feral cast chapter one part a

this is mature and contains spoilers for cast in shadow and cast in courtlight. dont read this if you want to read the books

                                              Chapter one
         Jaklis was watching the leotine and lord Anteela with about the same apprehension he felt when dealing with a big cat that one hadn’t yet decided who it    was after. It was not a pleasant feeling. Lord Evarrim appeared to be the center of their attentions. Jaklis wondered what the man had done. He had thought that they should have gone to the caste lord first, but no one else seemed to think that, so he’d said nothing. Now he wished he had. He could literally feel the tension in the room. While they hadn’t yet shown it, every one of the dragon emperor’s hawks stood behind the sergeant and Anteela. He wondered what could possibly have been that offensive.
         “I believe lord Evarrim you were told to visit the caste lord first with our esteemed visitors.” The woman said. Her voice sent a chill down his spine, he had never met someone who voice sounded so sweet and so much like a threat at the same time, but then he wasn’t very old. He looked to his father, who had a dark    frown upon his face. It wasn’t actually his true father. His brothers and him had been split up and adopted out when their true father had been outcaste. He couldn’t even remember how long ago that had been, though he did have some memories of his father. While they were not kind memories they were not cruel ones either. They had gotten better after his mother had died. His parents could barely stand each other from the start. It had gotten worse over the years.
         His contemplation was broken by Evarim finishing his defense of brining them here first. The hawks had relaxed a little, not much mind you, but enough that he could breathe.
      “I had thought lord Kaylin would be working today.” It was evidently the wrong thing to say, because all hell broke loose. He watched in fascination as the hawks created an unbelievable uproar. He wondered who lord Kaylin was. He knew all of the current lords by name and she had not been one of them.
      That’s when he noticed the human standing next to him. He barely managed to not jump. He hadn’t noticed the human, though how he hadn’t he had no idea. The human stood out against the rest of the population, though he wore the same uniform and looked almost ordinary. He had dark brown almost black hair pulled into a que. There were sharp angles in his features that said he was originally from somewhere outside of Elantra. It was his eyes that bothered Jaklis the most. They were dark and haunted; they were the eyes of an aging predator who was boring of the hunt and looking for new prey. They where also black. The only humans he’d seen with black eyes had been dark skinned. He was light skinned, though not the fair skin of those to the north. He was unbelievably handsome for a human, and if men had appealed to Jaklis he defiantly would have been interested. He shook those thoughts from his head.
          It took lord Greymare, the hawk lord himself, to settle what was quickly becoming a riot. By this time Jaklis had come to the conclusion Evarim must have some how insulted or insinuated something about the lord Kaylin, who was apparently very well liked. As it was Gremare kicked all of them out to the Caste lord. Anteela stopped next to the human at his side.
        “You were supposed to keep her at home, Severn.” The woman said. Severn was sppsrently unbothered by threats.
        “It is difficult to do that from inside a closet.” The man, Severn, responded in irritation. Lord Anteela blinked slowly, surprised.
          “She locked you in a closet?”
          “Kaylin is not a morning person, and hasn’t been since she was about five.” Severn said as they walked into the bright street. Neither Anteela nor Severn seemed bothered by this but it left Jaklis blinking.
          Anteela snorted, apparently lord Kaylin not being a morning person was a given.
          “She usually doesn’t lock people in closets though, and the last time was all fun and games.” Jaklis wondered what sort of secret this Kaylin held that had caused such an uproar, he had a feeling he was about to find out. He was also uncertain about the images that last statement had given him.
          "Garitty?” Severn asked. Anteela’s grin gave both of them an image of a big cat about to pounce.
          “Tain” she said. Jalkis remembered Tain, although vaguely. He remembered an easygoing man with bright eyes, who had adored his liege lord. Jaklis hadn’t spent a lot of time with the young man, but the time Jaklis had spent with him, he’d enjoyed. Tain had been a genius at fighting
          “I personally have no clue how she pulled it off, I don’t think the hawk lord managed to get it out of either of them, or just what they were doing, for that mater.”      He saw Severn wince, Severn had apparently guessed. He heard him mutter ‘poor Tain’ under his breath in Elantran.
                                  He really didn’t want to know
          * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
          Kaylin was sitting on the edge of a bed that was so fluffy she’d sunk when she sat down. The Consort was behind her trying to figure out what to do with her hair. Kaylin, while not in a dress, was in a red and black corset with gloves that ran almost the length of her arms. She had a red shawl draped in her lap. It would cover the rest of the marks. She was also in a skirt. It was full length and damn near sheer. Both corset and skirt hugged every curve and showed an unbelievable amount of skin while showing nothing at all. Tain was leaning against the wall, and the deep appreciation in his eyes was starting to get to her, actually it wasn’t. It was bothering Nightshade, who was transmitting the emotion back to her. It wasn’t helping her mood.
          “Do you cut your hair your self?” the Consort asked her, with frustration.
          “Not since Teela caught me at it.” She added almost under her breath “That woman can make a kitchen knife look dangerous.” Nightshade damn near fell over laughing. Tain blinked.
          “Is that what you two were doing? I’ve always wondered about that” Kaylin was about to comment back when the Consort pulled on her hair. Why was she here any way? She remembered Teela being upset about Kaylin asking her for help with a dress.
        “No, Tain, I was looking for rope” Tain winced at the reference, and muttered ‘I’ll never fall asleep at my desk again.’ At that Nightshade really did fall over laughing and then asked what she’d been planning to do after she tied him up. She didn’t answer; she doubted he’d have liked the answer anyway. Instead she blocked him out. Nightshade was unhappy about it but he accepted it. Kaylin felt no sympathy for Nightshade or Tain. Teela had caught her as she finished tying Tain up and before she could do anything else, She’d said as much, many times. She said it again. Teela had never asked. Little did she know that had been the second time.
                        Kaylin wasn’t going to talk about the first.

