“Can I touch him?”
“That’s up to him,” Kaylin replied, genuinely curious. Hope didn’t care for most of the people he met; he tolerated those that Kaylin liked.
“I feel that that is unwise,” An’Tellarus said as Hope hovered. Hope squawked. The Barrani Lord’s brows rose, her eyes shifting into the gold that was Barrani surprise before she laughed out loud.
“Wheredidyou find him?” she asked Kaylin.
“It’s a long story. Mostly, in an egg.”
“If it were that simple, the majority of the Lords of the High Court would be involved in a dire egg hunt.”
“Would you join them?” Kaylin asked in impeccable High Barrani, because at least the surface of the question shouldn’t sound as impertinent as the content.
“I do not think I, or the familiar, would survive; the small creature is far, far too disrespectful, and I believe I suffer enough of that in the rest of my life.”
Squawk.
“Indeed. I would have to be chosen—not as you are Chosen, of course. Familiars choose and accept their masters, or at least, that was our understanding in times long past.”
“I didn’tchooseto bear these Marks,” Kaylin snapped. “And I didn’t choose the familiar, either.”
“Perhaps that is the secret to becoming someone whocanbe chosen.” The voice was soft, almost introspective. “The weapon Severn bears chose him.”
Severn shook his head. “It chose to test, An’Tellarus. I passed. They are not the same, although perhaps to those without knowledge they appear to be.”
“I am not threatening the girl.” An’Tellarus’s brows rose in brief annoyance. “Do I look as if I am dissatisfied with life? I explain, that is all. I could not pass the test of the Lake. I would never have been granted the Marks of the Chosen. I was not chosen as wielder of one of The Three—and I did try, but not more than once.
“I learned to accept my place.”
“Your place,” Teela said, eyes very blue, “appears to be almost the apex of power for one who is not High Lord.”
“Yes. What I have, I built.Ibuilt it. I accept that I will never be chosen—and that, Chosen, is the actual answer to your question. I have never been found worthy enough; I would notexpect that to change. And now, I feel no need to lower myself to pursue it. I am Tellarus. Those who have been chosen—and loved—in the past are memories and dust. I remain.”
Severn’s gaze was welded to An’Tellarus.
“And perhaps I better understand why children like you—or An’Teela, or Severn—have somehow stumbled into the privilege you own. I understand why Yvonne is considered special. Look at your familiar. He sees in her something that the Lake might see.”
“In my experience,” Teela said, “we are never too old to feel the echoes and shadows of envy and longing.”
“That is true, in a fashion. But we are surely too old to build our lives around those childish yearnings? But perhaps not. You were chosen byKariannos. Perhaps satiating that desire was enough to quench it.”
“Or perhaps it was enough to drive home the knowledge that to be special is not always easy—or survivable.”
“I respectfully agree with An’Teela,” Kaylin said.
“When you have what others would desperately want, perhaps you have much in common.” The reply was dry; there was an edge in An’Tellarus’s tone. But Kaylin had a suspicion that there was always an edge in that woman’s voice. Had she not seemed genuinely fond of Yvonne, and genuinely protective, Kaylin would have politely and respectfully stayed the hells away.
If she could get away. She hadn’t walked into this Barrani Lord’s apartment of her own volition. But Yvonne was here.
And Kaylin was certain Yvonne was the one who had at least passed whatever preliminary tests the Lake could give. Hope squawked—a happy, quiet sound, very unlike the sounds he made at Kaylin—in a crooning welcome as he continued to hover inches from Yvonne’s face. He didn’t even bite her fingers or snap at her when she hesitantly offered her left arm.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Hope landed on that arm. It was, but it shouldn’t have been.
“Can you understand him?” Yvonne asked, although she didn’t take her eyes off Hope.
“Sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”