“Can you tell me why?”
Before Tara could answer, Kaylin added, “Emmerian and Bellusdeo are worried, too. The only time I’ve really seen Bellusdeo worry, it involved Shadow. This...doesn’t.”
“I am not sure I understand it myself. It has something to do with Dragons and hoards. But...you’ve seen a Dragon stake his hoard claim. You were standing right beside him. Did he appear to be dangerously unstable to you?”
“He’s a Dragon.”
“Does that make a difference? I agree that the form is, for a small period, unstable and appears malleable when the Dragons choose to shift—”
Kaylin had, momentarily, forgotten the Tower’s sense of humor. Or lack of one. “I don’t think I had the time to notice. You might remember that there were Shadows who were attempting to rewrite your words in the heart of the Tower space.”
“Ah, yes. Apologies.” Tara smiled. “I remember it as the darkness before the dawn. That’s figurative,” she added. “Or perhaps metaphorical. My Lord feels that the Arkon is dangerously unstable at the moment, and is telling him so.”
Great. They were going to be hereall day.
“What do you think?” Kaylin asked.
“He appears, to me, to be as he was the first time he visited the fief, except in one regard.”
“And that is?”
“The first time, he was happy to see Bellusdeo. It meant much to him. It was hope. It was...” Tara frowned. “Sadness. I am not certain I should be answering this question.” Her hesitation was marked, and it reminded Kaylin a bit of Helen—but Helen wouldn’t have answered. “I think he has been sad for as long as you’ve known him. Perhaps for as long as Emmerian has known him. Bellusdeo comes from a period of his life where loss had not informed him so thoroughly.”
“He’s not sad now?”
“It is sharper, harsher. I cannot easily describe the difference. But he is...desperate with hope, Kaylin. My Lord attempts to cushion that hope, to explain reality. The Arkon is unwilling to let it go. Hope can break people when it is dashed.”
Kaylin nodded, then exhaled. “I think you should tell your Lord that there’s no point. Either hope will be dashed, or it won’t. Oh, unless you have information about Candallar and his visitors and their possible whereabouts. Because I think those could be a serious problem.”
“My Lord reminds you,” Tara said, although Tiamaris was still entangled in his discussion, “that the desire for a hoard—when the hoard is unobtainable—can drive Dragons beyond the edge of sanity. It is both purpose and obsession. He believes you have seen murders caused, by mortals, who were so obsessed, and he invites you to consider what a Dragon might be like in the same state of mind.”
That was not a happy thought. “Bellusdeo and Emmerian seem resigned to it.”
Tara nodded.
“And if what you’re saying is true, getting in the way of that Dragon might be the thing that sets him off.”
“The Arkon is important to Tiamaris.”
“All of the Dragons are.”
She nodded again, hugged Kaylin, and returned to Tiamaris’s side. No one heard what she said to Tiamaris, but Tiamaris’s flood of words banked abruptly. His eyes were a deep orange; from a distance, they might be red. But it was not the bloodred that signaled imminent death.
The Arkon’s eyes were less immediately visible to Kaylin, but while his breath was a steady stream of smoke, he seemed content to stop speaking.
“My Lord bids me tell you,” Tara said to Kaylin, while standing beside said Lord, “that none of the visitors you fear entered the border zone through Tiamaris.”
“I wish we could speak with the other fieflords the same way.”
“So does he; he is beginning to consider it a necessity. Come back to the Tower when you are done with your exploration; there are a few things he wishes to discuss.”
The border zone was the border zone; Tiamaris and Tara, with Morse in tow, accompanied them to that point, but Tara now walked beside the Arkon. Tiamaris fell in beside Kaylin, glancing at Severn as if for permission. Which was annoying.
Hope squawked.
“We cannot lose him,” Tiamaris told Kaylin, the words both unexpected and abrupt. She knew where this was going. “I task you with keeping him safe.”
“We’ve got two Barrani and two Dragons here. And you’re tellingmeto keep him safe?”