Page 41 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Six

ELANNA

T ara had refused to speak until dusk. That is to say, she refused to cease praying until dusk. Elanna had continued her daily prayers here in Asalle—of course she had—but as her knees wailed in pain when she finally rose, she had to admit that those prayers had been cut short more days than not.

Mayhap that is why she felt as if ill fortune perched upon her shoulders.

Tara had also refused her a prayer pillow, although Elanna agreed that she deserved it. The physical pain in her knees, coupled with the weight of Tara’s presence, reminded Elanna that ill fortune had been coiling around her since she’d left Ashwin.

The day-long silence had ripped Elanna into a reflective state. The stars had commanded her here. And yet no good had come from her presence in Asalle.

Thank the stars she had drained herself of tears. Elanna’s dry eyes stung, but at least she did not disgrace herself further by weeping more in Tara’s presence.

When the evening’s shadows crossed over the east wall of the Delara, Tara stood and stretched, keeping her back to Elanna .

“I shall dine in my quarters. You shall do the same. Then we’ll convene in the queen’s garden one hour past sundown. I’m told that’s where you’ve spent your nights.”

“Aye, Tara.”

“Good. At least you have not forsaken all your duties.”

She opened the doors to find Commander Goodsell and two other knights of the Order of Siria standing guard opposite Joss and Barrett. When Tara and her entourage left the courtyard, Joss finally spoke.

“M’lady, might I ask you a question?”

“Aye.”

“I do not wish to seem impertinent.”

“You may ask me anything, Dame Joss.”

“Is the realm in danger?”

Elanna kept eye contact with Joss. “Aye.”

“And did the stars, in fact, guide you here to Asalle?”

Elanna’s chin rose. “Aye. They did. I was commanded here.”

“Then, if I may speak in turn, m’lady, you need not cower to that woman like a child caught in a wrongful act. Barrett and I are here at Lord Tolvar’s leisure, but we follow you. I believe in you and shall help you see this through, let come what may.”

A smile slid across Elanna’s face. “My thanks, Joss.”

Elanna thought to arrive in the queen’s garden ahead of Tara, both to demonstrate her compliance and to assert herself as the sovereign’s long-term guest. But Tara was already kneeling on the lawn, circled by a rainbow of tulips and bobble-headed daffodils.

Their petals drooped, a sign that spring was giving way to summer.

Tara’s three sentinels stood near the hedge wall.

Joss and Barrett chose to guard near the garden’s entrance.

For a time, they observed the night sky, the stars strewn like gleaming jewels. Elanna picked her favorite star and listened to it sing to her. She couldn’t understand the words gliding into her mind but cherished its lull .

Do you have a favorite star, Tara? Elanna uttered in StarSpeak.

She opened her eyes. Tara did not outwardly acknowledge she had heard Elanna’s StarSpeak, but after a moment or two, Elanna heard in her mind Tara’s voice, as if it came from inside a tunnel echo: aye.

Do you think we chose them, or do you think our stars chose us? She kept her eyes closed this time and waited.

I am uncertain it matters. We are a part of them, and they, us.

Elanna’s eyes opened and surveyed the garden, landing on Goodsell. She spoke aloud. “Do you e’er wish your life was different?”

Tara followed Elanna’s gaze to Goodsell. Incredibly, her cheeks bloomed darker.

“’Tis a fruitless question, Elanna. You know this.”

“And I accept it. But—” She thought of Hux. Dashiell. Even Tolvar, whose life she’d uprooted. “Everything has become so difficult.”

“Precisely why StarSeers are not meant to act.”

Elanna stiffened and cast her eyes at the flowers.

“I came here to bring you home.” Tara exhaled.

“Yet during my journey, away from Ashwin, I Saw something of the prince’s fortune.

And, as you said, ’tis grim, I must admit.

A number of paths lay before the sovereign now.

Some I cannot understand.” Some I fear, Tara added in StarSpeak.

“So, here we both are. To aid the sovereign. But do not think all matters are mended between us.”

Elanna raised an eyebrow. “What makes you believe that you need not make amends?”

Tara gaped. “What?”

“Glad I am that you now believe me, as you’ve Seen for yourself, but you ne’er should have doubted my words when I returned from the Dasei Moors.” Elanna’s voice strengthened. “The stars commanded me here, Tara. I did not leave Ashwin twice on a whim! You should have trusted what I Saw!”

Many of the sentinels eyed the ground, feigning they’d not heard Elanna’s shout .

Tara’s nostrils flared. “Mayhap if you had informed me before you fled Ashwin! Do you know the distress you caused?”

“’Twould seem it would not have mattered if I told you, as you made it your business to control me. The Lucien Law?” Elanna snorted. “You lied.”

“ You lied. Or withheld your thoughts, anyway. I would have gone with you to the Dasei Moors had you asked.”

Elanna focused on a nearby hedge. “As ’tis in the past, I suppose we shall ne’er know.”

They let the night’s silence surround them for a time.

Elanna broke the silence. “How could you tell us the Lucien Law had been invoked? And for what?” Her eyes flitted to Goodsell.

“As someone who kept her own secrets, how can you ask that?”

“For the last time, I kept no secret. The stars commanded me to flee Ashwin. And I begged you to listen upon my return!” Her blood rushed. “’Tis not the same at all. You lied.”

“I lied.” Tara threw up her hands before resting them in her lap.

“There is naught I may say in defense. I do not expect you to understand all my motivations. You ask me if I e’er wish my life was different?

Mayhap, aye, I do. I wish it. Goodsell has long been a counselor to me, and if our friendship warmed into something more?

” She shrugged. “Not that I did not try to fend off my feelings, but mayhap you have a glimmer of understanding as you’ve been in the world now.

We are outsiders, and that is…strenuous at times. ”

Elanna’s first thought was of Hux; she did not want to admit how close Tara was to echoing her own jumble of feelings. But Tara had lied. Lied about a sacred ordinance. And she still stung from Tara’s disbelief.

Tara lifted her chin. “But I ne’er put a strain on our cord of light as you did. You cut us off! Buried your cord. I felt it plunge into the depths. I could not reach you. Even when I was almost here, I?—”

“Cease,” Elanna said. “We have greater matters at hand. As you’ve Seen .

Let us put this quarrel to rest for now.

” She sensed the cord of light tug between them.

“For that, I am sorry. ’Twas excruciating for me to bury it.

And you know not what ordeals I’ve passed through.

” Her thumb and index finger grazed her neck.

Tara opened her mouth, but said nothing. Not even in StarSpeak.

The two witnessed the stars shift above as the hours passed. Never did it become congenial—the dregs of anger between them could not be completely obscured—but the tension, at least, loosened.

We are still sisters, Elanna said in StarSpeak. We must work together to find the path away from doom.

Tara’s gaze did not leave the sky. Agreed. Then Tara said aloud, “Now. Tell me all that has occurred here. And show me this moonstone that Sir Tolvar left in your care.”