“You are certain?”
“I am. I have done some research, and heisof the High Court.”
“When did he assume the rulership of his line?”
“I believe you already know the answer.”
Severn shook his head. “I know that it was roughly around the time of the Tha’alani murders. Possibly just before—which has been my assumption—and possibly just after.”
Elluvian frowned. “What are you suggesting?”
“An’Tellarus supports An’Sennarin. Or do you think she is lying?”
“She is almost certainly lying about something; you will find that common among interactions at court.”
Severn nodded.
“Do you think she was telling the truth?”
He nodded again, almost without pause. “But I’m not certain why.”
Elluvian’s brows rose. “Of course you are not certain. It is difficult with An’Tellarus to be certain of anything. What do you think her reasons might be?”
Severn glanced at him and fell silent, as if considering the question—or perhaps considering the audience. Elluvian was not at all certain he would receive an answer, and his curiosity sharpened.
“She seems,” the boy finally said, “to care for you.”
“I cannot possibly have recruited anyone who lacks that much perception.”
“I did not say that her affection or attention would be comfortable—but I think, in her own way, she does.”
“She is interested inyou,” was Elluvian’s bitter reply. “I am irrelevant.”
Severn shrugged. “She’s Barrani,” he said in Elantran. “But I’d guess she’s also interested in An’Sennarin. She either offered the information to warn us away from him—and an investigation we can’t avoid—or to sharpen your interest in him.”
“Pardon?”
“I think she was attempting to say—in Barrani fashion—that she actually likes him. She clearly doesn’t care for Teremaine.”
“Teremaine would, as she said, be irrelevant to her.”
Severn nodded. “But he’s irrelevant because she doesn’t like him.”
“Like has very, very little to do with Barrani politics or Barrani power.”
“Maybe.”
“Private—”
“She’s a power. Teremaine isn’t. Even if she did like him, there’s probably very little he could do to harm her. She couldn’t trust him.”
“She doesn’t trust anyone. That’s the entire point.” Elluvian had also descended into Elantran.
Severn frowned. “I think she avoids Teremainebecauseshe doesn’t trust him.”
“No one who uses his services trusts him.”
“Yes. For An’Tellarus, the lack of trust means she’ll never hire him. It’s too easy to open herself up to blackmail, among other things.”