The Emperor's Wolves (Wolves of Elantra #1) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,86

fight Elluvian starts. I’m not suicidal.”

“Don’t jump into any fights the other Barrani start with Elluvian either. He’s likely to survive. You’re not.”

“This is about Darrell, isn’t it?”

Rosen nodded. Exhaled. “You’re not Darrell,” she said. “But you’re asking too many questions where the High Court is concerned.” The brief, grim set of her jaw slowly relaxed “...and apparently where the Tha’alani are concerned, as well. The Hawklord has queued up a session with the Wolflord, which I assume is also the result of your current investigation. If it weren’t for the Barrani problem, I’d say you’re doing fine.”

At his expression, she laughed.

“You’re not a random shit-disturber. Helmat thinks you have good reasons for the trouble you’ve caused him, and he’s willing to shoulder it.”

After a moment, Severn said, “And he thinks Elluvian has bad reasons?”

“Exactly. The query you sent to the Tha’alani was surprising and unexpected—but it was smart. The examination of the Records—Halls and Hawks—was both, as well. Keep that part up. I think Helmat would rescind his command with regard to Elluvian if he could, but at the moment the only other available partner is Mellianne.”

“He’s the Wolflord.”

“Elluvian is a special case. He found us all. He trained most of us. But he’s Barrani. None of us are certain what his role is, in the Emperor’s eyes. He’s not officially in the pay of the Halls of Law. It’s never been safe to partner with him, but it almost never happens. If I had to guess, the Barrani he feels is suspicious is someone highly placed in the court.”

Severn nodded.

“Unless the Emperor really loses his temper, this entire case has to be approached extremely carefully. Tell me, does Elluvian strike you as careful?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t know enough about the Barrani High Court.”

“The short version is: if he suspects that this tangle of a case has the approval of a Lord of the High Court, it’s bad.”

Severn nodded again. “Where would I find the information I lack? Without it, I won’t be able to assess the danger I’m facing.”

“Barrani bad,” she said. “For us, it doesn’t really matter what titles they use among themselves.”

“If they have titles, they’ve got access to a lot more underlings than we do.”

“Yes. Barrani underlings. They have money, which generally also means human underlings. And given the nature of the Hawklord’s request, they’ve got human underlings. Try not to get killed, hmmm?” She turned, once again, to the paperwork that was theoretically occupying her attention.

“I’ll do my best.” He cleared his throat. “The information?”

“The Imperial Service will have it,” she said without looking up. “But they’re incredibly difficult to deal with.”

“Are the Tha’alanari part of the Imperial Service?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks, Rosen.”

“You owe me.”

“I do.”

“Pay me back by surviving.” She turned to face him again. “I think we’ll lose Mellianne if we lose you. And it won’t be as clean a loss, either.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Elluvian finally left Helmat’s office, he was not in a good mood. This was fair; while Helmat had stopped shouting, Elluvian suspected this was more due to exhaustion than depletion of anger.

“Severn is not Darrell,” Elluvian had said, in response to most of Helmat’s hurled invective.

He understood Helmat’s concerns. He’d recruited all of the Wolves as they were currently constituted, and believed he understood their weaknesses. And their strengths. The two were tightly entwined. He understood what Severn’s death would mean to morale.

Severn himself might not understand why; he was an outsider, on probation, not fully Wolf. The loss of an outsider, given his prior life, might strike him as irrelevant. Or perhaps not. There was something about Severn that implied a flexibility that Darrell—or Mellianne—had never possessed. If Mellianne survived, she would learn. Darrell would not.

Elluvian would have considered Helmat’s concerns trivial had it not been for An’Tellarus. Even at a remove of centuries, she still knew where to point the knife and how to drive it in. Not, of course, to kill him, because then her games would be over.

What surprised him was her interest in Severn. It was a surprise weighted by unease. He had avoided An’Tellarus for so long, were he human he might have forgotten her existence entirely. Or perhaps not. Barrani memory was reliable, and, as was the case with any living being, the events that caused scars became the memories closest to the surface—no matter how long ago those injuries had taken place.

Elluvian, still musing, headed toward Rosen’s desk. It pained him to see her stuck behind it; it pained her as well. But she