Dividing Eden (Dividing Eden #1)(14)
The chill of his metal claw beneath her fingers made her shiver as they reached the landing and continued down the next set of steps. Carys chose her words carefully as she tried to determine what Elder Cestrum wanted. “The King has reasons for the things he does, my lord.”
“Yes.” Elder Cestrum looked at her and nodded. “He does have reasons. Good ones. But those reasons, from what I can tell, no longer exist. From the whispers I hear from the court, you have overcome your small weakness.”
Small weakness. Perhaps he thought he was being kind to make it sound so minor. Or maybe he was trying to see if she would admit to how great a vice held her in its iron grip. Even now she could feel it squeezing.
“I cannot control the whispers of the court or the will of my king, Lord Cestrum, which is good since I don’t have any desire to try.”
“And it doesn’t bother you, Princess, to be given so little respect?”
She laughed. “Are you kidding, my lord? The less I am involved in the politics of the kingdom, the less time the leaders of the Seven Districts and their minions spend trying to wrap me up in their idiotic plots to gain power. If you’re thinking I care about their respect, you have misjudged your company.”
Elder Cestrum gave her a hard, calculating look before nodding. “You’re wise beyond your years, Princess.”
“Since I only recently turned seventeen,” she countered as they reached the next landing, “I would say that isn’t a significant accomplishment.”
Elder Cestrum laughed as they stepped out into the hallway and headed toward the Hall of Virtues, where the court would be waiting for news of what had happened to the wind power. No doubt tales of Xhelozi attacks had already been told. If nothing else, those were easy rumors to dispatch. If only the rest of the web being woven tonight was as obvious as—
A gong echoed in the halls, and Carys and Elder Cestrum stopped walking. Another gong sounded, followed by several more.
“The King has returned,” Elder Cestrum said, starting down the hall that was already filling with people hurrying to witness his arrival. “Come, Princess. Let us greet your father.”
Guard members fell in step in front and behind Carys and the Chief Elder as they swept through the halls to the courtyard. Her father would have seen the buildings go dark as he approached Garden City. He would have questions that he wanted answered, and with little time to prepare, Carys realized there was only one way to explain someone finding the flaw in the system without Andreus being blamed. She would confess to telling someone of her brother’s finding and take whatever punishment her father chose to dole out. After years of being punished for her obstinacy, her lack of understanding, or her sharp tongue, she knew it would be severe. But she would survive it. She always had and always would as long as it kept her brother’s secret safe.
Framing the words in her head, she stepped into the courtyard behind Elder Cestrum and strode down the lantern-lit white stone path to the gate of the Palace of Winds. They arrived just as a group of men climbed the final steps that led onto the plateau of the castle. The sound of the windmills pulsed. The men staggered forward under the fatigue of their trip and the soiled, heavy sacks they were carrying.
One fell to his knees, dumping his sack to the ground in front of him.
No. That wasn’t a sack.
Carys raced forward. She heard someone yell her name. Hands tried to hold her back, but she shoved the man trying to shield her out of her way. There was no hiding from this truth. No hiding from the dirt-streaked material that she now realized was stitched with the crests of Eden.
Something inside her cracked and she dropped to her knees. Her stomach clenched. Everything trembled as she reached out and rolled over the body that had been dumped on the steps.
Memories flooded her. A deep voice telling stories about the War of Knowledge. A man larger than life on a throne of sapphire and gold. Hands that calmed her when she was small and scared in the dead of winter, terrified the Xhelozi would hurt them all. Amber eyes, so like hers, that she hoped one day to see approval in. Eyes that would never open again.
Carys couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. Tears burned her eyes, her throat. She couldn’t cry. Not here. Not now. Not in front of everyone. Her father wouldn’t allow that kind of weakness. He wouldn’t forgive. He wouldn’t . . .
Something was set on the ground next to her father. She blinked to clear her eyes and felt the wall holding the tears back crumble as the light her twin had helped restore shone on the bloody, waxen face.
Wind whipped her hair.
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she touched her older brother’s icy hand.
The orb shone bright, but darkness had come to Eden and Carys didn’t know if there was any light that could chase this kind of darkness away.
4
Unless he had gotten himself into trouble for mouthing off while serving the ladies of court, the boy had to be around here somewhere. Andreus nodded to a Master ordering apprentices to put away their tools and headed toward the back of the battlements.
He started to duck into the base of one of the windmills when he heard Max’s voice call, “Prince Andreus. Did you see? Everything in the castle went dark and all the ladies started screaming. No one knew how to find candles or that they should stand still so they don’t crash into things in the dark.”
No. Andreus doubted they would.