Page 56 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Fifty-One

ELANNA

“ Y ou’ll never be rid of her, Your Majesty. And she is but a peasant. Hardly anyone to give pause over. Her death is the only thing that will cement the prince’s resolve.”

Elanna sat up, the satin covers falling from her shoulders. Her hand to her chest, she breathed in and out slowly.

’Twas dawn again.

Merely another nightmare.

A nightmare. Like yesterday had been. A day filled with what felt like kicking and screaming.

When Elanna and Hux had made it to the prince’s rooms, where she assumed he would be escorted, they found them empty.

No one was in the Royal Solar, either. They dared creep to the unknown corridors lined with velvet, but that strange space appeared as though it had always been abandoned.

“This cannot be good,” Hux said.

“You know the castle. Where would they take him if they did not want anyone to know he was returned? Or returned in the manner that he was?”

“Lady, I hate to think. The dungeons?”

“The dungeons? They would not dare place the prince there. ”

Hux shrugged. “Why not?”

He was proved right when they made their dank descent down into the depths of Castle Sidra.

Elanna told herself that this dungeon, with its mildewy odor, flickering shadows, and chilled aura, was not the dungeon she’d Seen on the Dasei Moors.

Because that would mean the end—the absolute end.

She had Seen it carving its way through the stepping stones of time despite her attempts to stop it.

And she had not realized, when she glimpsed the dungeon, that ’twould be her who would, in reality, be submerged in the middle of this path. But then, why not? She had placed herself here.

Betrayed. Foolish. Angry. This was Elanna. And for the first time in her life, Elanna gave over these emotions to the stars.

Why did I come?

“There.” Hux had liberated her from her thoughts. He peered around the corner at the bottom of the stairs to scan the short passageway. “He’s definitely here. His new guard is here. And a few of the Warins, it appears. I wonder if your brother is amongst them.”

“You still have yet to tell me what you argued about.”

Hux swept his eyes around the area. “I was reminding him that starlit blood is thicker than a silver uniform.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that this is a conversation for later. You have any ideas?”

Elanna pursed her lips. Then it came to her. “Aye. Come.”

The guards shouted out, “Who goes there?” as she approached. They bowed when they realized who she was.

“Lady StarSeer, I beg your pardon, but you cannot be down here,” one of them spoke.

Despite how fatigued she was from the mere walk to arrive here, she threw her shoulders back. “Aye, I can. The prince has invoked his right to the Audience of Psocorroh. Is that not right, Your Highness?” Elanna spoke to Dashiell, who leaned against the bars in front of her.

Stars. The prince of the Capella Realm. In a dungeon .

A few guards gave brief arguments, to no avail. The Audience of Psocorroh was sacred. She was gladdened no one pointed out ’twas far past sunrise. Mayhap they did not know. ’Twas clear one could lose time down here.

The cell door was opened, and Elanna stepped in, leaving Hux to wait just outside. The slamming of the door reverberated through her. The guards shuffled away to give them their five-minute leave.

“Your Highness, how may I help?” Elanna said, leading them to the wooden bench.

“If my father thinks I shall marry Lady Wenonah now, he is gravely mistaken. You cannot imagine what ’twas like to be dragged here like a common criminal. He is an odious man. I hate him, Lady Elanna.”

Had Elanna possessed her powers, she was certain she would have heard a crack. But she didn’t need her StarSeer gift for the words to break her heart.

“That cannot be true, Your Highness. He is your father and had good inten?—”

“Do you love your father?”

Elanna paused. “My father is dead.”

“Can you help me out of here? I must return to Aven. Tell the ravenmaster?—”

“The ravenmaster is dead, Your Highness. Beheaded.”

Dashiell stood, seeming as though he might vomit. “Something is most wrong here, Lady Elanna. My father ne’er would have allowed that in the past. Someone in his council has influenced this change in him.”

“How?”

“Trust me. My father is not who he was.”

“Who is it?”

Dashiell shook his head. “I know not, but I suspect ’tis someone in his council. Karro was attempting to find out who.” Dashiell put his head in his hands. “They’ve done something to him. Karro would ne’er have resigned, not even for an illness in his family. ”

Elanna did not have the heart to tell Dashiell that Karro was most likely dead. “Where is Aven now, Your Highness?”

“Lady, you’ve only two more minutes,” Hux said from the opposite side of the bars.

Dashiell held his mouth tight-lipped. “I wish to tell you, but I will not risk betraying her.” Elanna nodded. “I will say this, however. On the return journey, I noticed a number of villages in upheaval.”

