Page 144 of Keeper of the Word

The prince made for the exit without a second glance at anyone.

“Dashiell!” Queen Ferika called after him. “Where are you going? Your father!” She gestured toward Rian’s increasingly pale form on the floor.

The prince halted at the doorway. “He meant to deceive me. I warned him. I pleaded with him. Mother, do you even know where I have been for the last span of days?”

“The sovereign did not know you were kept in the dungeon,” Petre muttered. “The chancellor was able to keep that from him.”

Prince Dashiell convulsed with emotion. “But had hewishedto know, hecouldhave. Nay.Hedid this. All of this.”

The prince left.

“Do not allow him to leave!” the queen shouted to waiting guards, who sprinted out after him.

Elanna stifled a sob.

Tolvar turned toward her. “What is it?”

“The lastcrack.”

Before Tolvar could inquire after Elanna’s words, the steward appeared in the side doorway. “Your Highness, urgent news! Your Highness!” His eyes searched the hall for Prince Dashiell, and when he couldn’t see him, landed on Queen Ferika, who sobbed anew into a kerchief.

“He’s gone,” Tolvar said, realizing that none of the sovereign’s council were here. Or alive. “What is it?”

“Mobs! In the streets, in at least six boroughs. Guards have been sent out to subdue them, but at least five guards have been killed.”

“Killed? By mobs?”

The steward shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “There are rumors.” He glanced at Elanna. “Rumors that the StarSeers deceived the sovereign.”

Tolvar swore, gazing around the blood-soaked hall strewn with bodies. A massacre. An attempted dethroning? Mobs in the streets killing Asalle guards, thinking that the StarSeers would e’er deceive the sovereign?

“Seal the castle,” Tolvar commanded. Let no one in or out.”

Ashwin.

“Wait.” He turned to Hux and the others. Tara stood in the background, bracing Goodsell. When hadtheyarrived here? “What would you have us do?” This question was for Elanna.

She appeared taken aback. If Tolvar was honest with himself, so, too, was he.

“If what the steward says is true, you are in danger here,” Tolvar said. “And Ashwin is also in danger.”

“What has happened?” Tara stepped forward, and Tolvar gave them the briefest of explanations.

“Oh, Tara,” Elanna whispered.

Tolvar glanced down at Rian hanging between life and death. “Stars’ shadow, everything is a mess. Direct us.”

Elanna met Tara’s eyes, and the two nodded. “We must leave here. Tara will stay in Asalle with the sovereign until we return.”

“Is that a good idea?” Tolvar asked.

“Seal the castle.”

“And the city,” Tara said, regarding the queen.

“What would you have me do, sister?” a Warin asked.

“Ride through Grenden to Mara, giving warning and collecting whatever forces you can, Daved. A war, as such as the realm has never experienced, will be at Asalle’s door in less than two moons.”