Page 38 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Three

ELANNA

W hat would Elanna’s reaction have been? Neither she nor Prince Dashiell had a second to find out as doors to the solar burst open and King Rian stood there flanked by his Warins—Daved one of them— Chancellor Griffith, and Dashiell’s guards. Everyone had fury-stained faces.

“What in stars’ name is this folly?” The statement could have been for Dashiell or Elanna but was most likely for both.

“We were merely waiting for you, Father,” Dashiell bowed, slipping into his smile.

Elanna threw Hux a pained expression before the doors slammed shut on him and the steward.

“You have deceived me for the last time.” The sovereign’s flushed cheeks darkened in the dim firelight.

“Deceived you?” Dashiell held his chin high. “How? Am I not free to roam about in my own home, Father?”

“You must cease fleeing from your guards like a naughty, little boy.”

“Mayhap if you did not treat me like a naughty, little boy, I would have no reason to.” Dashiell paced and ruffled a hand through his hair. “Guards? Guards that I ne’er had until this betrothal nonsense. Why have you placed me under guard? And for the last time, where is Karro?”

“Enough, Dashiell.” The sovereign’s voice was low as he stepped in front of his son. “That is quite enough. You shall not question my actions. As your father and as your sovereign, if I wish twenty guards around you, I shall have it!”

Crack.

Elanna’s heart split. The cracks. This was the crack. This splinter between father and son. This severing between sovereign and heir to the throne. The sounds that only she could…Hear? Could a Seer Hear the future? She’d never read of such a notion.

The end of the world. The end of the realm. Moons ago, on the Dasei Moors, the stars had revealed everything…and she was not stopping it at all.

“Your Majesty!” she burst out, not realizing that she’d been dazed and now interrupted King Rian.

His glare snapped in her direction.

“Your Majesty, we must speak of Dashiell’s marriage.”

“Not this again,” King Rian said.

“M’lady!” Dashiell went white. His head shook furiously. “What are you doing?” His voice was helpless.

It would work. It had to work. Dashiell had to marry a maiden from Grenden. It would keep the House of Sidra intact. It would keep the realm intact. It could repair the crack between father and son. That is why she was here, to protect the future as a StarSeer. It would work.

“Your Highness, ’tis all right.” Elanna gave what she hoped was a comforting smile. “Your Majesty, the marriage contract to Lady Wenonah is not yet sealed.”

“Lady Elanna, I beg you! Please, cease!” Dashiell stepped forward.

“Nay, Lady Elanna,” King Rian said, “but it shall be in three days hence! Will I ever grow accustomed to your riddled speech?”

“The prince is meant to marry another.”

Several men sputtered out gasps or coughs .

King Rian was not one of them. He clasped his hands behind his back and gave his son a sideways glance. “Go on.”

“For the last time, I beg you, Lady Elanna, this will not turn out as you wish.”

“Quiet,” King Rian said, nodding for one of Dashiell’s guards to step closer to the prince. Dashiell appeared as though he’d like to vomit and slumped into the nearest chair.

Elanna paused. Closed her eyes. Begged the stars for guidance. For any sign that when she spoke, it would be right.

I must save the realm.

She exhaled.

“The prince holds favor with another lady from Grenden.”

The sovereign’s surprise transformed into relief. “Why did you not tell me?” he asked the prince.

Dashiell, his head in his hands, leaned his elbows on his knees.

“Son, this is glad news. If the lady be from Grenden, then everything is balanced and as it should be.” Behind him, two of the Warins’ expressions brightened. Elanna expected to see that from all in the room, but some, like Daved and Griffith, were more reserved watching the prince.

The sovereign knitted his brow in confusion. He sought Elanna’s eyes. “Who is the lady?”

Elanna’s gaze steadied on the prince. Pray, let me not to have acted wrongly. “My prince?”

Finally, Dashiell raised his head, seeming surprised to have everyone’s focus on him.

The blaze of anger in his eyes was directed at Elanna.

“The woman is no lady, Father.” He rose and stood nose to nose with King Rian.

“She is no countess, nor duchess, nor even a dame. She is a Grendenian peasant. A daughter of a late constable. ’Twas happenstance that we met last spring during the Rapture Moon Hunt.

She is fair and intelligent and very much born from Grenden.

” He retreated and raised his palms in the air. “I await your blessing to wed her.”

The next moment was one suspended in time for Elanna.

Everyone froze .

“Escort my son to his rooms and keep him there under lock and key. He is to leave for no reason.”

In the morning, Elanna still hiccupped from the weeping she’d done all night.

Fool!

How could she have intervened? How could she have acted? StarSeers were not meant to act.

The crack that had exploded through her ears as soon as the sovereign spoke further proved that.

After Dashiell had been “escorted” from the Royal Solar, King Rian had not minced words that he wished to do the same to Elanna but hoped he wouldn’t find it necessary. Elanna had fled the room. She hadn’t missed the downcast expression from Daved or the way his eyes chased her out of the room.

Everything was a mess.

The news that Hux brought, after disappearing all night, had not helped.

The ravenmaster had evidently been taken to the dungeons, and a rumor had leaked that the prince was being sequestered in his rooms following a “discussion”–as Hux had heard it called—with the sovereign.

A second rumor floated through the castle that the prince’s three guards had also been placed in the dungeons.

And the sovereign had canceled all courtly appointments today.

Hux seemed pained to give her this report and had not made one jest.

“How may I help you most?” he asked as they stood in the courtyard outside the Delara. “Would you like me by your side, or may I best serve you being your eyes and ears?”

Elanna ignored that they gazed at each other’s hands. She needed to pull herself together before Joss and Barrett joined them.

“The path of the realm’s fortune is shrouded this morning,” she managed to get out before stifling a new sob. “’Tis my fault. The prince begged me not to say anything. ”

Hux nodded. “That must feel akin to a great weight, Lady, but the entire future of the realm cannot hang solely upon your shoulders.”

Elanna shrugged. “As I am a StarSeer, I am not entirely certain that is true.” She wiped her tears and sighed. “’Tis past my time for prayer. Mayhap you can use your own powers of discovery, and we shall have good news about the sovereign’s next move.”

Hux nodded. “If you do not see me for a few days, do not worry.”

“What does that mean?”

“There is another developing matter I wish to inquire about. But I’ll return.” He exited back into the castle before Elanna could ask further questions.

Elanna rubbed her fingers together, stamping out her desire to follow and take him by the hands.

Tugging open the doors of the Delara, a prism of sunlight dancing on the west wall caught her eye as she entered.

A rush of warmth went through her. The cord of starlight between her and her sisters jerked taut.

She stumbled back in surprise. It’d been weeks since she’d dared tug at it from the core of her being.

Then she gasped. Someone was already in the Delara.

Elanna had forgotten that Tara arrived today.