Page 49 of Keeper of the Word

“My name?”

His smile was as thin as he was. “So that I may announce you.”

Ah, aye. Announce her.

She smiled innocently. “Lady Elanna the Fourth, StarSeer, and Mistress of Ashwin.”

Would that she could paint the herald’s gape-mouthed expression. She raised her chin while listening to her name bounce off the walls.

In seconds, the whole of the hall was on their feet.

Stars.

“Lady Elanna,” King Rian shouted across the hall as he made his way off the dais toward her.

Elanna inclined her head and strode across the hall to greet him in the center.

“I am most honored you could join us this eve.” The sovereign gestured toward the dais. “Come. Pray, sit next to me.”

The murmuring resumed as her seat was arranged with panicked haste. Elanna found herself fawned over by three servants.

By and by, the diners slowly returned to their meal, dozens of eyes finding her and re-finding her, guised as blinks or a shake of a head. A golden spoon was offered to Elanna. She accepted it and attempted to eat with a casual air, only too aware that the sovereign had not yet spoken to her again. Certainly, this would be noticed.

After two courses, Elanna didn’t think she could eat another bite, but a third course was served. In Ashwin, their meals were always hearty but simple. And only ever two courses if they dined on soup.

She scanned the hall several times, finding that Tolvar was absent. Strange.

She was also too aware that the person on her left, a familiar-looking young man with the sovereign’s same broad nose, openly stared at her.

“Do you have words to say to me, m’lord?” She pierced his eyes with her own.

He grinned, unencumbered by her gaze. “It seems I need to make an excursion to Ashwin. Tales of the beauty of the StarSeers is, of course, a common yarn, but to gaze upon you this close is indeed a privilege. No tale or song could ever do justice to your beauty.”

Elanna had listened to many a song and verse and sonnet written by traveling jongleurs who’d pleaded to be granted their only life’s wish—to earn an audience with and pay ode to the StarSeers. Until now, no one had ever been so brazen in their words. Another might blush. But when Elanna stared into her looking glass, she only ever spied her reflection; she wouldn’t conceive of flushing her cheeks prettily due to flattery. She was not vain, but she knew what she looked like.

“’Tis the stars, m’lord. I do not consider myself to be any great beauty, but starlight courses through my veins. ’Tis its beauty you note.”

“And filled with humility. I say, Imustcome to Ashwin.”

“Ashwin is open to those who are in need of it, m’lord,” Elanna said. “But do not trouble yourself to make a fortnight’s journey if you come to gaze at what beauty you hope to find there.”

The young man laughed. “Fair enough. But mayhap I do have need of the Seers’ guidance. I find I am a troubled mess, or creating one anyway.”

His forehead creased as he sipped his wine.

“How is that, m’lord?”

“Your Highness.” A messenger stood at the table with a sealed note. “This arrived via raven.”

The young man, the prince, accepted it and shoved it into his pocket, glancing at King Rian as he did.

“You are Prince Dashiell,” Elanna said, not entirely surprised.

Of course. The foreSeen face of the prince came into her mind’s Sight. But if he was here, certainly he was not elsewhere, as the man in Tam’s Ford had said. What of the rumors they’d heard whilst traveling?

“I am.” His smile was tense; his palm rested on his pocket concealing the note.

“I must speak to you. You are the very purpose of my journey here.”