Title: Cast In Wisdom
Series: The Chronicles Of Elantra
Author: Michelle Sagara
Publisher: MIRA books
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy
Release Date: 28th January 2020
BLURB supplied by MIRA books
In
the aftermath of the events in the High Halls, there are loose ends. One of
those loose ends is the fieflord, Candallar. In an attempt to understand his
involvement—with the Barrani, with the High Court, and with the much hated
Arcanum—Kaylin has been sent to the fiefs.
She
has mixed feelings about this. There’s nothing mixed about her feelings when
she discovers a very unusual building in the border zone between two fiefs, and
far more questions are raised than are answered. Her attempt to get answers
leads her back to the Imperial Palace and its resident Dragon librarian, the
Arkon.
Things
that were lost in the dim past were not, perhaps, destroyed or obliterated—and
what remains appears to be in the hands of a fieflord and his allies—allies who
would like to destroy Kaylin’s friends, the Emperor, and possibly the Barrani
High Court itself. This is bad.
What’s
worse: The librarian who hates to leave his library has a very strong interest
in the things that might, just might, have been preserved, and—he is leaving
his library to do in person research, no matter what Kaylin, the Hawks, or the
Emperor think.
He
is not the only one. Other people are gathering in the border zone; people who
believe knowledge is power. But power is also power, and it might be too late
for the Empire’s most dedicated Historian—and Kaylin and her friends, who’ve
been tasked with his safety.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle
Sagara is an author, bookseller, and lover of literature based in Toronto.
She writes fantasy novels and lives with her husband and her two children, and
to her regret has no dogs. Reading is one of her life-long passions, and she is
sometimes paid for her opinions about what she’s read by the venerable
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. No matter how many bookshelves she
buys, there is Never Enough Shelf space. Ever.
AUTHOR LINKS
Twitter: @msagara
Facebook: @MMSagara
“You
are such a coward,” Bellusdeo said when they’d reached the relative safety of
the street. The roads in and around Helen were sparsely populated at the
busiest of times, which this wasn’t. They would soon join roads that were
crowded at the slowest of times, but Kaylin was dressed for the office. The
Hawk emblazoned on her tabard encouraged people to make space.
Had
Bellusdeo hit the streets in her Draconic form, she’d have cleared far more of
it—but some of that space would be created by panic, and panic could cause both
accidents and the type of traffic congestion that caused the Swords to
investigate. Also, it was illegal.
“It’s
not cowardice,” Kaylin replied, scanning the windows of the buildings above
ground level.
“What
would you call it?”
“Wisdom.”
“Oh,
please.”
“There’s
no point in arguing with them now. Sedarias thinks it’ll be months before this
ridiculous command performance occurs. We have months to attempt to talk her
out of—”
“Out
of expressing any appreciation or gratitude?”
Ugh.
“You know they’re grateful. This isn’t about gratitude. It’s about rubbing that
gratitude in the faces of the Barrani who attempted to brand you a—an army. An
attacking army.”
“I
believe the term you want is Flight.” Bellusdeo’s eyes were orange.
Hope
squawked at the Dragon. Kaylin didn’t understand what he was saying. Bellusdeo
did, but her eyes didn’t get any lighter.
“You
know as well as I do,” Kaylin said, emboldened by Hope’s entry into the
discussion, “that this is not the time to visit the High Halls. I’m not sure
the Emperor has ever been a guest there.”
“We
visited the Halls—more or less—when they came under attack, and the Barrani
needed our help.”
“From
the outside. No one invited the
Dragon Court in.”
The
chorus of Barrani voices that sometimes offered entirely unasked for opinions
on the inside of her head maintained their silence for half a beat. The first
person to break that silence was the fieflord. His words were tinged with
amusement.
You cannot expect that the cohort would
suddenly cease to cause any difficulty, surely?
I’m almost certain that the cohort
understands why inviting a Dragon—any Dragon—to attend the High Halls would be
a disaster.
For the Dragons?
For everyone.
I believe some of the more conservative
High Lords might be surprisingly supportive of such an invitation.
Of
course they would. It would be their best shot at killing Bellusdeo. If
Bellusdeo died, there would be no new Dragons. No hatchlings.
There’s no way the Emperor would give her
permission to attend.
Nightshade
concurred. In his position, I would not.
But I would be prepared, should I refuse to grant that permission, for all-out
war. My brother has grown inordinately fond of her; living with you has made
him reckless.
He’s not—
He has known Bellusdeo for even less time
than you. He is willing to trust her in a fashion no one older would. And do
not cite the Consort, please.
Kaylin
hadn’t intended to. The Consort seems to
like her.
Kaylin, the Consort “likes” me. But she
does not trust me.
She does.
“Stop
making that face, or it will freeze that way.” Kaylin reddened.
I understand that you are attempting to
avoid the Emperor’s ire. I consider this wise on your part. It is not, however,
the ire of the Emperor that will be your most significant problem; he will do
nothing to harm Bellusdeo.
I
know that.
It is the ire of the High Lords. Sedarias
is, I believe, genuinely grateful for Bellusdeo’s intervention. She does wish
to honor her. But gratitude can be expressed privately—and in most cases, it
is. Only rulers feel obliged to make that expression public because the public
expression elevates those to whom one feels gratitude. It makes clear to
witnesses that the aid tendered—in whatever fashion—is important and
significant. The Emperor has codified such significance in public ceremonies
and public titles, has he not?
