Page 47 of Keeper of the Word

Once inside the inner keep, a bright, gilded hall greeted them. Everything dazzled in white and gold. Tapestries hung from the whitewashed walls with gold sconces in between. Even the roses, arranged in gold vases on gold-plated tables, were white.

“Lord Tolvar, if you’ll follow me,” King Rian’s chancellor said. Tolvar and the sovereign exchanged another glance before he allowed the chancellor to escort him in the opposite direction of Elanna and the sovereign.

The corridor they strode through was unusually long. On the back of her neck, Elanna sensed the eyes of the three Warin knights—differentiated as the sovereign’s royal guard by silver-colored uniforms—who trailed after them. She ignored them and, in her mind, rehearsed what she’d say to the sovereign once in the privacy of his solar, where she assumed they were headed.

Instead, they crossed a small inner courtyard where another set of double doors, which led to the castle’s Delara, were opened for them. Elanna took in the resplendence of the white marble walls trimmed with solid gold crown molding.

Why had the sovereign brought her here?

Before she could ask, King Rian spoke, “I know you shall be comfortable here for your midday prayers, Lady Elanna.”

It took a moment to recover. “Your Majesty, grateful though I am that you would consider my…comforts, I must speak to Your Majesty of matters urgent to the whole of the empire.”

He lifted a hand. “All in good time, Lady Elanna.” His eyes told her to say no more. “Lady Tara sent word by raven. Said your time spent in prayer was essential to your stamina. I shall send for you in due time.”

The doors were shut, and Elanna was left staring at a knot in the wood of the door.

After an hour of pacing in anger, Elanna knelt, her kneescushioned on a silk pillow trimmed with lace. But she did not pray. It felt strange to kneel in a pristine Delara, the noon sunlight streaming through the open ceiling. And yet she’d spent most of her life in this very position, praying for hours for the veiled stars’ guidance.

She did not need guidance at this moment. She needed the sovereign to listen.

Time spent in prayer was essential.Tara was clever.

Did Tara and the others pray now?

With her eyes closed, Elanna pulled at the cord of light within her, enough to sense them but not enough to make her tug discernible. At least, she hoped. It didn’t singe this time, only smoldered, the tautness not quite so bright.

“Tara,” she whispered. She’d never tried StarSpeak in the daytime before.Can you hear me?

Nothing. Mayhap it did not work when the stars were veiled.

Elanna still remembered the first time she’d been able to StarSpeak with Tara. She could still picture Tara’s expression of astonishment across the field. Elanna, not yet in Ashwin for six moons and Tara the Second, twelve years her senior, already accomplished and only spending time with her when instructed by Roxa.

Elanna had giggled, knowing she’d accomplished an extraordinary feat.

’Twas difficult to recall that sound. StarSeers did not often laugh.

“StarSeers do not often do many things,” Elanna whispered to herself.

Hours in a Delara always seemed short-lived, and Elanna was surprised when one of the doors opened and a servant brought in a tray of food. Afternoon’s sinking light flooded in behind the servant; she did not make eye contact with Elanna.

Elanna could take two courses of action. Sit here, ever the humble subject to King Rian, or she could exit these doors and seek out the sovereign. A glance up was all it took to make her decision. Elanna would discover the true weight of her role.

“No need,” Elanna said to the servant pouring flower cider into a goblet, as she hurried out of the Delara.

Across the courtyard, stood four guards. She eyed them one by one; their eyes dropped to the ground. When she was at the doors, she cleared her throat. Not one moved.

First, the servant, now these guards. This was nothing like Ashwin. The household of Aura Hall did not slink or shrink. She was looked in the eye, offered salutations. It did not matter who ’twas. Was it, in fact, so different here?

“Will you truly deny a Seer of stars?” She captured the gaze of one. “How do you think that shall affect your fortune?”

The doors swung open. She nodded pleasantly at them.

If she could not have their politeness, she could draw out their sense of precaution.

Inside the corridor, two servants dusted sconces.

“Pray, pardon me,” Elanna said. “Might you direct me to where the sovereign is at present?”