“But he’s been doing nothingbutthat since he chose to remain with his brother.” Annarion exhaled. “Eddorian is like, and unlike, me. I was close to my brother; he was close to his. But we’re not the same people, and Eddorian’s focus now is on the lords who made use of his brother. I believe he wants revenge.”
“His brother was an Arcanist who was heavily involved with them. Anything that happened toLordIberrienne happened because of his choices and his decisions. Why would Eddorian feel he has to take revenge on Iberrienne’s confederates?”
“Because he’s angry,” Annarion replied, shrugging. “He can be angry at you, if you’d prefer; if you hadn’t interfered, his brother wouldn’t have been almost destroyed. Or he can be angry because his brother is an idiot, and he can tell himself that his brother got involved because he, like my brother, intended to save us, to free us from the Hallionne, and to bring us home.”
“Your brother didn’t do what Iberrienne did. And your brother didn’t present a threat to the Consort.”
“No. No, he wouldn’t. But he involved you, and he marked you—as if you could be owned. I... expected better.”
“He tried to figure out how to reach you for centuries. Centuries of time in which you were trapped. I’ve changed a lot in the past few years. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve made different—better—decisions, when decisions were mine to make. There are people whocouldhate me. People who have therightto seek revenge. I’m not going to just stand there and let them stab me, but if they managed it? I’d deserve it. But I can’t change the past. I can change the future—but I can only do that by making better choices now.
“Nightshadeisn’tdead. If I understood the reason why an outcaste was considered such a valuable, necessary target, it might help us.”
Annarion agreed with this. “Barrani outcastes aren’t Dragon outcastes. Their status is political. Were any of us High Lord, we wouldn’t have made my brother outcaste—but he’s never explained what the reasoning was.”
“You think it had something to do with the cohort?”
Annarion nodded. “It’s possible Iberrienne was like my brother: his goals were to rescuehisbrother. My brother wasalways considered a bit unusual for a Barrani Lord. Hehadpower, but he didn’t use it the way other powerful lords did. I looked up to him.”
Kaylin lifted a hand to her cheek almost self-consciously, as if the mark itself had destroyed something precious to Annarion.
Annarion exhaled. “Yes. I know I should have let it go. You’re the person who was marked, and you don’t even notice it. But it’s difficult. It’s like my brother isn’t the brother I believed he was. Yes, people change—believe we all know that, given what we’ve become. But what’s right and what’s wrong shouldn’t. The Barrani aren’t generally considered a highly moral people—as if morality is just a passing phase, like youth. But my brotherwas. He wasn’t young when we were sent to the green. He wasn’t young when he was made heir to our family line. He couldn’t be bribed and he couldn’t be threatened—especially not threatened.
“But he gave up our family.”
Kaylin cleared her throat. “He was made outcaste.”
“If he had cared—at all—he would never have allowed that to stand. Instead, he accepted it, and he eventually took the Tower in the fiefs. I don’t understand why. He’s never explained it. He’s never complained. He’s never planned to reverse his fortune. If it was something he cared about now, I’d be standing shoulder to shoulder with Sedarias in the High Halls, building alliances and making choices that would once again elevate the Solanace family.
“But even that... Not even that.”
“Do you understand what the relationship between the current Consort and your brother was?”
Annarion frowned but shook his head. “He was never one to speak of personal things if they brought him no joy. I know that our families were close—inasmuch as any Barrani families could be close—when we were children. More than that, I don’t know.”
“I think it’s important,” Kaylin said.
“You think the attack on my brother is somehow related to the attack on the Consort?”
Kaylin nodded. The one bit of information she hadn’t given up was the fact that the Consort herself was losing the ability to commune with the Lake, and to interact with the names that would wake Barrani infants. Yvonne’s presence—Yvonne’s open admission that she’d managed to just wander her way to the Lake without intent—would make clear the threat to the Consort’s position. Probably.
But she couldn’t explain why she was certain the two events were connected without divulging that one thing.
“If my brother could openly support the Consort, that would make sense—but he can’t. The Consort can’t accept his service. He’s outcaste. She’s the Lady.”
“He’s outcaste, yes. But that hasn’t stopped him from becoming the Teller for the lastregalia, and it hasn’t stopped him from entering the High Halls—with his sword—to great effect. No one attempted to murder him for that. I don’t think the Consort asked for his aid, but she was clearly happy to see him when we went to the West March, and she treated him as a Lord of the High Court, as if outcaste was irrelevant.
“If it weren’t for the fact that the High Lord clearly adores her, I might have guessed that the High Lord had an interest in removing Nightshade. But what if it’s the opposite? What if the High Lord is considering reinstating Nightshade? I’m certain the Consort would support that.”
Annarion was silent.
“What does Sedarias think?”
“She thinks it’s a possibility. But that would imply that having the Consort out of the picture is necessary. If they believe my brother would interfere with that—and could—removing him would be essential.
“Teela thinks your hypothesis is worth considering.” Teelawas the only other person who was aware of the problems the Consort had with the Lake. “Lord Andellen is pursuing a line of investigation. Lord Nightshade—as lord of a fief, even if outcaste—had connections with the Lords of the High Court, or rather, with their satellite families. Usually those low enough in the hierarchy that they could be relied on to do labor unfit for noble hands.
“But those families serve different lords. We are attempting to discover the person who commanded the war bands into a service one would consider beneath them.” Annarion’s expression grew remote as he listened to Teela. Kaylin was familiar enough with the expression: it was Teela’s Barrani Hawk expression. “I am uncertain that we will be given information that will lead immediately to the culprit, as those involved in the attack are dead.”