Kaylin
shrugged.
For Sedarias, however, genuine gratitude is
not an impediment to political displays. She can be genuinely grateful and
simultaneously, extremely political. She wishes to highlight Bellusdeo’s aid
and import to Mellarionne. Why do you think this is?
Kaylin
thought about this. After a long pause, she said, She wants to thumb her nose at the rest of the High Lords, many of whom
weren’t helpful at all?
Nightshade’s
silence was one of encouragement.
Bellusdeo’s a Dragon. So…her presence means
that even Dragons—with whom you’ve had a war or two—
Three.
Fine, a war or three, were more helpful, or
at least more of a genuine ally, than any of the Barrani.
Yes. I believe that is some part of
Sedarias’s intent. That’s not going to help Mellarionne any.
Perhaps, perhaps not. She will do so as
An’Mellarionne. It would be considered a very bold move—but there are those who
would assume that Sedarias is confident in her own power, and they would
hesitate to challenge her.
“If
you are speaking about me,” Bellusdeo said, her voice almost a whisper of
sound, “I must insist that you include me.”
Hope
squawked.
“Well,
yes, that could cause some difficulty,” the Dragon replied. “But I dislike
Kaylin’s worry. She is mortal.” Squawk. “The marks of the Chosen don’t matter.
She’s mortal. I may be a displaced person in these lands; I may no longer have
a home or lands of my own. But I am a Dragon.”
“I’m
not exactly worried about you,” Kaylin said. When one golden brow rose in
response, she added, “Not about you specifically. But—there’s no way for Dragon
and High Halls to combine that isn’t political. Explosively political. On your
own, you can survive more than any of the rest of the cohort—or me. But you
won’t be on your own. The cohort won’t abandon you.”
It
was the Dragon’s turn to snort.
Kaylin
reconsidered her words and chose better ones. “Most of the cohort wouldn’t
abandon you. Annarion wouldn’t. Mandoran wouldn’t. I don’t believe Allaron
would either, from what I’ve seen. And you know what the cohort is like. The
minute one of them enters combat to save you, they’re all going to rush in. It
doesn’t matter if they’re there for your sake or their friends’; they’ll be
there. But this is political, and anything political is far above my pay
grade.”
“You
don’t seem to find this insulting.”
“I
consider it one of the biggest advantages of my rank. Which is the lowest rank
I could be given and still be called a Hawk.”
“One
of? What’s another one?”
“I’m
not in command. I don’t need to make decisions that might cost the lives of
other Hawks. No matter what happens in an action, large or small, I won’t have
their deaths on my hands.”
“But
you don’t like being a private.”
“Well,
I could be a corporal, and it would still be mostly true. And the pay is higher.”
“It’s
not much higher,” a familiar voice said. It was Mandoran’s. Of course it was.
Kaylin didn’t miss a step.
“I
don’t suggest you try to enter the Halls of Law looking like that.”
“Like
what?”
“Like
thin air.”
“Oh.
That.” Mandoran caused other people some consternation as he materialized to
the side of Kaylin that Bellusdeo wasn’t occupying. To be fair, most of the
street didn’t notice; people always had their own problems and their own
schedules. “I was going to follow Teela into the office, but Teela’s not
heading there directly.”
“So
you followed us?”
“Not
most of the way, no. I decided to head straight here to wait, but I caught up
because you’re doing the Hawk-walk.” He glanced at Bellusdeo. “For what it’s
worth, I think insisting on your presence on the inside of the High Halls is
suicidal.”
“Oh?”
The Dragon’s voice was cool. “For who?”
Mandoran
grinned. “Mostly Kaylin.”
Kaylin
watched as flecks of gold appeared in Bellusdeo’s eyes. Mandoran had, once
again, managed to set Bellusdeo at ease. Kaylin wondered if that was why he’d
chosen to speak when he had. He never treated the Dragon with respect; had the
Emperor been present for most of their spats, she wasn’t certain Mandoran
wouldn’t be a pile of bleeding ash. Well, ash, because ash didn’t bleed, but
still.
“You
left the rest of the cohort behind?” Kaylin asked.
“We
had a vote, and Helen decided it was safest to send me.”
“She
was the tie-breaker?”
“Ah,
no. She didn’t consider the first choice viable. But— we can all see what I see
anyway, so unless there’s an attack, having more than one person here is
superfluous. If Teela had been coming directly to the office, someone would
have followed Teela.”
“Not
you?” Bellusdeo asked.
“I
had to live with Tain for a few years. Compressed into a few weeks, I might
add. He’s stuffy and remarkably straightforward. Also, he hates fun.”
“He
hates mess,” Kaylin said, as they
approached the stairs that led into the Halls of Law.
“Define
mess. No, wait, don’t. The problem
with Tain—at least for me—is that Teela might actually kill us if we’re
indirectly responsible for his death. He’s not like the rest of us; we can’t
speak to him without shouting, and even if we can, he doesn’t listen half the
time. So…it’s a lot less safe to tail Tain.”
“I
imagine it’s safer to tail Tain than it is to tail Kaylin if you’re worried
about Teela’s reaction,” Bellusdeo said, frowning slightly.
“You
need a better imagination.”
Excerpted
from Cast In Wisdom by Michelle
Sagara, Copyright ©
2020 by Michelle Sagara. Published by MIRA Books.
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