Page 148 of Cast in Atonement

Kaylin would have been happy to watch as flowers formed wristlets around Mrs. Erickson’s arms—and as individual flowers became rings—but her arms became so heavy, she couldn’t lift them. The cold hadn’t gotten worse, but the weight had become significant. She wondered if the temporary marks could sense the flowers, or merely sense the only woman who could speak to them as if they were people. Kaylin couldn’t. She could carry them, but she couldn’t interact with them the way Mrs. Erickson did.

“Imelda?” Evanton said.

“I’m sorry—I’ll be right there.” She didn’t have to step as carefully leaving the flowers as she had approaching them, because most of them came with her. She walked with a different kind of care, but Kaylin understood that; she didn’t want to crush any of the petals and leaves.

When she was once again on what passed for road, Evanton offered his arm; she took it, angling her own in such a way that her wrist overhung his forearm.

“I honestly cannot understand how such a charming, decent person could become so enmeshed with the Hawks,” the Keeper said.

“I like the Hawks,” Mrs. Erickson replied.

“Clearly. Kaylin?” His tone changed as he spoke her name, reverting from something as close to charm as Evanton was likely to ever achieve to his usual pinched command. “What do you see?”

Kaylin looked into the distance. “It’s the same as it was before. But the ground here isn’t as dark as it was; it looks more like the outlands might if it had a night.”

“And ahead?”

“That looks like the normal outlands. Maybe there’s a bit more color in what I see as clouds—flecks of color. They glitter a bit.”

“The Ancient?”

She shook her head. “I think we have to pass the trees four rows ahead to arrive where I found you the last time.”

Evanton nodded, as if she had confirmed his suspicions. “Very well. Let us proceed.”

“What’s Serralyn doing?”

“Trying not to be distracted by us,” Teela replied. “And trying to dump everything of interest to Larrantin on Larrantin. He’d leave otherwise.”

“He’s going to be angry.”

“Probably.” His anger was clearly not Teela’s problem—or concern. “But Bakkon is aiding Serralyn. Bakkon is, for a scholar, very meek; he likes all of his learning to be in the data collected by other more foolhardy scholars. Those are Serralyn’s words.”

“They seemed a little tactless to be Bakkon’s.”

Hope had been silent throughout this second walk; his gaze was riveted to Mrs. Erickson’s back, because Kaylin walked slightly behind the older woman. Severn walked with Kaylin; Bellusdeo took the rear. Unlike Emmerian, she had yet to go full Dragon, but she’d dressed to have that option.

Kaylin heard the rumble of draconic breathing and turned back.

Evanton had eyes in the back of his head, she swore. “Corporal.”

But Bellusdeo had stopped walking, and she was almost gasping for breath. Evanton had Mrs. Erickson, and while Kaylin’s presence had been deemed necessary by the green, emergencies couldn’t be the only thing in her life. Bellusdeo had been her first roommate, her first housemate, and she knew she had been Bellusdeo’s first friend in this new world, if one didn’t count the former Arkon.

Kaylin, however, was part of the new life; Lannagaros was part of the past—the past in which she had lost everything. Her world. Her family. The friends a queen might have.

She understood why the Dragon had become so dangerously unstable—but Kaylin would have been no better had the dead bound to her been Steffi or Jade. She would have been worse. Far worse. She tried to kill that thought because Severn was right here. He was entangled in the heart of that loss; he always would be.

But here or far away, he was also at the heart of her thoughts.

Instead, she focused them on Bellusdeo. Bellusdeo, who was crying. Not weeping; her tears were silent. If Kaylin hadn’t turned to look back, she might not have seen them at all—but the light changed the trail her tears left. Light? She couldn’t see its source.

It wasn’t her marks. The light didn’t come from Kaylin. But thinking that, she could see the luminescence of her gown. She reached the gold Dragon; she might have run, but she wasn’t certain she could, given the weight of her arms. She couldn’t really lift them either, although she did try.

She met the Dragon’s eyes.

“What is it? What happened?”

“I can hear them,” the Dragon whispered. “I can hear them. I can finally hear them.”

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