Page 89 of Cast in Atonement

The door opened; Emmerian, Severn, and Mandoran entered the room.

“I was just telling Corporal Neya that your first assignment is the Academia,” Sanabalis said, in a much more reasonable tone of voice.

Severn nodded.

“Will you expect a report?”

“Yes. Verbal reports are acceptable in this case.”

Well, that was a silver lining. “When?”

“When you have finished speaking with the Arbiters and the chancellor. I do not care about the hour; Dragons require very little sleep, and even if we did, I wouldn’t be getting any of it.”

To Kaylin’s surprise, Emmerian joined them. His eyes were a wary orange, but there were no red flecks in them. Fair enough. Emmerian had always been the calmest, the most rational, of the Dragons.

They approached the bridge of Tiamaris in silence. Mandoran was the first to break it, although Kaylin and he opened their mouths at the same time.

“How’s living with Bellusdeo treating you?”

The Dragon’s eyes developed the tints of red they’d been missing. “Perhaps if she were in residence more often, I would have an answer to that question.” Unlike his usual polite and neutral tone, this one had undercurrents.

“Did she tell you about Mrs. Erickson?”

Emmerian shook his head.

“But you heard.”

“The chancellor had choice words to say about it. I do not believe he was amused by my attempt at handling the situation.” Emmerian exhaled. “The last disagreement I had with Bellusdeo required intervention from Karriamis, who was displeased enough with both of us that he asked us to leave the Tower until we could speak like rational beings.”

“So Karriamis hasn’t spent much time around Bellusdeo?” Mandoran was grinning.

The red in Emmerian’s eyes retreated. “I’ve never lived in a Tower; I find Karriamis very interesting—but he is an ancient Dragon by our standards, and he is very rigid in his thinking.”

“What were you arguing about?”

Emmerian shook his head. “It seems irrelevant now, and Bellusdeo requires privacy.”

“She didn’t seem to care much about it when she was living with us.”

“No, I imagine not. Living with other Dragons is clearly different.” He exhaled. “I know that she chose me because I was the least distasteful of her available options. I know that the choice itself was made because the future of our race is now a possibility.”

“It’s not what you want?” This time, Mandoran lost the cheeky grin. “You didn’t want her to choose you?”

“Of course I did. But not like that. To be the best of the worst is never something to which I have aspired. I do not wish my presence to be merely tolerable. Or worse.”

“Yeah, that would suck.”

“And I feel that perhaps I’ve become the focal point of her resentment at being forced to live a life she does not want.” He exhaled. “But in the past few days she has forgotten that resentment, and she is in a far worse state.” His smile was pained, but rueful. “I would like to make her life better. But I would also like to be treated with, if not affection, respect.”

Mandoran raised a brow but didn’t comment.

Kaylin frowned. “Are there any Barrani romances or love stories?”

He nodded. “I’m not sure you’d enjoy them, though.”

“I don’t generally enjoy human ones—what’s the difference?”

“They generally end in war, murder, or suicide.”

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