Page 68 of A Dance of Shadows

What happens after that… I’ll have to determine as I go.

I beam at Linus as if there’s no task I’d rather carry out. “I look forward to sharing in this honor. I believe I must start by meditating with my godlen tonight, and we’ll see how Elox will guide me.”

When I take to my bed after a long supplication in front of Elox’s statue in the Lavirian palace’s temple, darkness fills my dreams. Branches loom and lock around me; walls press in suffocatingly tight.

I wake with a jolt, my skin still itching from the imaginary pressure.

For a few minutes, I simply stare at the ceiling. Elox didn’t give me any clear message while I was conscious last night. If he sent these dreams, I have to think he’s saying he’d rather Sabrelle’s relic stayed hidden away.

Somehow I don’t think Linus will accept that answer, even from a godlen.

It’s too early for my maids to have arrived to help me dress. I sink down by one of the windows in the dawn’s pale light. After tapping my fingers down my front, I lean forward to prostrate myself with eyes closed.

Please, Elox, I don’t want to place this power in Linus’s hands either, but I have to give him something. I don’t know how much description he’s seen of the relic… Can you at least show me what itshouldlook like so I can divert him with a replacement?

I have no idea whether I’d be able to find something convincing enough to meet Linus’s expectations. I’ll have to bring my potion-making skills to bear and put on a show of a determined search. And I only have until the pledging ceremony this afternoon.

If I at least had a place to start…

An image swims up in my mind: a semi-circle of steel, etched with Sabrelle’s sigil flanked by a galloping horse and a baying hound, both with rubies gleaming in their eyes.

I swallow thickly. Is that the ancient armband I’m meant to find? How in the realms am I going to conjure anything quite like that?

As I grapple with my uncertainties, a spark flares in the darkness behind my closed eyelids. Its stark red glow blazes into my consciousness.

I hesitate, focusing on this new vision. The ruddy glimmer flits forward like a daimon might, although the few spirit creatures I’ve seen in my lifetime have given off a colorless or silvery glow rather than crimson.

A twitch of the light makes me think it’s beckoning me. It veers off into the darkness until its glow is swallowed up.

What was that supposed to mean? Was Elox telling me he’d lead the way after all?

I’m snapped out of my reverie by a rap on my bedroom door. A guard’s voice filters through the thick wood. “Your Imperial Highness, Prince Raul is here to offer assistance in today’s quest.”

Has Linus sent the prince of Lavira to irritate me the way he seemed to think Bastien would at the bog? I glance down at my nightgown, with a sudden flush at the thought of how much I’dlikeRaul to see me like this… just not while my guards are looking on.

“Tell him he’ll have to wait until I’m presentable,” I call back.

I dress hastily and fix my hair up in a simple but neat style. Pausing for a moment at my desk, I write a brief description of the armband I saw in my vision along with a rough sketch for guidance. With the slip of paper tucked up my billowy silk sleeve, I open the door.

Raul stands at attention at the other side of the hallway. He dips into a short bow—respectful but as if he’d rather not have to. “My esteemed foster brother ordered me to see that you get on with your quest bright and early. Any clues Elox has offered you, I may be able to expand on with my knowledge of the city.”

His knowledge that’s more than fifteen years out of date, other than his rare visits back home. Does Linus actually want me to find this relic or is he hoping I’ll fail?

Maybe he isn’t all that confident it exists either—and if it doesn’t, he’d rather everyone think it’s the Lavirian prince’s failing rather than my godlen’s lack of faith in me.

“Thank you,” I say in a strictly formal tone. “I’ll appreciate any help you can give. Based on the impressions I’ve gotten in my meditating, I believe we should start our search at the square where the pledging ceremony will take place.”

It’s probably the most popular space in the city. May I find further inspiration there.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Aurelia

My guards trail behind Raul and me through the quiet halls toward the main doors. As we reach the grand vestibule, Neven appears by the doorway, the dark smudges under his eyes suggesting he hasn’t gotten much sleep.

Before I can ask the young prince if he’s all right, he’s bending into a swift bow and shooting a tense smile at me. “Good luck in your quest, Your Imperial Highness.”

I have the sudden odd feeling that he arranged to be here specifically to speak to me, as little sense as I can make of that idea. “Thank you, Your Highness. I hope you’re well.”

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