Read Online Michelle Sagara by Cast in Sorrow - Free Book Online Page A

again. “And if she doesn’t wake by morning, you’re going to have to post guards at the doors to keep me out.” She flashed a grim smile.
    “If she does not wake by morning,” the Lord of the West March replied, “I will reconsider the matter.”
    * * *
    Kaylin had one question to ask, and she asked it of Teela as they traveled the hallway, although she knew it was probably unwise. “When the Consort talks of Nightshade, she uses the name Calarnenne.”
    “That was his Court name,” Teela replied.
    “Yes, but...”
    “Did I not tell you I would only allow one but today? If you’re too lazy to even reframe your concern, don’t speak.”
    “...I hear his name as if it were his True Name.”
    Teela said, “Yes, and...?” as if Kaylin had just said “water is wet.”
    “But True Names are dangerous and people don’t like it when they’re spoken, and I don’t want to ask why everyone is using it because I don’t want anyone to know that I know it.”
    Teela’s dark brows rose as she stared at Kaylin in bemusement. The laughter that followed filled a hall that was otherwise notable for its utter silence, and made Kaylin feel a good six inches shorter.
    “I’m glad you’re finding mortality so funny.”
    “Oh, not all mortals, kitling. Just you.”
    “That makes it so much better. Could you answer the question so I don’t feel humiliated for no reason?”
    “You don’t speak a name. Even when you invoke it, it’s not a simple matter of speech. You call it speech. Others don’t. It’s very like detection of magic. You’re highly sensitive to magic; you can see when a spell’s been cast. You can read the mage’s signature in the shadows of the enchantment.
    “Anyone who is capable of detecting magic can. But no two mages see that signature and its effects in the same way.”
    “It’s why multiple mages are called in for difficult cases.”
    Teela nodded. “And why an appropriate Records trail is so difficult to maintain. When you hear Nightshade’s Court name, you are hearing spoken language. Like any other part of High Barrani, there are guidelines that control form and utterance. But you are hearing only that. When you say ‘Lord Calarnenne’ you are speaking simple words.
    “When you speak his name—if you are ever unwise enough to do so—you might scream it and none will hear the whole of the truth; it is not just the mouth that utters the name.”
    “I could see the Dragon Outcaste’s name, once.”
    “And you’ve never been suicidal enough to attempt to use it.”
    “I couldn’t. I couldn’t hold it all in one place for long enough—it’s too big.”
    Teela said nothing for a long moment. “I will need to bathe and change before I join the High Court in the dining hall. I would suggest you bathe, as well; the dress is, of course, without blemish—but your hair looks like it’s a nest of weeds.”
    “Thanks.”
    “This is your room,” Teela said.
    “Where’s yours?”
    “Closer to Corporal Handred’s. Don’t make that face. The Lord of the West March escorted your Corporal to his rooms; he is guaranteed to have arrived there in safety.”
    “He’s not guaranteed to remain that way.”
    “No—but then again, neither are the rest of us.” Teela smiled lazily. “Things are unlikely to be boring.”
    “I don’t mind a little boredom, Teela.”
    “That’s because you have less than a century worth of life in which to contain it. If you were actually immortal, you’d have a different attitude.”
    Kaylin snorted. The door to her room was closed and warded. She lifted her left palm and placed it across the ward. What the door ward at the start of the wing had failed to do, this one did: it started to peal, like a series of badly formed, dissonant bells.
    “I hate magic,” Kaylin said under her breath. She added a few choice Leontine words in the bargain as sword-wielding Barrani appeared around the corner. The small dragon leaped off her shoulders and