Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,69

was all courtesy of Teela. And Bellusdeo.

Hope, throughout their walk in the border zone, rested across her shoulders in a limp blanket flop. He now rose to sit on her left shoulder but did so at his leisure. He didn’t lift his wing, either. Whatever Kaylin could see here, he considered good enough.

That held until Teela paused in front of a door that appeared identical to every other closed door in either hall, except for the end doors. The Barrani Hawk glanced at the Dragon, and Bellusdeo, who’d been pulling up the rear, nodded and joined her.

Kaylin had to press herself into the nearest wall to allow the Dragon to pass.

Bellusdeo, however, looked at the door that Kaylin hadn’t managed to approach. “I see it. Kaylin?”

Kaylin took Teela’s spot as Teela moved, again using the wall. “...It’s a door.”

“Are there no marks or words on it, for you?”

“You mean like a nameplate?”

Bellusdeo nodded.

“No. It’s a door. It’s about this wide,” she added, spreading her palms. “It’s a reddish-brown wood with no scratches and no marks. There’s a handle, not a knob, and the handle is like new brass.”

“But you see no name and no marks that imply a name?”

Kaylin shook her head. “You do?”

Teela nodded. She glanced at Bellusdeo, who also nodded.

“What does it say?”

It was Bellusdeo who answered. “The letterforms are old, but I believe it says Larrantin.” Teela said nothing.

Kaylin’s hand fell to her dagger; Hope hissed in her ear. She withdrew the hand. “Hope’s alert but—I don’t think he thinks we’re walking into an ambush.”

I don’t wish you to turn an encounter into an ambush, Hope then said.

Teela accepted Hope’s opinion as gracefully as she usually did; her eyes were blue, but not the shade of midnight that indicated death was probably imminent. Bellusdeo’s were orange, but a darker orange.

“Hope says there’s no Shadow here at all,” Kaylin told the Dragon.

I did not.

The orange shaded away from the red it had been heading to.

Teela opened the door.

* * *

It was a very anticlimactic door opening. There was no magic, no visible signs of barriers being either invoked or dropped; there wasn’t even a creak of hinges—and given the probable age of this building, that certainly implied magic. Or lack of solidity.

The room wasn’t empty. A man—Barrani—stood by the window. The window, however, wasn’t what held his attention; that was the shelves he was facing. They started at the floor and reached to the ceiling, and appeared to cover most of the wall. They were lined with books. The only other time Kaylin had seen so many books was in the Imperial Library, and she automatically stilled as they came into view. There were few crimes that would cause her as much trouble as damaging or destroying those books.

Teela walked into the room; Bellusdeo followed.

Only when her companions passed through the Barrani man did Kaylin blink. They walked directly to the window to look at the streets below. They didn’t notice the occupant of the room, and the occupant didn’t seem to notice them.

He did, however, look up as Kaylin followed her companions. His face was shadowed by light as he turned from the window; he mouthed a word and the walls—or ceiling—brightened. There were no obvious lights, but clearly, as in the halls, none were needed.

As the light touched him, it transformed him. He remained Barrani, but color deepened; his skin was pale, yes, and his height was the Barrani norm; his eyes were blue. It was his hair that was strange: it wasn’t the pure black of Teela’s, Tain’s or any other Barrani with the exception of the Consort; it appeared to be gray. Streaks of white nestled within the length of the expected black and fell around his shoulders like liquid.

“Guys,” Kaylin said.

Teela turned away from the window.

“Have you ever seen a Barrani with gray hair?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, the Consort has white hair.”

“Platinum is the word you want.”

“Fine, whatever. It’s white to me. All the rest of you have black hair.”

“And?”

“This person has—No, I’m asking you if you’ve ever seen a Barrani man with gray hair before.”

Teela and Bellusdeo exchanged a glance. “Yes,” Teela said, as Bellusdeo shook her head. “It was not a common color, as you may imagine, and there was some concern that it implied a defect.”

“And not age like it does for the rest of us?”

“The rest of us?” Bellusdeo then said.

“Well, the Arkon’s gray. And also, even the Leontines get gray around the muzzle and ears. When they’re older, I mean.