Cast in Peril. Michelle Sagara

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      Chapter 1

      The worst thing about having a roommate, in Kaylin’s opinion—and admittedly after only two weeks—was morning. The fact that this particular roommate was a Dragon didn’t help. Bellusdeo was clean, tidy, and ate very little. She didn’t actually require sleep, and for the first couple of nights, that had seemed like a good thing because Kaylin’s apartment only had one bed. It only had one room.

      But around morning number four, which had come on the heels of an urgent mirror message from the Guild of Midwives and a hideously touch-and-go birth, the “good thing” developed the preceding words “too damn much of a…”

      Ten days—which included three more emergency calls—later, Kaylin struggled out of bed when the shadows in the room were far too short, and came face-to-face with someone who looked refreshed and annoyingly cheerful. She always looked refreshed and cheerful, but the annoying part had grown with time and familiarity.

      It was far too late for breakfast, in part because Kaylin hadn’t managed to get to the market the previous day and there was no food in the apartment. So she scrounged for clean clothing, taking what little time she had to tend to the large unhatched egg she slept wrapped around.

      “Kaylin, I think the egg has changed color,” Bellusdeo said. She stared at the egg but didn’t actually touch it. She did, however, help Kaylin gather the cloth she kept wrapped around it when she left it for the day.

      Kaylin, who was still bleary from sleep and fatigued by the work of the previous night, squinted. “Maybe. Do you think—do you think that means it’s going to hatch?”

      “I don’t know. I don’t recognize the species of egg.”

      Kaylin pressed her ear against the shell. She could almost hear something moving within it—but the sound was so faint it might have been due to hopeful imagination. She considered taking the egg into the office with her, remembered that it was magic-lesson day, and decided to take the risk of leaving it untended for the afternoon. It was afternoon by this point, so it would be a shorter absence than usual.

      Bellusdeo then accompanied Kaylin into work.

      * * *

      Kaylin accepted the barrage of amused mockery her hour of arrival caused with less than her usual grace. She had managed to go almost three weeks without being late. Admittedly on two of those days she’d perambulated around the office like someone doing a good imitation of the walking dead—but she’d been timely walking dead, damn it.

      “If you dislike the mockery,” Bellusdeo told her as she walked gracefully by Kaylin’s side, “why don’t you just arrive on time?”

      “I need to sleep.”

      “You don’t have to go to the midwives’ guildhall.”

      “If I miss a few hours here in the morning, Marcus snarls at me and I expose my throat for a few minutes. I also win someone some money in the betting pool. If I miss an emergency call from the midwives’ guild, someone dies. Guess which is more important?”

      Bellusdeo nodded. “We have an etiquette lesson this evening,” the Dragon added. It was true. It was also a subtle reminder that Bellusdeo did make Kaylin’s life a little easier, because while Lord Diarmat pretty much despised Kaylin, he couldn’t openly treat Bellusdeo with contempt, and Bellusdeo had an uncanny knack for asking the direct questions that would have caused mortal offense had they come from Kaylin’s mouth. In this case, mortal was accurate.

      Kaylin grimaced and straightened up. “I have a magic lesson in half an hour.”

      “With Sanabalis?”

      “The same.” Kaylin hesitated and then added, “Do you think you could call him Lord Sanabalis?”

      “Why? You don’t. If you don’t, I can hardly see that it will make much difference if I fail to do so.”

      “It won’t make much difference to you. It’ll get me in less trouble.” She headed toward the reception desk, where Caitlin was watching their progress down the hall. The mirror dutifully announced the time the minute Kaylin’s foot had crossed the threshold. At least it hadn’t called her by name.

      “Good afternoon, dear,” Caitlin said, rising from her chair. “The midwives called you in last night?”

      Kaylin nodded. “Marya woke me at two in the morning.”

      “It was bad?”

      “It was very bad; I almost didn’t make it in time.”

      “Did you eat anything before you came here?”

      “Yes.”

      Bellusdeo lifted a lovely golden brow but said nothing. Not that words actually had to be spoken around Caitlin, who pursed her lips.

      “Lord Sanabalis is waiting for you.”

      “Of course he is.”

      * * *

      Bellusdeo didn’t actually join her for magic lessons; as a member of the Dragon Court—albeit on a technicality—she didn’t require them. She did, however, go to Elantran language lessons in the East Room for the duration; the Imperial Palace had ordered two linguists to work with her during that time. What the linguists made of Bellusdeo, Kaylin didn’t know; she was just grateful for the few moments in which Bellusdeo was someone else’s problem.

      “I admit I’m surprised to see you on time, Private,” Sanabalis said as she cringed her way through contact with the room’s door ward and entered.

      “Oh?”

      “Given the time at which you left your dwelling last evening, I assumed you would be at least an hour late.”

      Kaylin sat and folded her arms across her chest. “You’re having my apartment watched at two in the morning?”

      Sanabalis didn’t answer the question. Instead he said, “How is Bellusdeo adapting to life in the City?”

      “She hasn’t changed much since I spoke to you about it two days ago.”

      “And have you reconsidered the Emperor’s offer to house you in a more suitable location?”

      Sadly, she had. On offer was a much, much larger apartment. It was, however, farther from the office, and Kaylin still held on to the faint hope that Bellusdeo would get tired of living in a run-down, single-room apartment with no privacy and choose to move out on her own.

      So far, Dragon stubbornness was running neck and neck with human stubbornness. It seemed unfair that only the human was suffering. If they had a larger dwelling, Kaylin could have an entire room to herself, and they would have room for Bellusdeo’s Ascendant, a Norannir who would only barely fit through Kaylin’s current door—if he crouched. Maggaron could keep an eye on Bellusdeo, and Kaylin might actually have a day—at work—in which she didn’t have the Dragon as her constant companion. As it was, that Ascendant, Maggaron, had been exiled to the Tower in the fief of Tiamaris, and he was very, very glum about the separation.