Terrano’s hand was firmly on Annarion’s shoulder. Annarion looked—from the back—like his usual self. She hadn’t seen much of him in the recent past. She hadn’t seen Nightshade either. If the siblings were still at war, they argued when Kaylin was out of the house. Probably when she was at work.
“Can you force him to wake?” It was Sedarias who asked Kaylin, her voice cold. She turned as she spoke.
Kaylin met, and held, her gaze.
Mandoran grimaced, pulled himself off the wall that was holding half his weight, and approached Kaylin. “We probably need to talk. Your cheek is bleeding,” he added.
Kaylin shrugged. “I don’t know enough about this damn mark to use it, if it can be used at all. But I’m pretty sure bleeding isn’t a good sign.”
“Not generally, no.”
Andellen was nowhere in sight when they exited the room in which Nightshade lay.
“I have convinced him that bathing and changing would be wise,” Helen told her.
Mandoran sat, heavily, on a long divan.
“Did you expect this?” Kaylin asked, folding her arms as she slouched into the cushions beside him.
“No. Not this.”
“How’s Annarion doing?”
“The usual. He’s furious at his brother. He’s furious at himself for caring about what’s happened to his brother. He’s terrified for his brother. He wants explanations. He wants justifications for his brother’s behavior that make sense and can be believed. He’s not going to get those if his brother dies here. He wants to wake him up and shake him until his teeth rattle. That’s one of yours, by the way. I’ve never heard teeth rattle—are they not attached?”
“I’ve never heard teeth rattle, either. It’s just a saying.”
“Sedarias is in the room. She was kind of hoping the whole pain and sense of betrayal would fade from Annarion in a few decades.” He winced.
“That’s hope for you,” Kaylin replied.
“If that mark on your cheek doesn’t stop bleeding, she’d like you to avoid Annarion.”
“Why? He’s going to see it if you’re here, or Terrano is.”
“She thinks seeing it with his own eyes will probably be worse.” As Kaylin shrugged, Mandoran sat up. “You couldn’t touch him.”
“I could touch him—” She exhaled. “No, if you mean the healing. I didn’t really try to push through. There’s something about him as he is now that resists that. I don’t know if what’s enveloping him is what’s actually killing him—or if it’s keeping him alive.
“Does Sedarias have any idea why Nightshade was attacked?”
“No. She’s up to her elbows in court politics these days—but she’s still an outsider. An’Mellarionne’s former allies are not her allies. There are two cousins who are causing difficulty.”
Kaylin winced.
“There were three until a week ago, if that’s any consolation.”
It wasn’t. “You haven’t jumped into the political fray.”
Mandoran was silent. It was deliberate, unlike him.
Kaylin glanced at his stiff expression. “You’re right. The less I know, the better.”
“You’re only going to worry. Serralyn is staying well quit of the court, as is Valliant. But the rest of us, with the obvious exception of Terrano, are now surveying our options. Sedarias has one very notable ally she can trust.”
“Teela.”
“An’Teela, yes. But Teela’s still intent on remaining with the Hawks. What she can do, she can do because she’s had centuries to build a base of power. If she takes over the conflict, Sedarias will be rendered irrelevant. Mellarionne won’t be a concern; it will become a vassal of Teela’s line. Neither of them wants that.