Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,121

beneath their collective feet and rose to the height of their chests. Nothing burned except carpet—but that gave off a terrible stench as it did.

The Arkon glanced once at Kaylin and Bellusdeo. His eyes were a deep, deep red, muted only slightly by the raising of inner membranes. He was beyond angry. In a single instant, he had passed into a deep fury.

Had he been any other Dragon, Kaylin would have assumed the fury came from the possible harm done to Bellusdeo. He was the Arkon. Someone had attempted to start a fire in the library. And if the flames were purple and the heat less intense than Dragon fire, they burned carpet. They’d burn books. This was not a place in which any fight, no matter how important, was to be started. Ever. Given that the Arkon was an enraged Dragon, it was a miracle that the library wasn’t already ash.

“Is this shield yours?” Kaylin asked the Dragon.

Bellusdeo nodded.

“Good.” She drew a dagger noiselessly from its sheath. Hope’s wing was still draped across her eyes. “Hope can protect me from magical attack.”

“Where are you going?”

“Someplace else. If our attacker keeps this up, the Arkon is going to explode. And that’s not going to do us any good.”

“It’s not us he’s concerned with,” the Bellusdeo’s dry response. She hesitated for half a beat. “Go.”

* * *

Kaylin left the golden half sphere. As she did, light guttered; the library became dark and cavernous. Whatever spell the Arkon had cast to improve visibility had been extinguished. Dragon eyes were more adaptable than mortal ones—neither the Arkon nor Bellusdeo required much light.

Kaylin did—but she’d spent enough of her formative years in the dark. True, that dark often included moonlight and starlight; here, the library ceiling shed nothing. But light had come from natural sources in her youth; the cost of less natural sources, even candles, had been beyond her.

And the Ferals were drawn to light, where it existed at all.

She felt Severn’s wordless concern. Had she been in any other room in this building, she would have remained beside Bellusdeo and behind the Arkon. But the library meant something to the Arkon. He never left the palace, except in dire emergency—but it wasn’t an emergency that had driven him here. He’d practically left on his own, determined to find Killian.

Determined, she thought, to find this place: the library. Kaylin wasn’t certain that the library itself wasn’t magical, wasn’t the product of Killian. The library in the Imperial Palace was normal architecture, if impressive. But she thought the palace library was an echo of this one.

This was what he wanted. Perhaps this was what he had always wanted. The Imperial Library seemed now like a substitute, an attempt to rebuild.

Fighting here was not an option. She had rarely seen the Arkon’s eyes take that color; had never seen that expression distort his features. She’d been told that there were certain things that could drive Dragons to madness. She believed it now in an entirely visceral way.

Yes. The voice wasn’t Severn’s; it was Nightshade’s. Shorn of amusement, she could feel the weight of his focus and almost turned her head to look back at the two Dragons. She didn’t; the impulse lessened. You are correct. There is a danger here.

Do you have any idea who could be attacking? That’s Arcanist fire.

It is Shadow fire. Not all Arcanists would be capable of casting that spell; I do not believe An’Teela would be.

“Terrano?” Kaylin whispered. Silence. Disembodied Terrano didn’t reply. On days like this, she sincerely wished Mandoran had been allowed to give her his True Name.

The fire hadn’t been directional; it had sprouted beneath them. The Arkon had had enough warning to give Bellusdeo a single command. Kaylin had seen nothing—and felt nothing magical—until Bellusdeo had summoned her protections. The fire had come from beneath their feet.

She wilted.

An interesting idea.

Can you ditch lunch?

I have tried. I have found at least three men I recognize in the halls.

Have they found you?

If they have, they have not chosen to acknowledge me. It is my belief that they have not yet differentiated me from the general student body.

They’re not part of that student body?

They are, but they appear to have more freedom of movement—as I said, the day seems to follow the same loop, and it is clearly a day on which they do not have classes.

Kaylin frowned. The frown deepened. The fire that had come from beneath their feet could have been a trap, much like an Arcane