style="font-size:15px;"> “Kaylin,” one of the two said. He was a younger man, Severn’s age, and his skin was the same deep brown that Clint’s was.
“Perenne,” she replied. “Will you come outside with me for a second?”
He said something suggestive, and she smacked his chest with her open palm. “Very funny. I’m serious.”
“If I can be excused from my drill practice, yes.” He turned to the older Hawk.
“It’s heading to break anyway. Do not do anything stupid.” That said, the older Hawk launched himself into the air.
Perenne was not as stocky as the older Hawks, and he was taller. He had arrived on the force some five years past and, while technically he’d been a Hawk for longer than Kaylin, was well aware that she’d been dogging the feathers of members more senior for years.
“You want me to what?” he said, when she told him what she needed him to do.
“Just fly up to the top of the tower and dangle me over the window.”
“Kaylin—”
“Perenne, I need to talk to the Hawklord, and Mallory’s standing guard in front of the usual door.”
“Meaning he ordered you not to talk to him.”
“Not exactly.”
“What, exactly, did he say?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Corporal Handred?”
“He told her that she is not required to report to the Hawklord—that’s his duty.”
“In exactly those words?”
“More or less.”
Perenne grimaced. “I like this job,” he said. “I’d like to keep it for a while.”
“You don’t have to do anything else,” she replied. “I just—I need to talk to the Hawklord, and I’ll be in the dumps for insubordination if I ignore Mallory to his face.”
“You’ll be in the cells for insubordination if you ignore him behind his back,” Perenne replied reasonably. But he opened his arms, and his wings went from their light, airy fold behind his back to a full tip-to-tip stretch.
“Don’t expect much,” he said, as he caught her in his arms and adjusted for her weight. “Mallory was appointed with the Hawklord’s approval.”
“The man’s an arrogant prick.”
“True. But he’s not a homicidal one.”
“Marcus isn’t homicidal.”
“Much. Look, I know there’s some history with Mallory, but the Hawklord trusts him enough to let him run and staff Missing Persons.”
The ground receded.
“Perenne, he’s going to insist that the Barrani cut their hair.”
Perenne winced. “I didn’t say he was sane. But let him. He won’t last long if he does.”
“I couldn’t talk him out of it if I tried.”
The dome that enclosed the Hawklord’s tower grew larger as they approached it from above. It was closed. Kaylin swore.
“Look, just—dangle me above it while I knock.”
“Knock?”
“Kick.”
“Better. Have you put on weight?”
“Very funny.”
The Hawklord could be called many things. Stupid was not one of them. Almost before Kaylin had finished kicking the dome—and it was actually easier said than done if she didn’t want Perenne to drop her—the dome itself began to slide open, eight parts receding into the stone of the tower’s upper walls. Perenne took the open dome as an invitation to relieve himself of his burden, and very gently set her down, his wings beating slowly.
He landed behind her and snapped the Hawklord a salute. The Hawklord nodded at Perenne. “Circle the dome,” he told the Aerian. “Private Neya has no other way of leaving, but I assume she thought this out beforehand.” His white wings were folded at his back, and his hands were at his sides.
But his eyes were ringed and dark, and he looked tired. He waited in silence for Perenne’s ascent, and then turned his regard on Kaylin. “I believe you were told not to report to me.”
“I’m not.”
“Ah. And what, exactly, are you doing?”
“I want you to report to me.”
“I see.” He turned and walked toward the mirror that graced the tower. “You refer to Marcus Kassan.”
“What happened? Why is he—”
“I don’t know, Kaylin. I know that he is currently in the custody of the Caste Courts. The Leontine Caste Court. More than that I have not been able to ascertain. But his arrest is within the purview of the Caste Courts, and unless Marcus demands a public hearing or a public trial in the Imperial Courts, it is not our concern.”
“You can’t believe he—”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. It doesn’t matter what you believe. The Caste Courts have the right to convene in this fashion. If we decide to disrupt Caste law, we risk too much. The city can’t cope with two Caste difficulties.” He paused and then said, “You visited Ybelline Rabon’alani.”
“Yes. At her request. And she’s not going to file an incident report.”
“Good. And you found her well?”
“No.”
“And your duties at the Imperial Palace?”
“I’m not allowed to report to you,” she reminded him.
“Sergeant Mallory would not consider something this informal to be a report,” the Hawklord replied.
She started to argue, and stopped herself because it was true.
“Acting Sergeant Mallory,” she said instead.
“As you say.”
“Why in the hells did you choose him? Why not promote someone from the department? He’s handled Missing Persons reports for the last gods know how many years—he’s not—”
The Hawklord lifted a hand. “Do not question my judgment in this. And before you embarrass yourself by asking, Sergeant Mallory does not have any information he can use against me. He was put forward as the most senior candidate who could fill the position
