Michelle Sagara - Cast In Secret

And if he saw more than she wanted him to see, what of it? It made her squirm, the fear of exposure, and she balanced that fear—as she so often did—with the greater fear: the child’s bruised face. The frustration, anger and, yes, pride and joy that she felt just being deemed worthy to bear the Hawk. The fear of failing what that meant, all that that entailed.

The Tha’alani stalks were pale and trembling, as if in a breeze, but they lingered a long time against her skin, although she did not relive any memories but the memory of the water, its dark, dark depths, and the emergence of that strange child’s face.

Then he withdrew, and he offered her a half-bow. He rose quickly, however, dispensing courtesy as required, and with sincerity, but no more. “I better understand Ybelline’s odd request,” he told her quietly. “And I do not know if what I tell you will give you comfort or grief, but no such child has been reported missing. There is no image of her in the records.

“But go, and speak with Ybelline, Private Neya. I fear that your partner is about to lose his composure.” He bent to his desk, and wrote something carefully in bold, neat Barrani lettering. An address.

“And you’ve never hit him?” Severn asked, as they left the crowded courtyard behind in the growing shadows of afternoon.

“No. He and Marcus have history. I couldn’t find where Mallory’d buried the skeletons in his closet, so it didn’t seem wise. Marcus, in case you hadn’t noticed, has a bit of a temper.”

Severn’s dark brow rose slightly. “Wise? You have grown.” He paused and added, “He probably doesn’t have them in his closet—he probably has them neatly categorized by bone type in his filing cabinets.”

Kaylin snickered. “You feel like a long walk?”

“Was that rhetorical?”

“No. Whatever that means. We can walk, or we can hail a cab.”

“Given the pocket change you have for the next few days, we’ll walk.”

“Ha-ha.”

“But I wouldn’t mind knowing where we’re going.”

She frowned. “I know where I’m going.”

“You know where you want to be,” he replied.

“I know the city, Severn.”

He shrugged. “I’ve been led to understand that you know every inch of every beat you’ve ever covered.”

“And your point is?”

“Let’s just say I take Sergeant Kassan’s warnings seriously—and I have my doubts that you’ve covered this beat much.”

“Why?”

“You’re walking toward the moneyed part of town.”

She shrugged. It was true. Marcus said that she could make dress uniform look grungy when it had just left the hands of the Quartermaster. You needed a certain bearing to police this section of town, and Kaylin had its opposite. Whatever that was.

Kaylin’s unerring sense of non-direction added about an hour to their travel time. She cursed whomever had built the streets in gutteral Leontine, and the fifth time she did this, Severn let out a long sigh and held out his hand, palm up.

She shoved the address into it. “Don’t even think of saying it.”

He did her the grace of keeping laughter off his face, but his brows rose as he read the address. “You’re going there?”

“Yes,” she said tersely. Followed by, “How the hell do you know where it is?”

“I know Elantra, Kaylin. All of it that’s in records. I know the historical shape of the streets, the newer sections, the oldest parts of the town. I’m familiar with the wharves, and the quarters given to the Caste Lords of each of the racial enclaves.

“I’m less familiar with the southern stretch,” he added. He would be. That was where the Aerians lived. “The Wolves seldom run there.”

Of course. He was a Wolf. A Wolf in Hawk’s clothing. “Lead on,” she said quietly. “And yes, I’m going voluntarily.”

“Who lives here?”

“Ybelline.”

“I know of only one Ybelline who works outside of the Tha’alani enclave in any official capacity.” He gave her an odd look.

“Yes. It’s the same Ybelline. We met her—”

“You met her,” he said gently.

“—when the Dragons came to talk.”

“You didn’t seem to love her then.”

“She’s Tha’alani.” Kaylin shrugged.

“Kaylin—why are you going? Your feelings about the Tha’alani have been widely quoted in the office memos whenever someone’s bored.”

She shrugged. “She asked to see me.”

He stopped walking. “I’m serious, Kaylin.”

Kaylin didn’t. “I can tell.” Severn’s stride was long enough that he could damn well catch up. He did, and caught her arm; she was in good enough shape that he staggered a step before bringing her to a halt.

She thought about lying to him, because she didn’t feel she owed him the truth. But when she opened her mouth, she said, “She didn’t touch me. But—when I looked at her, when I saw what she did for Catti, I thought she could. That I would let her. That she would see everything about me that I despise and she wouldn’t care. She would like me anyway.”

“You trusted her.”

Kaylin shrugged. She’d learned the gesture from Severn. “I always trust my instincts,” she said at last. “And yes. Even though she—yes. I felt I could.”

“Where are you going?”

Kaylin stopped. “I’m following you.”

“Which is usually done from behind.”

They had a small argument about Kaylin’s insistence on logging the hours she spent walking, because, as Severn pointed out, at least forty-five minutes of those were her going in circles.

“It’s not even clear that this visit pertains to any ongoing investigation in the department,” Severn added, “and it may well turn out to be more personal in nature.”

“Believe me,” Kaylin snapped back, “if the Hawklord knew that I’d received even an informal invitation from any of the Tha’alani—”

“He’d be astute enough to send someone else.”

“Very funny.”

“I wasn’t entirely joking.”

She made a face. “If he knew—and if you’re finished?—he’d make it a top priority. We don’t get much in the way of communication from the Tha’alani enclave.”

“For obvious reasons.”

“And there are at most a handful of cited cases in which the Tha’alani have sought the services of officers of Imperial Law in any context. He’d call it outreach,” she added, with a twist of lips.

“That would be like diplomacy? He’d definitely send someone else.”

“Like who? Marcus? Teela? Tain?”

“I was thinking of the Aerians. They’re fairly levelheaded for people who don’t like to keep their feet on the ground.”

But as arguments went, it was verbal fencing, and it generated little rage. It also gave Kaylin something else to think about as she approached the gated enclave behind which the Tha’alani lived. They were not numerous for a mortal race, and they very seldom mingled with outsiders.

Kaylin had never been on the other side of those gates, and they had always held a particular terror for her, because beyond them was a whole race of people who could see—if they wanted to—her every thought, past and present. Who could, at a whim, make her relive every deed, every wrong, every humiliation.

It was kind of like the waking version of a familiar nightmare, in which she suddenly appeared in her office without a stitch of clothing on.

Severn seemed unconcerned, but he always did.

And she was competitive enough that she had to match that, schooling her expression as she approached the gate itself. It was large enough to allow a full carriage or a wagon easy egress, but it was—and would remain—closed, unless there were reason to open it. No, the way in and out was through the gatehouse itself.