“I did not say you could harm her in a full-on assault, no. But that is not generally what work against means among my kin. Inasmuch as she trusts at all, she trusts you.”

“Because I can’t actually harm her.”

“Is that what you truly believe? Perhaps that is what Sedarias would have you believe. What of Mandoran?”

“He trusts me.”

“Because you’re harmless?”

“He doesn’t actually think I’m harmless,” Kaylin countered.

“He thinks you are chaos incarnate—a title previously reserved for Terrano, who has the advantage of deliberately choosing chaos as an outcome. He trusts your intent, but given the difficulties that have occurred in the wake of an intent that is trustworthy, he feels pragmatically that you might as well be Terrano.”

Kaylin wasn’t certain how to take that. “Mandoran likes Bellusdeo.”

“Yes. I like her, as you know. Serralyn likes her, but considers her tragic. Sedarias tolerates her because, in the end, the cohort owes her a debt. I have wandered off my point. The cohort can stand as more traditional Lords of the High Court because of Sedarias, but they are not well versed in the games of the court. I am, and Sedarias was raised on them.

“You will think Sedarias cold-blooded. Understand that the motivation for that appearance in the end is the safety of those she values. If she is considered to have sentiment for any of them, they will be the weapons wielded against her for the greatest amount of damage.”

“Will her enemies believe she actually cares?”

“That is the question, isn’t it? It is not unknown among my kind; some of our greatest lays involve such doomed love, such costly devotion. Sedarias wanted the Tower because she knew in the Tower, the rest of the cohort could be safe. She does not have the Tower. She has Helen, while you live—but this will be a long war, and you are likely only to see the very edges of its beginning before age takes you.

“The cohort is Barrani only inasmuch as Sedarias has traditional ambitions. If she did not, I doubt most would care. Some of the cohort are willing to politick in order to build—or rebuild—their familial lines; some are willing to risk their lives reclaiming the lines that survived. But they do it in concert—they do it, in part, for Sedarias and her survival.

“In all of this, the Consort plays no part. She may have preferences, but as I’m certain you are aware, she is likewise singular in her ambitions. But the whole of the High Halls will bend toward her should it become necessary. There are very few who would dare to harm or usurp the Consort; there are many who desire their own progeny to be Consort.”

Kaylin knew why that would fail.