“Yes. And if obedience was owed to power, we would have no assassins, and you would have no need of the Halls of Law among your own kind. She will continue, now, until she has answers—or until she understands how damning, how damaging, those answers could be to us as a people.”

The Consort began her walk at a slow, measured pace, but her hands, twined behind her back, were white-knuckled; they almost appeared to be shaking. Any annoyance at a spy in the Halls of Law bled away, as if those shaking hands cut deeply. Teela shot Kaylin a look, which more or less promised a dire lecture at a later point; Kaylin grimaced and hurried to catch up with the Consort.

“You are aware that my position is, in theory, apolitical. You are also aware that I am sister and Consort to the High Lord—and the High Lord’s position is the very opposite of apolitical. Only in times of external war do the various attempts to unseat a High Lord grind to a halt; it was ever thus.

“My brother is not my father; my father was a man of stone. The High Lord speaks to me, and to our brother, Lirienne, when he is concerned. Perhaps I should not have come across the information that was given to him—he is given so many reports, I might be forgiven for missing one.

“But I could not ignore this one. Do you know why?”

Kaylin shook her head.

“I can speak of it to you because, although you are mortal and not kin, you have seen the Lake. You understand its composition, and you understand why, in the end, it is the source of all Barrani life. Were I to perish unexpectedly, you—as lord of the court—would be called upon to fulfill the duties I could no longer fulfill. This is not broadly or widely known, but An’Teela does know it.

“You are therefore slightly safer than you once were. And because of this, I am slightly less safe—but I do not begrudge it. It has been a solace and comfort to me to know that in the event of an emergency, you, who bear the marks of the Chosen, will shepherd the children who cannot wake without the blessing of the Lake.

“You were not raised as a possible Consort. You were not educated as a possible Consort. Our history, such as it is, is barely known to you—but you know the broad strokes. When you entered our Tower you saw and touched things that almost none of my kin could see or touch—and you survived.