the story more than once. You are certain Lannagaros cannot be interrupted?”
“I begin to understand,” Sanabalis replied, as his eyes returned to their regularly scheduled orange, “why Lord Diarmat finds you so difficult.”
Chapter 14
The library doors were closed. Sanabalis did not offer to take what Kaylin was carrying. Neither did Lord Emmerian. Lord Emmerian, however, produced a scarf—from where, Kaylin couldn’t see—and she wrapped it gratefully around the hands that were numb, but still felt freezing cold.
“You will never,” Sanabalis said as they reached the doors, “become proficient in the use of magic if you cannot make time to even learn the basics.”
“Could we skip the candles and move straight to light?”
He snorted smoke. With fire in it.
“Light would be useful.”
“Candles provide light.”
“I don’t carry candles with me.”
“Poor planning.”
Bellusdeo seemed to find this amusing. “She’s missed your lessons,” she told Sanabalis. “Given the alternative, I’m certain at this point she would happily spend a month closeted in the West Room in the Halls of Law.” She then looked at the closed doors and frowned. “Shall I?”
Sanabalis didn’t find anything amusing. “It depends.”
“On?”
“The doors tend to raise an alarm that will wake whatever parts of the palace somehow managed to sleep through your first speech.”
“And one of those people will be Lannagaros?”
Kaylin shuddered—it was the cold. “It’ll certainly let him know I’m here. Unless he assumes it’s someone or something dangerous.”
“I see. Some warning might prove helpful.”
“On the bright side, I can’t feel my hand, and half of my skin feels numb.”
“Then you do it—he could probably use the warning, if Sanabalis is correct.” Her smile was deeper. “He was like this in my childhood. We once attempted to get his attention by causing all sorts of commotion. We certainly got everyone else’s.”
“Did you get his?”
“The tools at my disposal at that time were few.”
That was a no. Kaylin, who hated door wards, nonetheless lifted a hand—her left hand—and placed her palm firmly against the ward.
Nothing happened.
* * *
“I see he really doesn’t want to be interrupted.” Bellusdeo’s eyes were, of all the Dragons present, the most golden. Kaylin wondered what kind of friendship she and Terrano might have developed had they met when they were young. The world was probably a safer place as it was.
Kaylin dropped her hand to the door handles. The doors were locked. They were locked in the normal way—but these doors didn’t have a keyhole of any kind on this side. Before she bent to examine the crack between those doors, she thought better of it. This was the palace.
“Oh, well,” Bellusdeo said, shrugging. She then lifted her chin and once again let loose a volley of native Dragon. Kaylin recognized two words: border zone. Those were in Elantran.
Silence descended—eventually—when the echoes of Draconic syllables stopped reverberating in the ceilings above. Bellusdeo was smiling broadly. “The trick,” she said, “was always to understand his particular concentration if you wanted to be able to break it.”
“What if he thinks you’re lying?”
“He probably does.” Her eyes were almost sparkling, and at the moment, pure gold. “He always did. But he couldn’t ignore the possibility that we were speaking the truth.”
The hair on the back of Kaylin’s neck stood on end. The door wards had been reactivated.
* * *
Kaylin touched the doors, and, as predicted, the entire palace was...enlivened...by the happy sound of blaring alarms. The palace guard poured into the hall, weapons drawn; the sound of Dragon spoken at a distance joined the guards. Kaylin hoped it wasn’t Diarmat. But given that the only other Dragon likely to join in was the Emperor, she squashed that quickly. Angry Diarmat, she could—and had—survived. She was certain she had never seen a truly angry Emperor. She had zero desire to do so.
The doors took forever to roll open, and by the time they had, Sanabalis and Emmerian had turned their backs on Kaylin, facing opposite ends of the halls. Kaylin wasn’t certain what their rank was in relation to the guards’, but clearly being a Lord of the Dragon Court meant something.
The weapons were sheathed, and the guards dispersed.
When the doors were fully open, the Arkon stood three yards away. His eyes were, at this distance, an alarming orange-red. He appeared to be breathing smoke, which probably meant fire wasn’t far behind. Kaylin, being a coward, stood to one side of—and behind—Bellusdeo.
Emmerian was the first to move through the library doors; Bellusdeo had to scurry to catch up. What was almost shocking to Kaylin was that she did. Sanabalis,