Cast in Peril. Michelle Sagara

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СКАЧАТЬ things. Among them, deliveries—of babies,” she added, because from the Arkon’s expression, the distinction needed to be made. “Not, apparently, pregnancies; any baby born in the area after the portal had opened was normal.”

      He nodded.

      “One of the births produced an egg, rather than a normal infant. The father wasn’t interested in keeping the egg, and it was handed to me. I was going to give it to Evanton, but I never had the chance; Elani still hasn’t been fully opened to normal pedestrian traffic, and Evanton’s been—busy.”

      “So you kept the egg.”

      “I did.”

      “She took care of it,” Bellusdeo interjected, “as if she’d laid it herself.”

      “Bellusdeo, don’t you have somewhere else you have to be?” Kaylin asked sharply.

      “Apparently, yes, but I’m certain that the question of my survival—and possibly yours by extension—will arise, and any information the Arkon can provide lessens the chance that you will personally be called to the audience chamber.”

      Wincing, Kaylin apologized.

      “How did you incubate the egg?”

      “In a totally inadequate way,” Bellusdeo replied. “It does not appear to have suffered.”

      The small dragon stretched before climbing up Kaylin’s arm, where it sort of clung to her left shoulder; it draped the rest of its body across the back of her neck; its head, it perched on her right. It wuffled in her ear.

      The Arkon frowned. “Records,” he said, and the mirror’s surface shivered. The room’s reflection faded from view. “Lizards. Winged lizards. Translucent lizards.” He turned and readjusted the mirror so that it faced Kaylin full-on. “Capture information and attempt to match.” He paused and then added, “All archives.” Turning back to Kaylin, he said, “I will not dispute Bellusdeo’s comment on the adequacy of your incubation decisions, but the egg clearly hatched, and its occupant is clearly alive.” He glanced at Bellusdeo before returning his attention to Kaylin; given that Bellusdeo had answered most of his questions before Kaylin could finish taking a breath, this wasn’t surprising. “When did the egg hatch?”

      “Well, that’s the strange thing.”

      Bellusdeo snorted. For an Immortal she was really short on patience; Kaylin tried to imagine her as the Queen of anything and gave up—although, admittedly, the idea of Bellusdeo being Queen had one appeal: she wasn’t likely to chew the heads off her Court for their lack of appropriate etiquette.

      “The egg didn’t hatch until the bomb exploded in the center of the apartment.”

      The Arkon froze. Sanabalis lifted a hand to the bridge of his nose; his eyes, however, were now about the same bronze as the Arkon’s.

      “Let me be clear. You are telling me that the egg’s hatching was contingent on the explosion of an Arcane bomb?”

      “No. I’m telling you the egg hatched when the bomb exploded. It may have cracked the shell.”

      The Arkon turned to glare at Bellusdeo. “I trust you are enjoying yourself, Lady Bellusdeo?”

      “I feel a small amount of self-indulgence, given the events of the day, is not unreasonable, yes.”

      “I see that your definition of small amounts of self-indulgence has remained a constant.” He turned to Kaylin. “Forgive the interruption, Private. Was there anything unusual that occurred when the egg hatched?”

      “Define ‘unusual.’”

      “Honestly, Sanabalis,” the Arkon said in a much lower voice, “I feel that Bellusdeo is not the correct companion for the Private. Some of her influence is bound to manifest itself at inconvenient times.” He also lifted a hand to the bridge of his nose. “Anything out of the ordinary. Anything magical.”

      Kaylin nodded crisply. “A barrier of some kind appeared. It protected both Bellusdeo and me from the debris and the possibility of injury.”

      “Anything else?”

      Kaylin hesitated.

      “Private.”

      “It ate one of my marks right after it hatched.”

      * * *

      After a very long pause, the Arkon rose from his desk and approached Kaylin. The small dragon lifted its head, bumping the side of Kaylin’s cheek as it did. The Arkon examined the dragon from a safe distance, during which time he was uncomfortably silent. “Given the current status of the Hawks, it is probably too much to ask for a full Records capture of your marks tonight. I will expect a full capture to be arranged for tomorrow, and all records are to be transferred to the Imperial Archives for my perusal. Is that clear?”

      “As glass, sir.”

      “Good.” He held out a hand. “Please give me the creature.”

      Kaylin hesitated, and the Arkon’s eyes narrowed. She tried to disengage the small dragon; he dug in. Literally. “I don’t think he wants to leave,” she said, pulling at four small, clawed appendages. He responded by biting her hair.

      The Arkon lowered his hand. “Has the creature spoken at all?”

      “Pardon?”

      “Spoken. Communicated.”

      “Uh, no.”

      “Has it separated itself from you at all, for any length of time?”

      “Separated itself?”

      “Left. You. Alone.”

      “No, Arkon.”

      “Have you attempted to put it down at all?”

      “Not until now, Arkon.” She winced; she’d had burrs that were easier to remove from her hair. “Can I ask where this line of questioning is leading?”

      “Did Bellusdeo say anything about the creature prior to your arrival here?”

      Kaylin glanced nervously at Bellusdeo, who conversely didn’t appear to be nervous at all.

      “I told her, Lannagaros, that I thought she was in possession of a familiar.”

      “I…see.”

      “Do you disagree?”

      “Given that I have never seen what I would consider to be a genuine familiar, or at least the type of familiar about which legends arise, I am not in a position to either agree or disagree.” He turned to the mirror. “Records.”

      Since Records was already searching for whatever he’d last asked for, Kaylin thought this a bit unfair—but then again, it wasn’t as if the Records were overworked mortals.

      “Information, myths, or stories about familiars. This may,” he added, “take some time, if the СКАЧАТЬ