The Emperor's Wolves (Wolves of Elantra #1) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,157

Tha’alani were broken. Destroyed. He knew that the Tha’alanari were injured, that they had withdrawn from most Imperial duties at the time.”

“How?”

“I do not know. Had I asked, he would not have answered.”

She frowned, but nodded.

“Adellos released me when I made my way back to my rooms, but he hovered. He thought I was observed, and the observation must return nothing that indicated my displeasure. I suspected An’Sennarin knew it; Adellos agreed. But any reaction that moved this from suspicion to confirmation was certain to be a far greater disaster for his people. For Tessa’s people.

“She was never a threat to us.”

“Adellos was.” Ybelline kept her voice even.

“Adellos did not even attempt to use Tessa’s experiences and memories until after the mob-fueled murders began. If he was a threat to us—to me—it was defensive; an act of desperation to save his kin. But he understood what Tessa understood: I had never desired to damage the Tha’alaan. I had never desired to own it, to use it. What I wanted—” He exhaled.

She kept her hands around his.

“We talked. When he found out how I had discovered Tessa the first time we met, he was—shocked? Appalled? But he understood that the elemental water had taken an interest in me. A personal interest. It is the same interest the water has in the Tha’alani. It is the interest the water takes in the castelords of your race.”

Ybelline nodded again.

“He thought it likely that even without Random, the water would have brought me into contact with her people—your people. In that case, I wouldn’t have been able to speak to Tessa except with words. I would have tried. He thought it likely that An’Sennarin would have murdered Tessa just to be certain.

“But... I wouldn’t have known. Not instantly.”

Severn cleared his throat, and both Ybelline and the Barrani Lord turned toward him. “If we accept that power is the only legitimate ruler, nothing changes. We are valued only in that we are useful to the powerful.”

“That has always been true.”

“The Emperor has no need of most humans in that case. What he is trying to build is a place where you and Tessa might meet without the consequences to both of you.”

“Perhaps. It is not a risk I will ever take again.”

Severn nodded.

“I found a master in the Arcanum. He is known as an elementalist, but his affinity is, and has always been, fire. There were no masters with affinity to water. Few with affinity for earth. I was expected to be slow—a country cousin with little finesse and understanding of the subtle politics of adults. It was not hard to pretend to be what I actually am.

“But I needed to have as much intentional skill as I possibly could. There was only one way this cleansing would end.”

“You killed them.”

“I killed them.”

“Adellos helped.”

“Yes. Yes, Adellos helped. What I could do with water, then, I could not do on my own; his was the control, mine, the power. I asked, Ybelline. I think I begged. I wanted the killings to stop. No—I wanted to be the one to stop them. It was the only thing left that I could do for Tessa, and I needed to be the one to do it.”

“And the four witnesses?”

He shrugged. “They were, as you must have guessed, complicit in the murders. They were not witnesses; they were actors. They took advantage of the frenzy of the crowd to encourage the deaths that followed. They were not examined by the Tha’alani interrogators; they had come forth voluntarily, after all. And I did not want those crimes to recur. I did not want their study—the study of the witnesses—to once again disrupt the Tha’alaan.

“They deserved to die. Even by Imperial Law, they deserved it. Had they been taken in, had they been examined by the Tha’alani at the Emperor’s discretion, they would have died.”

“...But we would have had to go through four sets of memories.”

“Again. Adellos did not need to guide my hand by that point.”

“He did not attempt to dissuade you.”

“It might surprise you to know that he did. He did not, however, attempt to command or control. He had his own ambivalence, and he understood why I wanted them dead. It was not revenge; I had that. It was to protect the Tha’alanari.”

“And you knew the effect it would have.”

“I have been speaking to Adellos for most of your life; we have been friends, even by your standards. I have heard much about the burden of the castelord, separate