Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,138

if I delivered it—as requested—to Killian, it would have some effect on him. A positive effect,” she added, in case this wasn’t clear.

“Larrantin should not have been able to remove it.”

“It’s possible that he didn’t. He might have recognized it for what it was—but I think it’s now clear that Starrante is not in the library.”

“We have no simple way of opening the library without his presence.”

“Is there a complicated way?”

“Demonstrably.” Androsse’s eyes were midnight blue, which added color to his otherwise ghostly countenance. Kaylin wasn’t particularly surprised to see that Kavallac’s eyes were dark crimson, either.

“Could Killian find Starrante?”

“I believe you made clear he could not. If something has changed in the interim, it would be to our benefit.” She heard echoes of other words as he spoke. They were worried for Starrante.

Kaylin exhaled. “Can you let us out of the library without fully opening it? And can you do so without injuring yourselves?”

“We are not certain, Chosen.”

Hope sighed. He then began to squawk loudly in her ear. Since she couldn’t understand a word he spoke, she assumed this was meant for the Arkon or the Arbiters.

“Yes,” Kavallac finally said, clearly in response to Hope. “If there were a chancellor, the chancellor could open the library. But if a chancellor existed, Killian would not now be in the state he is in.”

“Killian could open the library?”

“That is not how Killian was built,” Androsse said.

I think, Severn then broke in, that we know where the chancellor’s office is. Does he have more than one?

Kaylin conveyed the question.

“No, Chosen. There is one office of the chancellor. It has multiple rooms, some meant for public interaction, some for private, but it is the chancellor’s home within the Academia.”

Robin?

He’s apparently skipped a lot of meals before getting dragged back into his classes.

I thought he was learning to read.

He’s a bright kid; he’s done that. And he’s not bad with High Barrani, either. It’s Terrano’s conjecture, Severn added, that the students—the missing people—were brought for the purpose of making Killian minimally functional. Apparently, the Academia requires students.

Kaylin nodded. That was my thought, as well. But...

The Arkon?

She nodded. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Killian’s become sharper and more focused in his interactions since the Arkon set foot in the Academia. I think the presence of the Arbiters also helps.

Can you get to us?

I’m not sure. We still have intruders in the library, but they haven’t advanced to where—Never mind.

In the darkness of shelves, made brighter by the presence of the Arkon’s magic, Kaylin could see movement in the shallows of the light.

* * *

“We have company,” she said, voice barely audible.

“I cannot see the intruders. Bellusdeo?”

“No.”

Kaylin turned to the Arbiters then.

“Yes, Chosen,” Androsse said, his voice less quiet. “We can see the intruders. We could sense them when they were not immediately visible. Were they wise, this is not the place at which they would choose to mount an attack.”

Kavallac smiled. The smile had teeth in it, and those teeth grew larger and longer. So did the mouth that contained them, elongating as she once again chose to adopt the Draconic form. There was a glow to her scales; she was silver—silver and white—except for the inside of her mouth and the deep, deep red of her eyes.

Kaylin turned to Hope. “Protect the Arkon and Bellusdeo.”

Do not engage them.

“I’m not trying to engage them.”

There is a risk to the library. There is a risk to the structure it currently maintains. Killian is not Helen, but there are rules that govern the sentient buildings, and Killian’s rules are complex. The library is meant to house not books, but knowledge. The accrued knowledge of the ages. Theories that have been disproved. Theories that have not. Stories and legends that bear no resemblance to their progeny, the stories you heard on the streets.

There is art here that only certain eyes can see; poetry that once moved the people of races that have vanished. And there is history that has long been lost to your people. All of your peoples.

“We’re not going to destroy that.”

You cannot control the flow of the battle.

“No,” Kavallac said, making clear that she could understand the words that Hope now spoke to Kaylin. “She cannot. But we are Arbiters, and this is the ground upon which we are at our most powerful if we are not a triad. We will control the flow of battle; it is the reason for our existence.” Her grin was a baring of teeth. “It is us