LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I wondered.”

      The Halls loomed in a distance that was growing shorter as they walked; they weren’t patrolling, so there was no need for a leisurely pace. They also weren’t running because running Hawks made people nervous.

      Tanner took one look at her face and stepped to one side. “Trouble?” he asked them both.

      “Possible trouble,” Kaylin replied. They breezed through the Aerie and the halls that led to the office that was Kaylin’s second home. Marcus was at his desk, and he roared when he caught sight of them. Kaylin cringed.

      “Here. Now.”

      Only a suicidal idiot would have ignored that tone of voice. Or the claws that were adding new runnels to scant clear desk surface. Both she and Severn made their way to the safe side of his desk—the one he wasn’t on. Kaylin lifted her chin, exposing her throat. Marcus actually glowered at it as if he was considering his options; his eyes were a very deep orange, and about as far from his usual golden color as they could get when death wasn’t involved.

      “In your rounds in Elani today did you happen to encounter anyone significant?” he growled, his voice on the lower end of the Leontine scale. The office had fallen—mostly—silent; total silence would probably occur only in the event of the deaths of everyone in it.

      “Alyssa Larienne.”

      “Lady Alyssa Larienne. She is the daughter of one of the oldest—and wealthiest—human families in Elantra. Her father is a member of significance in the human Caste Court. Her mother is the daughter of the castelord. If you wanted to make my life more difficult when dealing with the human Caste Court, you couldn’t have chosen a better person to offend.”

      Well, there is her father. This time, Kaylin kept her mouth shut.

      “I expect there to be a good explanation for this.”

      “I wasn’t the one who actually offended her, if that helps.”

      He snarled, which meant it didn’t. “What happened?”

      “She’s a client of Margot’s.”

      “You’re telling me—with a straight face and your job on the line—that Margot offended her.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “How?”

      “That’s part of why we’re here—”

      “Stick with this part, for now. Report on the rest later.”

      “Yes, sir.” She took a deep breath. “Lady Alyssa arrived for her usual appointment. Today, Margot chose to tell her that her father, Garavan Larienne, was to be arrested for embezzlement.”

      Breathing would have made more noise than the combined contents of the office now did.

      “Let me get this straight. Margot told Alyssa Larienne that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was to be arraigned for embezzlement.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “And your part in this was?”

      “Lady Alyssa demanded that I arrest Margot for slander. I personally would love to arrest Margot for anything she could possibly—”

      Marcus flexed his claws. Kaylin took this as a sign that she should answer his questions, and only his questions. “I asked Lady Alyssa what Margot had said. She declined to repeat it. She did not decline to repeat her demand.”

      Marcus’s eyes were still orange.

      “She did, however, take offense at the idea that I didn’t immediately recognize the crest on her carriage or her own import, since obviously either of those would lead me to arrest Margot on the spot, and said she would take it up with Lord Grammayre personally.”

      Marcus growled. “This is extremely unfortunate. I would like you to request that Margot come into the office for debriefing.”

      Kaylin’s jaw nearly dropped. “What?”

      “Which part of that sentence wasn’t clear?”

      Severn cleared his throat. “When would you like us to request Margot’s cooperation with the Halls of Law?”

      “After you finish speaking with Lord Grammayre. You’re early,” he added, his eyes narrowing. “Please tell me there is no other emergency in Elani.” Oddly enough, when he said this, his eyes began to shade into a more acceptable bronze.

      Severn was notably silent.

      “It would save me paperwork and ulcers if I just chained you to a desk, Private. Go talk to the Hawklord. Now.”

      “Private,” Kaylin whispered, as they walked quickly up the spiral staircase. “As if you weren’t there at all.”

      “You seem to be fairly good at attracting trouble in spite of your assigned partner,” Severn replied, with a faint smile.

      “If Margot has somehow blown things for an ongoing investigation…” She didn’t finish, because they reached the Hawklord’s tower door. They’d bypassed his office, but Kaylin didn’t expect him to be in his office; he rarely conducted his meetings there. For one, it was as crowded and cluttered as any busy person’s office. It also wasn’t as imposing as the more austere and architecturally impressive tower itself.

      “This,” Kaylin muttered, as Severn placed his palm firmly across the doorward of the closed tower doors, “is worse than magic. This is politics.”

      “On the bright side,” Severn replied, as the door swung inward, “this is probably making etiquette lessons look a lot more inviting.”

      The Hawklord was standing in front of his perfect, oval mirror. In and of itself, this was not a bad sign. The mirror, however, reflected no part of the room, which meant he was accessing Records. Kaylin could see nothing but a blank, black surface. He glanced over his shoulder as she and Severn walked into the room, and she stopped almost immediately.

      His eyes were blue.

      Blue, in the Aerians, like blue in the Barrani, was not a good sign. With luck, it meant anger. With less luck, it meant fury. In either case, it meant tread carefully. Likewise, the Hawklord’s wings were high above his shoulders. They weren’t fully extended; they were loosely gathered. She’d seen loosely gathered Aerian wings strike and break bone exactly once.

      She offered the Hawklord a perfect salute. Severn, by her side, did likewise.

      “Alyssa Larienne came to this tower just over an hour ago,” he said without preamble. “Sergeant Kassan attempted to detain her by taking a detailed report of the incident which had angered her.”

      Kaylin winced.

      “As a result she left the Halls some fifteen minutes before your arrival.” The Hawklord’s wings twitched. His eyes were still a very glacial blue. “She did not appreciate the filing of an incident report. I was assured that Sergeant Kassan was polite and respectful.”

      “She probably doesn’t have much to do with Leontines on a daily basis,” Kaylin pointed out. “She might not have been able to tell.”

      “That,” the Hawklord said, and he did grimace, “is my profound hope. What happened in Elani street, Private Neya?”

      Kaylin stared straight ahead. She wanted to at least look at Severn, because she could read minute changes in his expression well enough to be guided by them. But in the Hawklord’s current mood that might be career-limiting.

      “We’re not entirely sure, sir. We cut our patrol short to report,” she told Lord Grammayre. “After we visited Evanton.”

      The Hawklord’s face became about as inviting and open as the stone walls that enclosed them. “Continue.”

      “There were three incidents in the space of a few hours of which we’re

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