Page 20 of Cast in Atonement

“I’ll take you both back,” Bellusdeo said, turning toward the door.

“We can walk.”

“I will take you home.”

“Or not.”

Helen had clearly been informed that Bellusdeo would be flying in; they landed in the tower with its odd, collapsing roof. Helen’s Avatar was waiting for them. She moved immediately toward Mrs. Erickson, and the look she threw Bellusdeo was as critical as Helen ever got.

“Dinner is ready,” she told them all. “Bellusdeo, will you be joining us?”

“I’ll be back in the morning. Early.” Which meant no. “Kaylin will be joining us at the Academia tomorrow.”

Mandoran, Annarion, and Terrano were at the table when they reached the dining room. The rest of the cohort weren’t.

“Sedarias is at the High Halls with Allaron and Karian,” Mandoran told Kaylin as she pulled out a chair. “Everyone else is too exhausted by Sedarias to even look at food.” He grinned. “How did the visit to the Academia go?”

“About as well as anything involving two Dragons in a snit.”

“The chancellor doesn’t normally engage in snits, according to Serralyn.”

“Tiamaris and Bellusdeo. The chancellor stopped the snit from becoming full-blown hostility.”

Mrs. Erickson didn’t look comfortable with this description, but notably made no attempt to correct it. She’d spent decades around the police; she knew how they talked, and she’d learned to accept it with grace.

“Serralyn would have been here for dinner—she has questions—but she also has some sort of study period that’s apparently urgent. She’s speaking with Starrante now.”

“About?”

“Bellusdeo and Mrs. Erickson. She’s worried.” He frowned. “Where’s the limp lizard?”

Kaylin wondered that as well. He hadn’t joined Helen in the landing tower, and he hadn’t come to the dining room. She turned to Helen. “Do you know where Hope is?”

Helen’s frown was similar to Kaylin’s—uneasy. “Yes and no.”

Kaylin began to eat. “Give me the yes after dinner and I’ll go look for him. What’s Starrante saying?”

“He’s mostly venting frustration at what he considers the library’s insufficient mandate for entry into the archive.”

“He can’t find actual books about Necromancy.”

“Not direct ones, no. I mean, he’s just said that it was a forbidden art in many places, or in many periods of time. If there were books, they would have been destroyed or hidden.”

“That wouldn’t make a difference to their presence in the library.”

“No, not usually.” Mandoran ate between replies, his brow furrowed. Kaylin saw the moment his eyes began to darken.

The cohort could speak to each other no matter how great the physical distance between the various members—that was what the name bonds meant. It was therefore hard to tell which particular member of the cohort was causing the stiffening of Mandoran’s otherwise genial expression.

She glanced at Annarion. His eyes were generally blue—only Serralyn’s were green on a daily basis—but they darkened as well.

Terrano, who had been silent, looked across the table to Kaylin. “That dinner you wanted to finish?”

Kaylin put her cutlery down.

“Torri says there’s a lot of noise coming from one of the rooms upstairs.” He set his own cutlery down. “I’ll meet you upstairs.” Before he vanished, he added, “I think Mrs. Erickson should probably come with us.”

Kaylin turned immediately to Helen. “What’s happening upstairs?”

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