“When your light came close, it became dark and cloudy; I could barely make out the figures. Under this lamp’s light, it looks like a portrait of a happy family. Mrs. Erickson wanted me to move it out of the study.”

“And?”

“I don’t even want to look at it, let alone touch it. There’s something wrong with it.”

“Be more precise.”

“For one, there’s a flower in the child’s hair—I assume that’s Mrs. Erickson—that’s an opalescent green. The opalescence could be paint—but it’s not reacting properly when I move the lamp.”

Teela was silent for a long beat. When she spoke, her voice was all edge. “Describe the flower.”

“It’s a flower, Teela.”

“This is not the time to fall back on ignorance or laziness. I did not ask you to name it. Describe the flower. Now.”

“It’s in her hair. It’s small. You don’t want me to get any closer to the painting and I have garden-variety mortal eyes—no pun intended.”

“Then move out of the door and clear the space you’re standing in. Leave the lamp on the floor where I can use it.”

“Teela—what exactly is it you’re afraid of?”

The Barrani Hawk appeared to be holding her breath; she released it in a long—and loud—exhale. “Let me describe the flower. Tell me if I’m wrong or right. Touch nothing.”

Kaylin nodded.

“It’s small, triangular in overall shape.”

It was. Kaylin said, “Continue.”

“The blossom, such as it is, is green—it should be a pale green with ivory and gold highlights.”

She shook her head. “It’s not. It’s a vivid, opalescent green. It has three leaves, and at the heart of those three is...I don’t know—purple, maybe? Generally speaking, I like purple—but this one reminds me a bit of...”

“Shadow?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

Teela said something in Barrani that Kaylin couldn’t understand. “We’re leaving,” she snapped.

“Teela—what’s wrong? Is it not just a painting?”

Listen to her, Severn said. It always came as a surprise when he chose to speak to her this way, but his tone mirrored Teela’s.

What isn’t she telling me?

She doesn’t want you to touch that flower, he replied.

But...it isn’t just a painting?

Oh, it’s a painting. But if she’s right, it’s a...seed-bed. That flower should grow nowhere but the green. And when it does, it doesn’t look like that; it shares the same shape, but not the color.

How do you know that?

Severn didn’t reply.

Kaylin bent and settled the lamp gently on the floor. She then stepped out of the room as Teela had suggested. Or demanded, which was probably the more accurate word.