Page 120 of Cast in Atonement

Squawk. The tone of voice made clear the answer was no. But Hope lifted one wing across Kaylin’s right eye as she turned to look back over her shoulder. The arch hadn’t disappeared, and she could still see her companions gathered around its opening, watching as she and Severn walked.

Here, there was light—like sunlight in its fall, but without any obvious source. Branches of great trees shadowed the ground, but almost in reverse: the ground where their shadows were cast became lighter, not darker; the path in the shadows of those branches became the color of beach sand, not dirt.

Through Hope’s wing, she could see what Severn saw; through the wingless eye, she could see darkness with flecks of color. Her marks were glowing, but the color was odd: it was mostly green, edged in ivory. Usually gold or blue were the dominant colors when the marks were active. But the marks hadn’t risen from her skin; if there was something they could interact with, she hadn’t stumbled across it yet.

It was just strange that it was Hope’s wing that revealed what everyone else could actually see. Why was her own vision so different? Was it just the effect of the marks of the Chosen?

That would be my bet.

What do you think the marks are trying to make me see? I mean, what am I looking at and not seeing clearly?

I don’t know. But you saw Jamal clearly. You saw the Ancient. I’m betting Azoria tried to interact with the Ancient, to no success.

Kaylin nodded. I’m almost certain that was why she was desperately trying to cultivate Mrs. Erickson. Because Mrs. Erickson could command the dead.

She could, yes. In theory she could also stab someone who wasn’t careful. I think the latter more likely to happen.

I don’t know. If Azoria could have gotten ahold of the children, if she could have realistically threatened them, I’m not sure what Mrs. Erickson would have done. I don’t have the ability to command the dead. If I have the ability to see them, it doesn’t give me much else to work with. She frowned. The marks gave me the natural ability to see Jamal and the rest of the children. That’s it. But the marks didn’t interact with the children in any way beyond that.

And with the Arkon’s collection?

She nodded. There, I could interact. The marks on my arms rose as I did—not all of them, but some of them. Those marks, she added, are gone now. Human life doesn’t depend on True Words. Human death doesn’t affect the status of True Words because we don’t need them to live.

But you have a True Name.

It was true. She did. So, too, Severn—one she’d carried from the Lake of Life for him. I don’t need it, though. I mean—I need it to talk to you like this. But even if I hadn’t given you a name from the Lake, you’d still be able to talk to me as long as you knew mine. If you die—if I die—I’m almost certain the names will go back to the Lake of Life.

And until they do, will we live forever?

Squawk.

I don’t think that’s how it works. We weren’t born to contain them. We weren’t born to need them. If it worked that way, there’d be more Immortals who’d been born human.

If the human caste court knew of the fact of your name, of your possession of it, it would cause a war—not a small one, either. His tone was grim.

No Consort, no Lady, would grant a living adult a Barrani birth name. It would never happen.

The Lake allowed you to take the names.

The Lake probably wanted a High Lord who wasn’t controlled by the Shadow at the heart of the Tower. No, she added, before he could ask, I don’t think the Lake is sentient the way we—or the Barrani—are. But there’s enough of a will in the Lake that it chooses the Lady. It chooses the mother of the race.

The way the green chose a wielder of its weapons.

Kaylin nodded. I think the Lake had to choose to allow me to take those names. It’s why the Consort considers me a backup Lady. Anyone who knows that I can do this is probably horrified at the very idea: a Barrani brought to wakefulness by a mortal. Had I been Barrani, there would have been a fight for control of the Lake—by the families of those granted the ability, not those who could. But no one is going to attempt to unseat the current Consort if I’m what they have to deal with.

Still, the Lake recognized something in you.

Kaylin nodded. Don’t ask me what—I don’t know.

Severn smiled. I think I can guess. He paused as Kaylin came to a stop. He always matched his pace with hers on the streets they patrolled together; this felt no different.

She looked at the trees she could see clearly through Hope’s wing. Severn saw those. What he didn’t see was the black glow that surrounded them. She could almost hear it crackling, as if it were produced by persistent, dark lightning. She looked at the ground between the paired trees; the shadows that light cast didn’t exist here.

“This might be a problem,” she said.

And the trees said, Chosen.

Severn reached out for her shoulder—the one Hope wasn’t standing erect on. To do this, he had to sheathe the blades he carried—or sheathe one of them. She’d never been certain how the weapons functioned.

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