        The Consort was trying hard not to laugh. It almost made up for the wreak her brother’s Kyuthe had managed to make of her hair. she wondered how nightshade let her out of the castle looking like she did. well at least the girl made up for it in other ways. She gave up and left it down, she was also tempted to leave the comb in the tangles, but decide not to.
        “You will have to do.” She said, and watched Kaylin eyed the shoes as she stood up.  The girl could not possibly know the picture she made, Tain certainly did and it showed. Kaylin shifted to get a better look at her self in the mirror.
        “Yes” she said “you do have to wear them.” Kaylin muttered a curse and Tain snorted.
          “Only you could figure out how to curse in High Barrani” he said and steadied her as she slipped on the shoes. At least these didn’t have high heels; the Consort remembered what she’d done with the last pair.
        The Consort watched the two of them with interest. If Kaylin hadn’t already been forcibly attached to lord Nightshade, she suspected Tain would have been her partner. She wondered if Nightshade knew it. Hell, she wondered if they knew it. Tain might, but she doubted Kaylin did. It was too bad. Kaylin was unbelievably vibrant and usually the exact opposite of Nightshade, although the Consort knew Kaylin had a side as dark and almost as feral as Nightshade’s. She just hoped the girl never remembered what she did if she snapped, it would probably devastate her. It would also probably kill them all.
                              She wondered if they knew that too.

         Kaylin walked up the halls managing to lean only slightly on Tain’s arm. She hated shoes. At castle Nightshade, she just went without them, her feet got cold, but she could walk on her own. The consort was giving her pointers.
         “You never make her wear anything but boots?” she’d asked as she realized the trouble Kaylin was having.
         “The hawk lord can’t make her wear shoes what makes you think I can?” he’d replied. Kaylin was irritated with both of them. They were making it difficult to focus; walking should not be this difficult. She didn’t have this much trouble when she was drunk. Speaking of drinks.
         “No” was Tain’s reply, but it couldn’t have hurt to ask. She was really trying to distract her self, and they both knew it. He just didn’t know what she was distracting herself from, actually he probably did. Damn, she thought in the private little corner she kept from Nightshade’s poking and prodding. I need laid.
         “You don’t get to drink until after you’ve been introduced” Was the Consorts comment. Kaylin could see the deep, deep amusement in the other woman’s eyes. She at least had figured it out. That was odd; Kaylin, while not a good actor by any stretch of the imagination was fairly good at hiding her emotions. Which were currently doing lop-d-loops as she felt a hand brush her neck. Damn he was making this hard.
         “How soon after?” she asked and Tain swatted her. “Behave yourself Kaylin.” He warned. They reached an entrance to the high court circle. The Consort opened the doors, Kaylin was grateful. She really hated door wards, always had. Although Tain’s hand was bringing just about the same electric tingling and that certainly wasn’t bothering her. On to other thoughts, she noticed the four lords and lord Evarrim standing before the Caste lord. Only one noticed their entrance. He was the youngest. He also looked more like Nightshade then Evarrim did. He had eyes the same color blue. And they were blue, since he’d noticed the mark on her cheek. Kaylin refused to touch it. She also refused to look away. She met his gaze and held it she saw shock, surprise and grim recognition in his eyes. Then the others noticed they drew their swords.
                      She wondered if she was going to make it through the day.