Page 47 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Forty-Two

ELANNA

“ H e has insulted everyone at court. But most grievous is the reality that he has insulted Your Majesty.” Griffith eyed a chair, but the only two persons in the Royal Solar who sat were King Rian and Queen Ferika.

A few of the councilors mumbled in agreement and gave swift nods.

Elanna stood next to Tara, her mouth a tight line. She sought to keep her words to herself. Tara appeared very much in the same distress.

The realm hangs in the balance.

“How did he escape?” King Rian muttered, his chin resting on his palm.

“Escape?” The queen threw up her hands. “Listen to yourself. Escape? He is the heir to the Capella Realm, not a prisoner. And our son! Had you not kept me in the dark about all this—” She gestured to the StarSeers. “None of this would be happening.”

King Rian clenched the arms of his chair. “Do not tell me what I should and should not be doing?—”

“Or what?” Queen Ferika’s voice dropped.

Crack. Elanna shuddered. More cracks .

The sovereign and his queen were known and celebrated for their loving marriage. This could not tear them apart.

Stars.

“Your Highness,” Griffith attempted.

“And you!” The queen leapt from her chair and stood before the chancellor. “How have you helped matters?”

“That is enough, Ferika,” King Rian said.

Queen Ferika blinked at his tone and straightened her shoulders.

“We’ve already scores of soldiers out searching for Prince Dashiell, my queen,” Griffith said.

Tara winced.

The queen took notice. “And what would the stewardesses of the realm say?”

“Ferika.”

“I will hear none of your patronizing, Rian.” The queen clasped her hands in front of her and straightened herself anew. “Now, what say you?”

“Your Majesty, you and King Rian read the note left from your son. Trust him,” Tara said.

The note. Dashiell had left a short, scribbled message informing his parents he fled to bid farewell to his lady. The end had promised he would return to fulfill his marital obligations.

In the background, Griffith and a few council members snickered.

“Call off your search, Your Majesty.” Elanna faced the sovereign. “You must. Dashiell will return. Your son is honorable.”

What else could she and Tara say?

King Rian steadied his grim expression.

“He has insulted Your Majesty. He must be returned,” Griffith repeated. “You cannot allow for this.”

“And what will Dashiell be returning to, Your Grace?” Elanna asked. “How will that strengthen the bond between sovereign and heir to the crown?”

Griffith’s face twitched into one of contempt before relaxing into of complacency .

“’Tis done, anyway,” King Rian finally spoke. “Dashiell will be returned.”

“Call off your soldiers,” Elanna again pleaded, doing her best to keep her emotion out of her voice. “Send ravens and call it off!”

“Your Majesty,” Tara’s voice was solemn. “Dashiell will return. But we have Seen him return two ways. Do not choose the path that will bring forth his return the second way. ’Twill be doom.”

“The realm’s doom , ” Elanna emphasized.

“Stars,” the queen whispered. “Rian, what more do you need? Call off the hunt. Let Dashiell return by his own means.”

There was a knock at the door, and the steward entered, followed by Ulara, Wenonah’s father, and a group of other Grendenian nobles. “Your Majesty! I told them you were in conference. I told them?—”

“Your Majesty, we have waited long enough. We’ve a right to know! Where is the prince? Why are we not sealing the betrothal at this very moment?”

“Lord Ulara, you have either much courage or much stupidity barging in here,” Queen Ferika said.

Ulara ignored her. “Your Majesty, verbal promises have been made. We traveled all this way to Asalle. My daughter’s honor rides on this day. And now I hear rumors that the prince is in love with some Lenforese peasant, and he’s fled the castle. This is an insult!”

Elanna held her breath.

Do not let pride sway you.

Council members, Griffith, and the queen began to argue. Tara was pulled into the argument. Elanna could scarcely believe what she was witnessing. A StarSeer in the middle of a political squabble?

“Your Majesty,” Elanna broached, as she climbed the stairs of the dais to King Rian. He would not meet her eyes. “’Tis not too late to correct this path. Please, listen.”

“I am finished listening, StarSeer,” King Rian said. “E’er since you came here, my path has been riddled with ruin.”

“Your Majesty, Prince Dashiell had already?—”

“Nay. Enough. No more.” The sovereign stood and shouted, “ Enough!” The room stilled. “The prince will return. And the day after he returns, they shall wed.”

“Wed? Rian!” the queen said.

