occurred, they must have been investigated.”
She nodded.
“I want to see the records of those investigations.”
Her nose wrinkled, as if at a viscerally unpleasant odor. “That’s not a favor. You’ve been given a job. The Halls of Law contains that information in Records.”
He waited. It was clear to her that he didn’t understand the full import of what she was saying.
“Come back to me after Helmat’s finished with you.” Her tone implied, clearly, if you survive.
Severn nodded and headed beyond her desk—and Mellianne’s, and the desk he would eventually call his own—toward the hall that led to the Wolflord’s office.
* * *
When he opened the door—after knocking and being granted muffled permission to enter—he saw that the office wasn’t empty. Elluvian was there. And a Tha’alanari man he recognized as Garadin. In person.
“Private,” the Wolflord said, his eyes hooded by the line of a single brow.
Severn bowed.
“Enough. This is Garadin. He is in the employ of both the Tha’alanari and the Imperial Service. Garadin has come to our office with a request.”
Garadin was bristling; his eyes were green. Elluvian’s were blue, but shaded with the green that meant the opposite of the Tha’alani green.
Severn understood Garadin’s presence. Without pause, he turned toward the Tha’alani man. “It is not me of whom you must make that request. It is Ybelline herself.” He spoke quietly, the tone weighted with genuine respect.
When Garadin failed to reply, Severn continued. “I’m new to the Wolves, so I may misunderstand the situation.” He was certain he hadn’t. “But Ybelline made her decision. It’s not for us—not even the Wolflord—to give her orders.”
“I am not here to ask you to command her,” Garadin snapped. “And you are under Helmat’s oversight. He can command you.”
Helmat nodded almost regally. Severn, thinking of Rosen, wanted to smile. The smile, however, didn’t reach his lips.
“Do you understand her role among our people?”
“Not completely. She told me that she is the next castelord.”
“She will be—and we would like a castelord who is sane. The Tha’alanari has been damaged by the recent investigation; we do not have the numbers to keep abreast of the Imperial Service’s demands. Had we, she would never have come here over the trivial matter of recruiting a Wolf.”
But she had. Severn said nothing.
“As castelord, she will be required to make decisions and choices that can’t be countermanded,” Helmat said, rescuing Severn from his own silence.
“She is not castelord yet.”
“No. But there is no question that she will be. Garadin.” The Tha’alani man reluctantly turned to face the Wolflord. “I understand how you feel. I tried to order her out of the office the day she arrived.”
“She is not yours to command.”
“Clearly. She is of the Tha’alanari. She has been among you for what, a decade? More? If this is too much for her, she will never be able to guide and lead the Tha’alani. Your role involves outsiders. It involves—how was it put?—the criminally insane. Us.
“I’ve no doubt you fussed at her or over her when she returned from her interview with the private. But fussing will not change facts. She has decided. If every decision is to be undermined by those who wish to protect her from reality, you will succeed in crippling her reign.”
“She is young, and she is not yet castelord.”
“She is young,” Helmat agreed. “But she has access to literally centuries’ worth of experience and wisdom. She needs to be able to make decisions of her own.”
“Says a man whose purpose she serves.”
“We all serve the Emperor.”
Elluvian had not spoken a word. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, his chin tilted slightly toward the floor.
Severn’s gaze slid between Garadin and the Wolflord, assessing. He then glanced at Elluvian and found the Barrani gaze almost welded to his own. He had been taught to observe, but that had always come naturally to him. He had always chosen to survey the lay of the land before acting, had always listened to the conversation between people to judge how to join it—or how to avoid it.
He observed now.
Garadin was pale with fear. It was a fear Severn understood; he held it in no contempt. He desired to protect Ybelline, but not, in Severn’s opinion, because she was hierarchically important to the Tha’alani; that was an excuse he expected would hold water with the Wolflord, and he had grasped it in desperation and wielded it badly. Helmat Marlin was never going to be a man with whom she’s too important to work would be a good