Kaylin blinked. There was food on her plate. She was seated at the dining table. Yes, it had been a long day—but not long enough that she could barely keep her eyes open.
“You are falling asleep at the table,” Helen observed. “Mandoran, it is time to let Kaylin sleep.”
“I didn’t interrupt her,” Mandoran replied, glaring in Terrano’s direction.
“No, you didn’t. Do not start. Kaylin?”
Kaylin pushed herself back from the table. She knew a command when she heard it, no matter how prettily it was said.
She woke that night with a start. It didn’t take long to realize why.
The cohort was being fractious. Helen woke Kaylin for themidwives’ guild if they mirrored during sleeping hours; she let her sleep otherwise. Tonight, she hadn’t.
Kaylin rolled out of bed and reached for her clothing. If the emergency was big enough, she’d be better off dressed to leave the house.
The door opened as she approached it, Hope grumbling in her ear. “You can stay in bed,” she told him. He bit her ear and stayed where he was. This wasn’t really thebestsign. “Helen’s here, and she’s not going to let anything hurt or kill me. Helen?”
“As you suspect, the cohort is arguing. I would have had them argue in the training room, as things are somewhat intense, but Annarion refused to leave his brother’s side. Mandoran refused to leave Annarion’s side. Annarion and Sedarias had a rather explosive argument, and they are not speaking to each other.”
“Are they trying to kill each other?”
“Not anymore.”
Kaylin stiffened.
“If it helps, they weren’t trying to kill each other; they were trying to injure each other.” Helen exhaled, which was entirely affectation. “Sedarias is not, as you are well aware, emotionally attached to any of her family. She has long considered Annarion and Nightshade to be inexplicable. Nightshade’s affection for his brother makes no sense to her; Annarion’s angry conflict, even less.
“She has suggested that it would be best to put Lord Nightshade out of his misery, to cut the ties that bind, as Annarion has been angry with his brother since he arrived in Elantra.”
Kaylin winced.
“Some of the cohort agreed with Sedarias. Some did not.”
“Did anyoneelseget involved in the fight?”
“Only in an attempt to prevent it.”
Kaylin left her room. There was no actual shouting, but the ground trembled beneath her bare feet. She turned back to fishher boots from under her bed and tried again. “Teela’s not back yet?”
“She has not returned, no. The cohort is not worried.”
“Fallessian and Torrisant?”
“They are continuing to aid Teela in her investigation.”
Kaylin frowned. “She’s not in the fiefs, is she?”
“She is no longer within the fief of Nightshade.”
“Did she find the Barrani? They weren’t waiting for Nightshade to return, were they?”
“I believe Mandoran will answer your questions.” Kaylin could take the hint. She turned toward the room Helen had opened for Nightshade’s use.
Mandoran met her at the door. “He hasn’t woken up.”
“I guessed. Has he gotten any worse?”
“There’s very little visible difference; he’s still breathing, and it seems to be even and steady. But youreallyhave to do something about your cheek.”