“You’ve heard me. Griffith, declare it so.

As far as the Capella Realm need know, Dashiell has taken a last hunting trip in preparation for matrimony.

Ulara, your daughter’s honor is intact, and if you wish for no more rumors, then spread none save for what you have heard in this room.

Sir Dirk,” He nodded to the Warin commander, “speak to your captains and send eight more scores of soldiers out to Firthdale and Preyton where the height of these skirmishes have occurred. Quell this unrest immediately. The Capella Realm will not fall upon the shoulders of a wayward heir.”

“So, these rumors are true? About the prince and some Lenforese peasant?” Ulara asked.

The sovereign glared. “As I said, make only the rumors you wish to buzz in your ears be the ones you utter from your tongue. Now, everyone out!”

“Rian,” the queen said.

“You, also.”

Queen Ferika pivoted and swept from the room. All eyes followed her.

“Mark me, Your Majesty,” Tara said. “The future is never finite, but once we start on a path, ’tis almost impossible to turn ‘round.”

“You are no longer needed here, Lady Tara. You may leave.”

As the two exited the room, all eyes followed them, too. And it frightened her. For if the sovereign turned away from his queen and StarSeers, who would be left to watch over him?

“We must prepare now for misfortune,” Tara said once they’d entered the queen’s garden. ’Twas past sunset. What early stars could be detected in the sky seemed to quiver. “The path is before us now.”

The Edan Stone in Elanna’s palm captured their attention.

“Has it always been hopeless? Was I truly meant to be here, or did I make everything worse? King Rian did not relent. The prince has fled and is hunted like a criminal. I removed Sir Tolvar from any chance at peace he was e’er to have.

And now we face the task of performing Shroud Magic. Why did the stars beckon me here?”

Tara remained quiet, while Elanna suspended in wait. But her sister said naught. Stars, Elanna was tired.

This is why StarSeers do not act.

And then, Tara said, “How has a rumor escaped that Prince Dashiell pines for a peasant? Only the sovereign’s most trusted were in that room.”

“I—I do not know.” Elanna’s skin crawled.

“I believe there is more at work here than we first realized,” Tara said, kneeling in the grass. “Come. We cannot delay.”

“I am exhausted,” Elanna whispered.

“That is why?—”

“I know!”

Tara sighed, glancing at the Edan Stone. “The stars beckoned you here because ’twas your fortune’s path. And I suppose ’twas mine, also.”

A bridge of some sort? Was Tara softening? True, these days had been spent together in attempting to aid the sovereign, but these words of Tara’s were the first amiable phrase she’d said to Elanna since arriving in Asalle.

But Elanna could not respond.

“We cannot delay.” Tara nodded to the Edan Stone. Then she spoke to the dark canvas of the sky. “I would beg you to show me answers I crave, yet the question at present is of import most grave. What night do we seal the word into the moonstone?”

Elanna held the Edan Stone above her head. The cold weight of it dragged at her as she gazed at the stars.

Nothing.

“Do not turn your eyes away, Elanna.”

“Nor you,” she returned.

Nothing.

Her arm ached .

Then, little by little, the moonstone grew colder. How was that possible?

The half-moon.

“Tomorrow,” they said in unison. Elanna’s arm lowered, and the Edan Stone fell into the grass.

“I cannot believe ’tis come to this.” Elanna stifled a sob. “Shroud Magic has not been used in centuries.”

Tara nodded. “Aye. But even after the shroud and word have been sealed into the moonstone, we do not know for certain that we will be required to use it,” Tara said, inclining her head to the Edan Stone. “Asalle might yet be saved. The future is never finite.”

“We both know ’tis becoming more so. Would that we could See more.”

“Aye. We shall need to be valiant in our vigilance.”

“And that is where I come in,” Hux said, stepping out of the shadows. Elanna’s cheeks flushed; she hoped the darkness hid them from Tara’s notice.

“Lady Tara, we finally meet.” Hux gave a slight bow.

“You must be Hux. I’m told you may know the city well.”

Hux beamed. “I have become familiar with some of its boroughs. Both the elite and the less savory. For all the talk of this glittering city, I’ve discovered Asalle is not quite the pristine place of fairy tales.”

“Glad I am you can aid us,” Tara said, waving for Goodsell, Joss, and the others to join them. “We need to find the whereabouts of the witch whom Elanna noted at the festival.”