Cast in Wisdom (Chronicles of Elantra #15) - Michelle Sagara Page 0,76
her eyes on the long hall behind the obstructing desk. It didn’t disgorge more guards. No, instead, two figures entered the hall, coming round a corner at almost the same time. Kaylin recognized both men. Well, Dragons.
One was Lord Sanabalis, and the other, to her surprise, was Lord Emmerian. She was relieved to see that Lord Diarmat didn’t immediately follow. The guards relaxed, although that didn’t mean much; she could see it in the lines of their faces and jaws. The steward, however, looked openly relieved when the two Dragons arrived.
Dragons didn’t require sleep. Kaylin wasn’t certain what the long sleep of Dragonkind entailed; for some cultures “long sleep” and death were synonyms. Not so with Dragons, because Bellusdeo had been denied permission to attempt to wake some of those sleeping Dragons. But if they didn’t need sleep, Sanabalis looked as if he could use a week of it.
Emmerian, however, looked exactly the way he always did. Calm, quiet.
“We will take over from here,” Sanabalis told the steward. He glared balefully at Kaylin. Since various emergencies had curtailed her magic lessons with Sanabalis, she thought this unfair. He wasn’t the Arkon, though; after a few seconds of orange-eyed glare, he transferred his annoyance to the person who had caused it.
“Lord Bellusdeo. While it is a pleasure to see you in the Imperial Palace, this is not the time at which visitors usually arrive.”
“Not mortal visitors, no.”
“Lord Kaylin is now an immortal?”
Please, Kaylin thought, don’t drag me into this. Hope nudged her cheek and then, as if to make a point, relaxed into his draped, bored position. If he started to snore, she was going to push him off her shoulders. He snickered instead, which wasn’t much better.
Sanabalis, however, had returned his glare to Kaylin. “What, exactly, are you carrying?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? We’re taking it to the Arkon.” Her words were broken by involuntary shudders, which she forced herself to keep at a minimum.
“The Arkon is, ah, indisposed.”
“He’s sick?”
“No. You appear to be ill. He is...focused. He has made clear—loudly—that he does not wish to be interrupted.” Sanabalis glanced at Emmerian, as if he wished to pass the contents of this conversation to someone else. Emmerian was younger, which probably meant junior.
“Your previous visit,” Lord Emmerian then said in a much less irritable tone, “caused the type of focused concentration that the Arkon seldom engages in anymore. He has not eaten and has not rested since. He has given the librarians themselves a week of paid leave because even their presence is an annoyance.”
“The library is closed?”
“To the general public, yes.”
Kaylin looked at the book she was carrying in the space between her clothed arm and her rib cage. “Since yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“And you think he’ll turn us to ash—”
“You,” Bellusdeo interjected.
“Fine. You think he’ll turn me to ash if I interrupt him.”
“I believe you are capable of interrupting him, but his method of displaying annoyance will be more harmful to you, yes.” Lord Emmerian replied.
Which probably meant he was going to be a fire-breathing, angry old Dragon. Fire would cause financial damage to Emmerian and Sanabalis; they were wearing actual clothing. Given that Bellusdeo had left Helen in her scale armor, she probably didn’t care. Dragon hair in this form didn’t burn the same way Kaylin’s would.
She turned to Bellusdeo. She realized that both of the Dragons had also turned toward Bellusdeo, as if the entire decision rested on her shoulders.
“I believe that he will be interested in what Lord Kaylin carries. And I believe it may be germane to his current area of study.”
“What,” Sanabalis said again, “is Kaylin carrying?”
“I don’t suppose you have gloves? Mittens?”
His eyes remained orange, but he now looked down his nose at her as if she was sitting in the west room for one of his lessons and had failed to do the homework that lesson required.
She grimaced and pulled the book out. It was easier than trying to explain it.
Sanabalis’s eyes shifted color instantly, the orange giving way to something that looked like tarnished silver. “Where did you get that?” His voice was almost a hush.
Emmerian’s eyes remained the gold-orange they had been when he had accompanied Sanabalis down the hall.
Kaylin didn’t answer. She wanted Bellusdeo to do it because she was pretty certain she’d bite her tongue if she tried to explain. The explanation would require a lot of talking, and she couldn’t stop shivering.
Bellusdeo, being Bellusdeo, only smiled, the smile almost feline. “I don’t believe we wish to have to tell