Page 13 of Cast in Atonement

Mrs. Erickson nodded. “Not well, and not a lot of it. I learned when I was a child. My parents had hope for my education. But I haven’t had to use it very much in my day-to-day life. Will the librarians speak it?”

“It is the preferred language of speech when they deal with the student body. Arbiter Starrante may, however, be well enough versed in Elantran that he can speak it, should the need arise.” The chancellor rose from behind his desk. His eyes were orange, but the color shifted almost imperceptibly as he looked at Bellusdeo. “I wish to know why you all but insisted that both you and Mrs. Erickson be given such permissions.”

Bellusdeo, for once, was silent; her throat moved as she swallowed words without ever giving them voice.

It was Mrs. Erickson who answered. “If you’ve spoken with Lord Sanabalis at all, you’ll know that I can see the dead.”

“All of the dead?”

She shook her head. “Helen says that what I see are the remnants of the dead, trapped in the living world where they no longer belong. Not every dead person leaves such a ghost.

“But some of the dead are trapped, and those, I can see. I can speak with them.”

“Go on.”

Now, she glanced at the gold Dragon as if for permission; Bellusdeo nodded. “There are eight ghosts bound tightly to Lord Bellusdeo.”

The chancellor froze; he placed one hand on the surface of the desk, as if to steady his weight. He, too, was silent for a long beat, his eyes practically glued to Bellusdeo, although his words—when he did speak—were meant for Mrs. Erickson. “Do those eight ghosts resemble Lord Bellusdeo?”

“Every single one of them.”

“I see.” The chancellor’s eyes became copper, the Dragon color of grief. “I understand, now, the urgency of Bellusdeo’s request. I will escort you to the library; the Arbiters have been informed that a matter of some urgency to the fieflord requires their attention. They have not been informed of what that matter is, as I myself did not know.” His smile was careworn but gentle. “I won’t make you explain it twice; I will hear it with the Arbiters.”

Lord Tiamaris chose to leave the Academia, his conflict with Lord Bellusdeo either forgotten or paused. From the chancellor’s expression, he understood that this was somehow personal for the other two Dragons, and Tiamaris had never been entirely comfortable with the personal.

Serralyn and Valliant were somewhere in the Academia, but neither showed up to interrupt the walk to the library. Kaylin couldn’t tell if Terrano had made his way here, either; Hope wasn’t on her shoulder, so she had no way of seeing invisible things.

Most days, she forgot about Hope, he’d become so much part of her shoulder. She was surprised at how much she missed his presence, given the way he bit her or squawked his displeasure in her ear. She wondered why he hadn’t insisted on accompanying her; it made her uneasy. Helen had been worried about her new occupants. Not Mrs. Erickson, whom she seemed to adore, but rather Mrs. Erickson’s new ghosts. Ghosts whose origins, whose forms while alive, were completely unknown.

Ghosts that had somehow taken possession of the new Arkon, Sanabalis, which was why Mrs. Erickson had had to move in with Kaylin; Sanabalis considered her a very real danger. She’d had no intent to somehow cause those ghosts to possess Sanabalis, but her intent hadn’t mattered.

Kaylin shook her head; she’d come to a halt and didn’t notice until Killian tapped her shoulder. “Sorry,” she murmured.

“The Arkon is right to be concerned,” he replied. Kaylin’s thoughts were an open book to all of the sentient buildings she knew; whatever it took to both think and simultaneously mask those thoughts was a skill she was never going to understand, let alone possess.

“But Mrs. Erickson, like you, is an open book. I concur with both your assessment and Helen’s. She has no ill intent. She is worried, at the moment.”

“About Bellusdeo?”

Killian’s smile was gentle. “Indeed. Her concern does not seem to be for herself. But she is worried that her presence, her possible power, will endanger others. At the moment, concern for Bellusdeo displaces that—but that fear has not been far from the surface since the Arkon’s unfortunate possession.”

“Are you allowed to tell me all this?”

“She is not a student,” was the soft reply.

“Do you think the Arbiters will have anything useful to say?”

“Possibly. It is my hope that Arbiters Kavallac and Androsse will remain largely silent. They have been more fervent in their disagreement in the past few weeks; we have had to curtail all library visits during the worst of their arguments.”

Kaylin winced; she had her doubts. She’d never been that lucky.

The library doors opened as the chancellor approached. Beyond them was the vast and endless library the Arbiters protected. The entrance was a portal, which usually gave Kaylin hives, but the library portal had never been normal. Not that she was complaining.

Starrante was the first visible Arbiter. At any other time, Kaylin would have worried about Mrs. Erickson’s reaction—but the old woman had already met Wevaran, and she knew they were friendly. While she didn’t lift her arms in the standard Wevaran greeting, she did offer him a normal, mortal one: she smiled and said hello in a bright, cheerful voice.

“I am Arbiter Starrante. Bakkon has visited to inform me of the recent events in your home. I see, in spite of the difficulty, you are well,” Starrante replied, in Elantran.

“I am—I’m trying to adjust to all the changes in my life.”

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