Page 50 of Cast in Atonement

“But you are, to me, whole. Tell me, do you remember your lives?”

Bellusdeo frowned.

“Do you remember the lives of your sisters as if you were, singly, each of them? Or is your memory formed of your personal experience with each of the other eight?

“I told you that we were born as five, and one did not survive. I do not have her memories or experience; she was not part of the whole that I became. But I can remember each element of the four of us as if I personally lived it. I can trace the thread of each life as if it were my own.

“When you achieved your True Name, none of your sisters were alive.”

“No.”

“But the name you now bear is not the one you found for yourself under the guidance of the Outcaste.”

“No.”

“How, then, did you come by that name?”

Bellusdeo’s hesitation was brief; Kavallac would notice it. “Is it relevant?”

“Yes. Because you have what you should not have if all of your sisters were dead before you achieved it. You should not possess the strength of name you clearly do.

“And perhaps that is why the ghosts that none of us, with the exception of a single, mortal woman, can see are weeping and lost. If you are now driven to somehow quiet the pain of the dead, it is an answer that will lead to necessary questions.”

Bellusdeo said, “I will consider it. Understand that my attention, my power, has been turned toward the threat of Shadow, the heart of Ravellon, and the creatures that reside there, hemmed in on all sides.”

Kaylin shook her head. “The Outcaste can—and has—left Ravellon. The Towers don’t seem to be able to prevent his passage. He lives, as far as we can determine, in Ravellon, but whatever he consumes there, he can hide from the Towers.”

Kavallac’s eyes were blood red. So were Starrante’s; Androsse’s were midnight blue—moonless, midnight blue.

Kaylin exhaled then. She understood that Bellusdeo’s silence was meant to protect her. Since she’d dragged the Dragon into a corner to ask permission to even mention the Outcaste, she understood it—and it was a relief.

“I helped,” she told Kavallac. “I helped, with the power of the marks of the Chosen.”

09

It was the former Arkon who broke the silence that descended in the library. “You never do anything the easy way, do you?” His eyes were orange, narrowed, and familiar; Kaylin might have stepped back in time, and interrupted his work in the archives of the Imperial Library.

“I hardly see how it’s her fault,” Bellusdeo said, her tone the same tone Kaylin would have heard had she never taken command of a Tower.

“You have always been far too indulgent where the corporal is concerned.”

“Indulgent? Hardly. Your facility with language has diminished due to the stress of the responsibilities you have undertaken. Perhaps, if you wish to be critical, you might try protective.”

“Overprotective.”

Bellusdeo snorted. “I fail to see why Kaylin is being blamed for taking the more difficult path—it’s not as if she chose it.”

“That is true; I will not argue it. But just as Mrs. Erickson is a genuine threat absent any malicious intent on her part, Kaylin rivals Terrano for the chaos she causes, also absent malicious intent. If she had not been involved with Mrs. Erickson, Mrs. Erickson would never have been offered assessment by the Arkon, and the ghosts—which possessed the Arkon—would never have wakened. Kaylin would not have encountered Azoria. Were it not for Azoria’s long research, she would not have encountered what she considers to be a dead Ancient—”

“Further research is required on that front,” Androsse cut in.

“Mrs. Erickson would not now be living with Helen; were she not, Mrs. Erickson would never have encountered you. Had this not happened, you would not be aware that the dead that you loved are bound, in misery, to you.

“And she has only just begun.”

Bellusdeo grimaced. “I will not fault your observations, but will counter them. It is true there would be no possession of the Arkon by unknown, foreign bodies—in theory dead as well—but had she not found Azoria, Azoria would have succeeded in becoming a threat to the Empire that none of us could easily counter.

“If she is without intent, her instincts have guided her to the greater benefit of all of us. If it weren’t for Kaylin’s stumbling, the Academia would not now be your hoard.”

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