I don’t think they want to leave—but...would it be all right if they could move a bit? They’re overlapping so much it’s hard for me to tell them apart.”

Bellusdeo’s hands, resting on her thighs, were white-knuckled. Kaylin was grateful Mrs. Erickson had asked to have her hands free. “Yes,” Bellusdeo said. “Give them anything they want, if it is within your power. Anything.”

02

“This may take a little bit of time, and I’m afraid you’ll only hear my side of the conversation—and it may be the same conversation eight times.”

Bellusdeo closed her eyes and nodded, lowering her chin. Kaylin almost looked away. She had seen Bellusdeo angry before—even enraged—and she had seen her upset. But it had never been like this.

The ghosts Mrs. Erickson could see—ghosts Kaylin couldn’t—were Bellusdeo’s sisters, dead on a world that had, slowly, lost its war with Shadow. It had been consumed, and Bellusdeo had wandered in the Shadows that led to Ravellon until she had arrived on this world—the world into which she’d been born.

Kaylin had seen the corpses of those sisters in the morgue of the Halls of Law. But Bellusdeo had somehow kept their True Names within herself, and those names, they’d become part of Bellusdeo’s name. They were inextricable elements of the adult Dragon name that Bellusdeo had finally adopted.

Maybe that was why nine little Bellusdeos had been hatched in an Aerie that had been empty for centuries. To forge one Bellusdeo, golden Dragon, queen of a vanquished, lost kingdom. That was what Kaylin had assumed, when she’d helped her friend’s name form and cohere.

But even if that were true, these nine Dragons had been sisters and friends for the entirety of their life. Bellusdeo’s rage at the outcaste Dragon was fueled in part by the loss of those sisters and their many voices. She had seen their number diminish during the course of the war, and in the end, she had been the last survivor.

Kaylin was annoyed with herself. She had assumed that Bellusdeo, having emerged into her adulthood, her full name established, had somehow subsumed those names, had made them a part of her. That she was, if not joyful, triumphant.

True Names weren’t people. She had seen the words in the Barrani Lake of Life and she knew this. The name didn’t give the infant for whom it was selected the memories of that previous life; it gave them the essence, but the life lived was separate, unique.

This was the first time she realized that Bellusdeo was not okay. She wasn’t fine. She wasn’t whole. She wasn’t, in this moment, triumphant. The loss of those sisters had wounded her, and the scars had been too deep to vanish with time.

Mrs. Erickson’s voice was gentle, even coaxing. Kaylin had heard her speak this way with Jamal and the other children. She spoke a few words and waited, the essence of patience, until she received a reply. It was a reply that no one in the room could hear except Mrs. Erickson—and Helen if she were eavesdropping in the particular way sentient buildings could.

When Sanabalis cleared his throat, Helen moved toward him, lifting a hand. “Kaylin?”

Kaylin nodded and joined them. Mandoran seemed rooted in place, staring at Bellusdeo, his hands flexing because there was nothing he could do.

“Yes,” Helen said to Sanabalis, although the Dragon hadn’t spoken. “Imelda is a shaman. We don’t call her a Necromancer in this house, although that would not technically be incorrect; there are too many negative associations with that word. As you’re aware, she’s received no training. Only the experience of having ghosts as childhood friends and lifetime companions.

“You mentioned the Academia, and I believe some research there is in order, if Mrs. Erickson can receive the appropriate permissions.”

“She can,” Sanabalis said, voice soft. “Lannagaros has a deep affection for Bellusdeo. If Bellusdeo wishes to escort Mrs. Erickson to the Academia, he will see her, permission notwithstanding. And Bellusdeo has never been one to ask for permission.” He hesitated, his eyes a copper shade. “Bellusdeo did not know of Mrs. Erickson.

“Do you know why she chose to visit?”

Helen nodded. “Her visit is personal in nature; it does not involve external danger or political strife.”

“Meaning you will not discuss it.”

“No. I have not been forbidden such discussions; it is left to my own discretion. But I believe this is something Bellusdeo should discuss with Kaylin—if she even remembers it at all now.

“If you meant to continue with Mrs. Erickson’s lessons today—”

“No. I can see that this is going to take some time, and if Bellusdeo is willing to wait, I will not interfere.” His eyes shaded back to their natural orange. “What she is willing to say to Kaylin—or Lannagaros—she will not say to me. I am the Arkon.”

“He was the Arkon, too.”

“Ah, yes. But he was her elder in the Aerie, and he had a strong wish to provide her with a sense of normalcy or continuity, duties aside. I was not, and cannot; what she accepted from Lannagaros, she will accept from no other member of the Dragon Court. She would possibly be enraged to notice that I am witness to this, and I will never mention it in her presence.”

Kaylin wanted to know why Bellusdeo, in a foul mood, had marched to the house, but she was certain that the irritation had been overwhelmed by Mrs. Erickson—or by what Mrs. Erickson saw.

At the end of the first hour, Mrs. Erickson had managed, with patience, to speak with—not to—two of the sisters; Kaylin half expected her old roommate and her new one would still be in the hall at the end of the normal workday.

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