Page 12 of Cast in Atonement

“I’m the reason she came here at all!”

“Indeed. And I understand that she volunteered to accompany you. But there are some things to which she should not be exposed at any length, and a petty argument between my kin is one of them. And you, Tiamaris,” he said, his voice far less gentle than it had been when he spoke to Bellusdeo, “as a lord of both the Dragon Court and the fief of Tiamaris, how is it that you have been drawn into a pointless, petty squabble in such a fashion?”

Tiamaris wisely failed to answer.

Red eyes faded to resentful orange. Had Mrs. Erickson not been present, Kaylin would have sympathized, even empathized. But she was, and the chancellor was right: she shouldn’t be subject to screaming Dragons.

“Very good. My apologies for the interruption, Mrs. Erickson. Where were we?”

“You were speaking about Necromancers,” she replied. She had lived with squabbling children—if ghosts—for all of her life, if one didn’t count the past few weeks. She could probably pick out a petty sibling squabble from a mile away.

“Yes.”

“I’m not sure if you know, but I live with a sentient building.”

“You live with Kaylin,” the chancellor said, nodding. “I am aware of Helen.”

“Isn’t she lovely?”

He blinked. Kaylin, expecting this, didn’t. While she wouldn’t be as gushing and effusive as Mrs. Erickson now was, she didn’t disagree with anything the older woman was saying. The former Arkon weathered the inundation of happy, delighted praise for a full ten minutes before he lifted a hand.

Mrs. Erickson had the grace to redden. “Helen and I have discussed my abilities a bit. Helen didn’t say I was a Necromancer; she said I was possibly a shaman.”

The chancellor frowned. Bellusdeo frowned.

“Ah—she said it wasn’t a common word, and it was used—I can’t honestly remember how long ago. One of her tenants had some experience with someone Helen called a shaman.”

“That tenant was not from Elantra, then.”

“I’m not sure Elantra existed at that time,” Mrs. Erickson replied. “She didn’t speak the same language that Kaylin and I do, but Helen can understand any language.”

“Indeed. I spent some time in the Imperial College—as a lecturer,” he added, in case there was any confusion.

Given the number of Imperial Mages Kaylin had met in the line of duty, she felt the clarification was justified; the Arkon—argh, the chancellor, damn it—was head and shoulders above those mages. Hells, they probably came up to his ankles, figuratively speaking.

“Shaman was not a term that was in use there.”

“And Necromancer was?” Bellusdeo asked, the question sharp.

“No, not often; it was perhaps used as a humorous term, after exams. What did Helen say of shamans?”

“They can both sense and speak with the dead—the dead who are somehow trapped in our world. The dead who haven’t, or can’t, pass on. Shamans didn’t raise armies of the undead in Helen’s stories.”

“And you have never raised an army of the dead.”

“No,” Mrs. Erickson said. There was a tiny hesitation before the denial.

“She hasn’t raised an army of the dead,” Kaylin said, voice flat. Since she was surrounded by Dragons, she attempted to keep irritation out of her tone.

“I did not imply that she had, but perhaps my humor was too dry for those accustomed to bombast.”

Normally Kaylin would assume the dig was aimed at her, but given Bellusdeo and Tiamaris’s presence, she couldn’t feel singled out, even if she was the one who’d spoken up.

“Very well. Bellusdeo has asked—as a favor,” he added, glaring at the gold Dragon, “that you be allowed to consult with the Arbiters.”

“The librarians?” Mrs. Erickson asked.

“Indeed. They are a bit unusual, as librarians go. I must ask: Can you speak Barrani?”

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