Page 149 of Keeper of the Word

When Sloane’s voice sang through his mind that time, he let it reverberate over him.

I do not carry the faith that you did.Tolvar responded in his mind.How can I possibly believe that I am meant for this task?

He closed his eyes and was brought back to the white room from his dream.

An intake of breath escaped him.

Sloane sat next to the open window, the view of which was still barred by a brightness.

Someone needs to do something. Why not you?she said.

“A great many reasons.”

You are a man of courage, Tolvar.Sloane gave him a close-lipped smile.A man who came back from the depths of his own self-loathing. Change in ourselves is the greatest act of bravery I know.

“I am not so changed, Sloane. I am an unbeliever, still.”

She nodded.’Tis your decision, I suppose. But I would not be here if that were entirely true.

Tolvar puzzled over her words. A strange ripple in the air caused him to open his eyes. Immediately, he was pained to not be in the white room with Sloane. The blankness of the dark meadowmet his eyes. Night was fully unfurled before them. Elanna still knelt motionless.

But the Edan Stone. The Edan Stone appeared lighter.

Tolvar flinched. When the Edan Stone had transformed in Deogol, it meant the Befallen was upon them. But the shade’s color—a subtlety—was silver, not grey.

To the one they call the Wolf. We See you.

The voice was Sloane’s no longer, but one with an ethereal timbre. The voice was neither male nor female. ’Twas neither high nor low, nor mighty, nor gentle. ’Twas everything and nothing. A voice that defied time and consciousness.

In night and in day, by land and by sea,

The man before us is one of constancy.

A knight of the good, a defender of light,

A seeker of justice, a protector of the right.

Hold to your virtues, and you shall be undeterred,

Hold within you the fortress, keeper of the word.

The voice ceased.

Tolvar held his breath.

Before his eyes, the Edan Stone floated into the air. The silver recast its shade into one of soft white. It grew brighter. And as it rose higher, Tolvar followed it with his eyes until he was gazing at the divine figure of Elanna.

He caught his breath; his eyes widened.

Elanna glowed.

Her entire being—beatific and celestial—radiated as though starlight emitted from her pores. Her golden hair appeared as if made from the brilliance of the sun. She held her arms outstretched before her, her gaze concentrating in between her hands.

And between her hands was a sphere of light as if she’d caught a star.

It hovered between her palms. Her eyes did not break from what she beheld, and Tolvar knew that if she bid him to bow his head again, he would not have the capacity to obey.

He was transfixed.