Page 88 of Keeper of the Word
“Do you think I would tell you that in jest? You are the very reason for my presence here.”
“So I am reminded.”
“We have little time to speak. Days ago, you almost confessed something to me. Did it concern these messages? Please, tell me. What are your misgivings? To whom do you send them?”
Dashiell spun her around, a royal smile masking his face. They whirled back together, and he took her by both hands. “And how am I to believe that you are not simply a spy for my father?”
They stepped back from one another, bowed, and clasped hands again, sashaying across the floor. “You have every right to question me. But you asked me if I would keep your confidence, and I promised I would.”
They traded partners, and Elanna used the separated moment to beg the stars for her next words.
Instead, she Saw Dashiell riding through the countryside. He was leagues from Asalle and nearly to his destination—a small town on the banks of the Adem River. ’Twas Glyn. His lady had traveled north to meet him.
His lady?
Dashiell clasped her hand again, circling her.
A strange smile crossed Elanna’s face.
He appears so happy. Stars. I was right all along.
“You do love another. And you’re—? My prince, you cannot leave again. ’Twill mean doom.”
The surprise that Dashiell had managed to disguise moments ago charged out of him. He dropped her hand and coughed into his forearm, regaining his composure. Elanna made an effort to keep her posture relaxed as she eyed the endless gapers around the Great Hall.
Dashiell gripped her hand—with more force than before—and held her waist in his other hand. “How did you learn this?”
Elanna’s eyes pierced his own. “Your Highness, I just Saw it.”
Sweat beaded on his forehead. “Have you told my father?”
“What? Nay. IjustSaw it. Dashiell, you cannot love another.”
The words sounded so foolish in her ears. Aye, she knew naught of being in love, but it did not seem to be the sort of thing that one chose, like picking ripe stellaberrie fruit.
Dashiell let go of her waist long enough to wipe his brow. “Worry not. ’Tis not as though I shall shirk my duties. I swore to marry Lady Wenonah, and I shall.”
“I would ask Your Highness why you did not tell your father that you had another lady in your favor, but we both know that you must marry someone from Grenden. This lady from Lenfore you love?—”
“Actually, the lady, Aven, is her name.” The prince’s countenance lit up when he spoke the woman’s name. “She is from Grenden.”
“But I cannot understand, Your Highness. If she is from Grenden?—”
The music ceased, and Elanna found herself cut off from her words and curtseying to Dashiell. His expression said everything. Cease talking.
In the rush of couples moving about the dance floor, everything slowed for Elanna, and she found she could not lift her feet. The prince had already left her and was bowing to his next partner. The music began anew. She found herself staring into the crinkled eyes of an older man who requested the next dance.
“Dance?” Elanna said the word as though ’twas foreign.
Her mind caught up, and she was swept away in the next dance, all the while attempting not to gaze at the prince or behave as if the world had tilted.
After the second dance, the older man kissed her hand. His brazen invitation for her dance brought a gaggle of onlookers to close in around her and begin asking her questions, most of which concerned the future.
She locked eyes with King Rian, who shook his head at the scene.
Someone grazed the back of her neck, and Elanna found herself shuddering and attempting to extricate herself from the crowd gathered around her.
“Lady Elanna, I believe this dance is mine,” a voice parted the crowd, and Hux stood there extending his hand to her.
