here at this time of day,” Severn said. “His movements are more easily tracked. He’s not on vacation, has not taken a leave of absence, and must therefore occupy his office and the duties to which he clings.” Once again, Severn spoke Barrani, but this time for the benefit of their two companions.
“The Barrani are not so easily monitored, by either their own people or ours. It is possible—I think it likely—that Illanen will be at the front door.”
“He won’t be the problem.”
Severn glanced at her, the tone of the flat sentence a warning.
“Killian’s doors have just opened,” she said. “And I think that’s Candallar leaving the building.”
* * *
“I see him,” Severn said. His glance slid to Hope, who huffed.
“We see him, as well,” Sedarias added.
They couldn’t see the rest of the gathered people. Kaylin wasn’t certain if Candallar’s visibility was a good sign or a bad one. “Does he look normal to you?”
Sedarias exhaled. “We don’t see what you see here. You’ve said—to your eyes—that the streets, roads and buildings are lacking color. To us, they’re not. We know what you see,” she added, “because it’s what Teela saw. To us, then, the buildings look like Elantran buildings—but better. More impressive.
“Do the people you can see resemble the exterior of the buildings and the rest of the landscape?”
Kaylin nodded.
“Candallar?”
“He looks like the rest of us to me.”
Sedarias bowed her head for three long beats. When she lifted her face, her eyes were a disturbing color; black with flecks of color. She then glanced at Annarion.
“Helen’s not going to like it,” he said.
The glance became a glare, and several silent beats passed before he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were a different, disturbing color: a milky white that also possessed flecks of moving color.
Sedarias didn’t tell Annarion that Helen didn’t need to know, because they were the cohort. They could, with effort, hide their thoughts from Helen—but it wasn’t a sustainable effort. They trusted her; she would never harm them. Helen was therefore going to know.
“We won’t leave the fiefs like this,” Sedarias then said—to Kaylin. “But whatever you’re looking at, we can’t see the normal way.”
Hope squawked.
They both turned toward the nearest window, taking positions that would make them less obvious to outside observers. They were silent, which said nothing; the cohort on the insides of their heads were probably talking up a storm.
“I am going to strangle Terrano,” Sedarias then said, although she didn’t look away from the window.
“You missed him more than anyone,” Kaylin pointed out.
“My aim is not that bad.”
“Terrano seemed to think he was mostly obeying your orders.”
Sedarias’s head whipped around, and Kaylin saw that her eyes had shifted color: they were now the same as Annarion’s. “Orders? Clearly Terrano came from a family far more lax than my own. I made suggestions.”
Annarion snickered.
“You can see them now?” Kaylin asked quickly.
“We can.”
“And this makes you want to strangle Terrano because?”
“To view them at all requires a shift in our physicality. It’s a very particular shift,” she added.
Kaylin frowned. “Do you think they could do this outside of the border zone?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think it would be detected?”
Sedarias nodded. “Helen would notice immediately. If you’re worried about the Dragons—”
“We would notice,” the Arkon said from the far doors. “Or rather, the magic required would cause a significant disturbance. They are not, however, more empowered than they would otherwise be.”
“Could they attempt to assassinate you without becoming visible to the rest of us?”
“We’re about to find out.”
“You’re supposed to be with—”
“The rest of us,” Bellusdeo then said, “are with him. Or we would be if he would move out of the doorway.”
* * *
Sedarias said nothing; her eyes were narrowed. Annarion glanced once at her, and she nodded, but the nod was measured and deliberate. This wasn’t a natural transition for Sedarias. Annarion might have had eyes like this all his life. It was Annarion who seemed to have the most difficulty maintaining the strictly Barrani biology he’d been born to.
No, she thought, that wasn’t it. Terrano could shift his form at will, and Mandoran wasn’t far behind. But Helen judged neither of them a threat. It had been Annarion she’d worried most about. Whatever he was doing wasn’t the same thing. Regardless, he didn’t seem to have trouble with his new eyes.
He lifted a palm to touch a pane of glass. “I don’t think we’ll have to break it.”
“We will if the Dragons are going to follow us out.”
“The Dragons are not going