Elanna furrowed her brow.

“I cannot explain it. But before all this,” he gestured to their surroundings, “I spent many weeks and moons hunting in both the Lenforese and Grendenian countrysides and forests. I’ve been around a great deal of villages and commoners.

People were not attending to their usual business.

I witnessed villages organizing, I suppose is how I might describe it.

’Twas an air of tension.” He lifted his eyebrows at Elanna.

“Stars! You know what this means, don’t you? You’ve Seen something?”

“I told you when we met. The realm hangs on your wedding, Prince Dashiell.”

He stood again. “I shall not marry the lady of my father’s choosing. Not for all the stars in the sky.”

“Lady, they come!” Hux said.

“I will do all that I can to assist you, Your Highness,” Elanna uttered, standing.

When the guards stood in front of the cell again, both Dashiell and Elanna were surprised to see Councilors Roger and Hubert and Chancellor Griffith.

“Your Highness. Lady Elanna,” Griffith said, “I was bid to deliver you a message from His Majesty.” He made uncomfortable sidelong glances at the dungeon walls.

“Tell my father to deliver it himself. He can witness where his only son and heir languishes!”

“Sadly, that is not an option, Your Highness.” Council Griffith cleared his throat. “Your father has announced that your marriage to Lady Wenonah, daughter of Earl Ulara of Norcliffe, shall be in two days hence. ”

“Tell my father to cease his wedding plans. I shall not be there.”

Chancellor Griffith swallowed hard. “Forgive me for the unpleasantness of what I am about to deliver.” Griffith’s chin trembled.

“I was told that should you refuse, I was to inform you that the other lady is being held.” He tugged at his sleeve.

“If you do not go through with your rightful marriage, the girl shall be executed.”

Dashiell’s grip on the bars was knuckle-white. “Griffith, release me from here. You must bring my father to his senses.”

“’Twas not our decision, Your Highness,” Roger said with a frown, his eyes unable to seek the prince’s.

Griffith gave a grim twist of the mouth. “Your Highness, it pains me to see you in this state. I plead with you to give this some thought and come to your senses.” He bowed to the prince before leaving with the sovereign’s councilors.

“Are you not going to open the door for the StarSeer?” Hux said to Petre, the only other new Warin whom Elanna had met.

“I have not been given orders to,” he said, his mouth quirking into a half-grin. A few of the other guards present laughed.

Hux chuckled pleasantly. Then, in a heartbeat, he pulled Petre’s dagger from his side belt, rammed the Warin into the stone wall, and held the dagger to Petre’s neck. “Mayhap I did not ask kindly enough. Pray, open the door.”

Two guards moved to attack Hux. Two drops of blood bloomed from Petre’s neck.

“Open the door,” Petre muttered against the blade.

The door was opened, and Elanna stepped into the passageway. The guards stepped backward, uncertain of how to behave. Hux freed Petre and tucked the dagger into his boot.

“I’m keeping this,” he said.

Elanna glared at the guards until she’d settled her heart. The adrenaline kept her upright. “Whom do you serve?”

“The Capella Realm. The Empire of Light. We hold true the brilliance of the Heart and the balance of House and the Halves protected by the grace and guidance of the Ordained,” they recited together.

An ancient code.

“Do not forget it,” Elanna said. “There sits one of the House. You shall protect him and treat him with the dignity of your future sovereign.”

Petre nodded, his face red.

Elanna nodded back at the prince and left, Hux joining her only long enough to escort her back to her rooms.

But that had been her only victory of the nightmarish day. Commander Kaff had awaited at the top of the stairs and bid Elanna spend the remainder of that day in the Delara so as to not distract anyone from the wedding preparations.

Tara had not been there. Too fatigued, undoubtedly.

But now, in the first light of morning, Elanna mulled over the nightmare’s words.

“You’ll never be rid of her, Your Majesty. And she is but a peasant. Hardly anyone to give pause over. Her death is the only thing that will cement the prince’s resolve.”

The fading memory of the night made the voice of the speaker fuddled and indistinguishable.

A sole clue that might prove helpful to know who was not to be trusted in the sovereign’s inner circle, but at present, that did not matter.

This was a warning. ’Twas not a matter of if Aven was executed. ’Twas a matter of when.

“I cannot See the stars,” she whispered to herself, drawing her robe closer to her. “But cannot dreams be real, too?”

The sovereign was going to have Aven killed.

This she knew.