“I’ve never mentioned it. An’Tellarus said it wasn’t worth my life.”
“I’m not sure anyone would kill you—but I think if people know, the Consort is vastly less safe. And she won’t care about that. She’ll only care about the Lake, and the future of the Barrani people. If she knows you can do what she does, she’ll feel relieved.”
Helen had opened the parlor for Kaylin and Yvonne. But the doors that normally opened into a fancy room with equally fancy furnishings opened, instead, to a late afternoon sky. A path led from the doors, of interlocking stone in pale colors, hemmed in by grass and rows of flowers. None were flowers that grew in the green.
“You could help her,” Kaylin added. What she’d managed to do for Nightshade, she’d achievedbecauseof the Erenne markthat had driven such a wedge between the two brothers. She didn’t have a similar mark placed on her by the Consort. Given it was a sign of vast disrespect, she’d never have one, either.
Yvonne swallowed. “You like her.”
“We’ve had our arguments,” Kaylin replied. “But... yes. I think the hardest thing about those arguments was her sudden coldness.”
“I’ll have to speak with Ollarin.”
Kaylin nodded. And hesitated. She knew she’d be grilled by the cohort when they finished their interrogation—and after they actually managed to get Nightshade to rest. Kaylin had her own reasons for wanting to avoid the Consort, but she knew Yvonne wouldn’t visit her unless she were also present.
Not that Kaylin’s presence was a guarantee of safety; these days, it seemed the exact opposite.
Yvonne reached out, almost hesitant, toward the new lizard. It turned its head in her direction, but she withdrew her hand before she could touch it.
“Does it feel familiar?” Kaylin asked.
“It does.”
“Dangerous?”
Yvonne shook her head. “It—I know this is going to sound strange—but it feels like sleep.”
“Does it remind you of the green?”
Yvonne glanced at Kaylin’s dress and considered the question. “It wouldn’t if you hadn’t asked, but yes. Your dress really does. And the Teller’s crown. But Lord Nightshade is right: it’s too early for theregalia. And I don’t think the green means for us to go to the West March. I think... the green intends, somehow, to come to us.”
That wasn’t what Kaylin wanted to hear, but it didn’t surprise her. The Lord of the West March had already arrived. She wondered if Yvonne had been sent from the greenbythegreen. But Yvonne had been here for years. The green and its flowers hadn’t figured much in Elantra until Mrs. Erickson.
No, be fair. Until Azoria and her flowers and her terrible paintings, and her attempt to become something other. “Was it the green that led you to the Lake?”
“...I think so. It felt like a dream, a waking dream. But I slept for a long time in the green, and I dreamed there.”
“What did you dream of?”
“Flowers and shadow and death,” Yvonne replied, and turned her face to the side. “Death was the last thing I saw. I wasn’t afraid of death in the green. I wasn’t awake enough to be afraid of anything. I knew—I knew that if the green took me in, I would be safe.”
“But you didn’t want to stay there?”
“I didn’t have the choice. I was found, I was alive, and the very few people I cared about were happy. I offered to stay in the green where I’d be safe, but the green wouldn’t let me back in. So I came to Ollarin. An’Tellarus made certain I arrived safely. And I’ve been there ever since. How do you know Severn?”
“We were children together in the fiefs. In Nightshade,” she added bitterly. “You?”
“I was part of his test. Because he passed, he could wield the weapon of the green, and I could wake up and emerge.” She hesitated again. “You’re friends, right?”
Kaylin nodded. “We’ve had our disagreements as well.”
“It’s just... I think I heard your name while I was sleeping.”
Kaylin fell silent.
“I don’t think Severn’s test is over yet.”
The silence changed. “What do you mean?”