Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,134

Barrani, she assumed the former.

“Arbiter Starrante is not situated within the library at this current time.”

“Do you know where he is situated?”

“He has not been removed from the Academia, although it is possible that such removal has been tried. Keep the Arbiters with you, if that is at all possible. I can hear them, and through them, Chosen, you. There is more life in the Academia than there has been in far too long.” His smile changed the contours of his face. “Ah, I believe I hear Lannagaros. It has been long, indeed, for Lannagaros.

“Too long, I think.” The smile fled his face as he opened his eyes and stared through the window Nightshade had become. “If you intend to attempt to repair me, as you once repaired others, you will be frustrated beyond endurance. I do not have, as the Towers or your...Helen...do, a central core, a central heart. When I was built—and that is a crude word that will only barely suffice because time is scant—I was not built the same way.

“But if you have been tasked with opening the library—and I will not ask by whom—I feel that you will come to understand this, in time. If you survive. I...do not see the intruders to whom Kavallac refers.” He smiled again, but this smile was softer and more careworn. “I do not believe you will accomplish what you hope to accomplish.”

“You don’t think we can get the library open?”

“That was not the goal to which I referred. Now go. You are interrupting my lecture.”

* * *

Kaylin. It was Severn. His voice reached her the moment Killian dismissed her—and it was a dismissal.

She nodded.

We have a...guest.

What do you mean?

A young man. An older child. He looked—was looking—in the direction of that child. It was Robin.

I thought you were in the endless hall?

Terrano felt it best to move. Mandoran agreed. I believe it was Annarion who opened the actual door that led to ascending stairs, but if so, he didn’t remain. Emmerian agreed with Terrano; I think he’s beginning to worry about Bellusdeo and the Arkon, although he’s voiced no obvious concern. The halls were designed to be a pleasant trap—something that would confine those who required confinement without, in theory, causing harm or offense. Apparently, at random intervals, food will appear in the side rooms.

There’d been no food in the side rooms when Kaylin had been trapped there. Did you catch the gist of the conversation Killian and I had?

I did. I’ve passed it on to Mandoran. They are now looking for either a book or a ghost. He said this last with a hint of humor. What do you think their chances are?

Higher than ours, to be honest.

Ours or yours?

Both. I also think there’s some possible danger in it for them. They’re not students here.

And Killian is becoming more active.

Yes. I’m not sure why, but...yes. He can hear me pretty clearly, but he attributes that to the books I’m carrying. Well, no, to the people the books appear to contain. But Killian’s suggestion that we open the library meshes with Terrano’s. I wish he could find a way in.

“He will not find a way in until and unless the library is opened,” Killian said.

Kaylin blinked; she was no longer seeing through Nightshade’s eyes.

Have a care, Kaylin, Nightshade said. He was not, I think, fully aware of the cohort—but he will be now. They have not been granted permission to be here; they are as much intruders as the Barrani Arcanists and their friends. If Killian wakes fully—and I am uncertain, given the nature of this lecture, that that is even possible—they might well suffer the same consequences as those you care far less about.

She had never had much luck hiding her thoughts from sentient buildings. Nightshade could, and did. Teela could.

“If Terrano won’t find a way in, how did they?” she demanded. Nightshade allowed it, as Killian appeared to able to distinguish between them, even if they were sharing the same body.

“I believe you already have the necessary answers.”

“I don’t. If the missing Arbiter is anything like the two I’ve already met, he was in the library. How could someone enter the library if my friends can’t? They could enter—and leave—sentient buildings by the time we met.”

“I am, I admit, uncertain. There is a possibility, a remote one, that the interim chancellor might have had methods of doing so that were emergency contingencies. I believe you made the attempt to return a book to my library; I