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“You’ll need to be careful, though,” Estara said. “Indaturan will betray most people in a heartbeat if he thinks doing so will aid his cause more than harm it. The exceptions are his court and his kin – both of which he’s passionately loyal to.”

“But he is upfront about that when he forms alliances,” Tarian said. “He’s a peculiar person.”

“What about the kin of his court?” Lydia asked.

“The ki–” Estara began then paused eyes wide. “Oh, of course. I didn’t think of that.” She made a thoughtful noise. “Not as much as with his actual court but he’d hesitate to betray someone if he thought it would hurt one of his court.”

“Well Adrian did seem genuinely worried about his mother,” Lyrrekka said. “So if it is Indaturan that he’s working for, that might help. I guess we’ll find out.”

“I’m sure he cares,” Marian said quietly. “Even if he didn’t trust me. I can’t exactly blame him, though I don’t think I could have killed him.”

“I’m sure you couldn’t,” Tara said. “It might have shaken some sense into you.”

“No,” Marian said. “But the cognitive dissonance would probably have made me collapse. I wonder if he knew what had been done to me?”

“It’s possible,” Lyrrekka said. “But we’ll have to see.” She looked around to where one of Estara’s goblins was leading Karilya back into the room. “Is that everyone fed?”

“Everyone except you, Lyrrekka-ida,” the goblin replied respectfully. “We have some volunteers waiting.”

“Oh, I’ll be okay for a few days yet,” Lyrrekka said. “No need to trouble them.”

Estara tutted and shook her head. “Don’t neglect yourself. You won’t frenzy but you may do yourself harm if you don’t feed often enough. You need to feed, Lyrrekka-ida. Check yourself.”

“You don’t have to be so formal, Estara-mirian. Please call me Lyr.” Lyrrekka frowned and pressed one hand to her chest. After a moment her eyes widened and she made a hissing sound. “Oh! I didn’t realise I was that low. I guess I will take you up on your offer. Thank you.”

“Only if you call me Est,” Estara replied. “And you’re welcome. When will you be going to this meeting?”

“Later this morning,” Lyrrekka said. “We’ll have to head back as soon as I’ve fed because I need to bring the others up to speed before we leave.”

 

***

 

“That’s interesting,” Matthias said after Lyrrekka had described their meeting with Estara. “And very good thinking, Lyd.” He gave Lydia an approving nod. He looked around at the rest of the group gathered there. “I’ve never had much occasion to deal with white or grey dragons – any insights?”

“Mostly what Lyrrekka-ida already said,” Naria said. “They both raid sometimes but they aren’t wantonly cruel to either their renegades or their prisoners. The white ones are pragmatic and not entirely trustworthy.”

“And the grey ones?” Matthias asked. “Since the courts are allied.”

“Grey is the colour of… uh what’s the word I’m trying to think of?” Naria scowled to herself. “I don’t know how to translate sinsaran.”

“It’s a tough one.” Lyrrekka tilted her head as she considered. “Honesty would be closest but it’s not quite accurate. But if Kanderian says he’ll do something, he’ll generally do it as long as there’s no trickery on your part.”

“So he’s reasonable?” Matthias asked.

“Possibly – though he might hesitate to trust you since you’re silver,” Lyrrekka said. “He’ll probably listen to me though.”

“I think we should see what Adrian has to say for himself before making any decisions,” Sonia said. “We don’t know that we’re even on the right track here. I can’t see any reason those blocks would block him for working with either of them. Anyway, we need to get going if we’re to be there before everyone else.”

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