Page 23 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Eighteen

ELANNA

S he’d Seen this place. The visions of her Sight were vivid and real, and even so, Elanna’s breath was taken away when she gazed upon the city wall of the capital of the Capella Realm. It would take three Ashwin city walls to reach the top of it.

“Daved, would that you could see this,” Elanna whispered, thinking of her brother. Had his adventures in the military ever brought him here? For she was confident that he’d enlisted just as he’d always planned.

This morning, she had donned not her traveling gown, but had dressed in blue wool gown she hoped was more suitable for an audience with the sovereign.

’Twas simple—StarSeers rarely wore finery—but at least it was not filthy like the one she’d traveled in.

She adjusted her hair so it fell in a mass across her chest, surrounding her neck.

Hux had told her multiple times the bruising wasn’t noticeable, but she meant to hide it all the same.

It no longer pained her to swallow, but she found herself testing that often.

When her eyes were closed, Elanna had trouble repelling the sensation of fingers clenched against her skin.

What should have been visions morphed into a notion that her lungs might burst .

But she was here in Asalle to accomplish the great task before her. She suppressed the sensation of her skin crawling.

Who would harm a StarSeer?

Tolvar had not allowed Elanna to see what terribleness lay in the grass, but she knew it had something to do with her. And apparently, Tolvar’s brother, she’d surmised from Tolvar’s scant remark. The riddle of the stars came back to her, as it had at Tam’s Ford:

There are threats unforeSeen to tempt those with wounds.

Stray not from the path or accept certain doom.

She’d strayed not from the path. And she must continue that course. She swallowed again.

Castle Sidra, the sovereign’s castle, was a beautiful behemoth.

It stood on a hill in the city’s center, its granite stones glittering in the sunlight.

From the main gate of the castle, Elanna observed the surrounding city, its roads laid out like a grid.

Each district went on for miles, a public square in its center.

People, riders, and carriages milled about.

Inside the castle’s inner bailey, stood a stream of dozens of retainers, servants, and knights in both white and silver uniforms. A tall man with a firm chin, clad in a rich blue tunic, strode to them on a golden-thread carpet.

The sovereign. King Rian’s face was unreadable.

As Elanna dismounted, she realized that she was uncertain who was supposed to bow to whom.

She curtsied low when King Rian stood in front of her.

He bestowed her an incline of his head. “My dear Lady StarSeer. Elanna the Fourth. I welcome you to Asalle.”

“My thanks, Your Majesty,” Elanna said, fighting the temptation to smooth her hair along her neck. There was not a person in the vicinity who did not stare at her in wonder. “I am honored to be here.”

“The honor is mine,” King Rian said, his eyes catching those in the crowd.

“A StarSeer has not graced Asalle since the reign of my great-grandfather, Nicolus, I believe.” His smile was warm but did not reach his eyes.

He held Tolvar’s gaze longer than he did others.

“Come. You must be exhausted from your journey. ”

His chancellor hastened after him, leading Elanna and Tolvar through giant double doors guarded by knights dressed in white-silver-and-gold uniforms. She chanced a backward glance at Hux, who was being led through a separate door along with Tolvar’s knights.

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 knees cushioned 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?”

Their wide-eyed stares almost made her snicker. Evidently, it was different here. Or mayhap ’twas Aura Hall that was different.

“Are you…” the male servant couldn’t finish.

“I am. And I’m in great need of locating the sovereign.”

Both servants eyed each other, trying to recover.

“M’lady, you are fairer than I could e’er imagine. Are you…”

Elanna kept hold of her patience. “I am Elanna the Fourth.”

“Stars be in heaven.” The female servant was now in tears. “If I could tell my gran this.” She lowered herself in a curtsy.

Elanna beamed, almost tearing up herself.

In Ashwin, kept away from the world, ’twas difficult to remember what she was to people.

Not merely sovereigns. But ordinary people, servants dusting the halls of a castle.

She wished she Saw something for these two that would bring glad fortunes for them. But there was nothing.

“We aren’t privy to the sovereign’s whereabouts, m’lady,” the male servant offered. “But my cousin, one of the dining pages, said that the sovereign’s feast was scheduled an hour earlier this evening. I believe that started a bit ago. The Great Hall is that way. I can show you.”

“No need. If you’ll simply direct me.”

“Aye. As you say. You make two lefts, and you’ll see the grand doors.”

“My thanks,” Elanna said, pivoting in that direction.

“Thank you, m’lady,” the female servant called after her.

“Whatever for?” Elanna returned.

“For speaking to us. This is the greatest moment of my life.” Her tears dripped onto the front of her uniform.

Elanna stepped back and took a hand from each of them in her own.

She closed her eyes, scooped a fraction of starlight from the well deep within her being, and let it flow into her palms. The female gasped; the other’s eyes grew wide.

From experience, Elanna knew a great warmth radiated through them akin to an embrace.

She opened her eyes and released their hands. “May the stars lead you to future’s fortune.”

A few minutes later, as she came to the largest doors she had ever laid eyes on—aye, “grand,” to say the least—a short giggle escaped.

A small contentment absorbed her heart, and something dipped into her consciousness.

A divine awareness from the stars. She was Elanna the Fourth.

But she was Elanna. And being a StarSeer meant more than simply Seeing futures and praying for hours.

It had to! There was more she could do. And at present, being a StarSeer meant taking charge.

She huffed a sigh and commanded the guards to open the doors.