Page 77 of The Shadowed Oracle
Silence fell for a moment, then Tyla once again pushed the boundary. “But he is an ally, my King. He’s dedicated his entire life to the teachings your predecessors followed. So why is it so shocking to find Karis’s flock here now? Would you turn Karis away because of his affection for humans?”
The king didn’t answer.
Tyla stumbled after seeing his indifferent face, but kept on. “Why would you doubt us so easily? When was the last timeyou even encountered an Earth-born? Any of you? Anyone?” She turned to the princess in dignified haste, begging for fair treatment. “Please, if only you’d hear us out. Listen to our story. What we have set out to do.”
Callinora rubbed at her large ring again, contemplating. “It is my king and father’s decision,” she said dutifully.
“Yes,” Ballius spoke up. He ran his hands over the front of his skin-tight doublet, looking to Nestor. “It has been a day rife with decisions already, my king. I speak for all those with your best interest at heart when I say?—”
“Not yet, Ballius.” Callinora held up her hand, taking a few steps down the dais to address her visitors. “These exiles you speak of,” she said, “Your army. Are they ready to fight now? Today?”
Tyla perked, hope glimmering in her eyes. “If we have an ally in Maradenn.” She took a half-step toward the throne. “In you,my king. Then they will return. They will fight. They will go to war. Now.”
Callinora nodded, turned back up the stairs, then kneeled at her father’s side to whisper in his ear. Ingrid couldn’t be certain from where she stood, but something in the way the cunning princess cupped her hands around her mouth seemed like she was far more worried about her father’s advisors listening in than she was of the world-walkers.
Nestor stiffened in his seat as his daughter spoke. Restless, his fingers tapped out of rhythm on the arm of his solid gold chair, shuddering once, then placing a gentle hand on his daughter’s cheek.
Callinora allowed the moment of fatherly affection, but her smile turned sour the moment her father looked away from her.
“I’m sorry,” Nestor declared. “You will have to find another ally. As of this morning, my council and I have decided to announce our neutrality in this war. We’ve lost too much. Bytomorrow morning, the war sigils will be taken down, and by the evening, Makkar will receive word of our forfeiture.” He snapped his fingers, summoning one of the lady’s maids. “My daughter and her maids will escort you to the guest wing, if you would like to stay. And please, in honor of my friendship with Karis, I beg that you will accept.”
Tyla clenched Raidinn’s arm, as if she needed something to take out her frustration on. Her brother didn’t flinch.
“Thank you, King Nestor,” Tyla managed. “We will take you up on your generous offer. And we hope you reconsider.”
The king and his advisors had already begun filing out of the room, one after the other, in no rush.
Only Callinora, her personal retinue like shadows over her, now stood before them. “Come,” she said. “We have much to discuss.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
If it weren’tfor their host leading them, it would’ve been easy to get lost in the labyrinthine halls of the castle. Arching doorways made of marble, winding corridors full of the most exquisite sculptures and paintings Ingrid had ever seen, wallpaper hand-painted to look like the sprightly forest leaves and ivy had grown from the floor, with golden chandeliers hanging at every turn, and statues of famous ancestors and great rulers stationed throughout, their stone eyes peering down at them as if judging every move they made.
“Izadora.” Dean lightly nudged Ingrid, nodding toward a large marble sculpture of a beautiful female. The attractive effigy was depicted lifting a scepter to the sky in victory, wearing a crown made of flowers and thorns. Ingrid lingered on the marble figure, wondering at the name.
Dean noticed her laboring and said, “The first Oracle.”
Of course, Ingrid thought. Her name had been Izadora. The first of her kind, savior of Ealis, Queen of the East. Ingrid was ashamed she had forgotten her name, and worse, that she didn’t know much of anything about this great and powerful female.
At the first opportunity, she decided to read everything there was to know about her. She would scour the libraries of Ealisfor clues, for stories, accounts from old Viator. Anything to help awaken her magic.
As for now, she needed to focus on keeping track of her friends. She was falling behind. Her eye would catch a particularly alluring piece of art or an interesting door in some mysterious corner of the castle, and if not for Dean or Tyla dragging her ahead, she would’ve found herself terribly lost in a castle she wasn’t fully welcome in.
While servants and armed guards littered the way, there was still that unsettling feeling of isolation vibrating throughout, leaving the four newcomers heedful of Callinora’s motive. Only when they reached the princess’s private quarters on the highest level of the titanic structure did she offer any words. Any clue to what it was she wanted from them.
“Please,” she said simply, standing at the large arching doorway and waving her guests inside. “Come in.”
They slowly waded inside, marveling at the size first, then the décor and amenities of her quarters. So lured in was Ingrid that she forgot her manners entirely and began strolling about the room as if it were her own. There was a table full of fresh fruit, bread, cheese, and a reading nook and fireplace at the far corner, accompanied by more art, more jewels, and more books than she could count.
By the time Ingrid got to the bathroom, with its comically large tub, the two ornamental faucets carved into small wolf heads, she was so enamored that she jumped at the sound of Calinnora closing the hefty door behind them.
“I hope this is alright?” the princess asked, pulling a large key she kept in the bosom of her black dress. “Privacy is hard to come by in this court.”
Ingrid nodded half-heartedly.
Raidinn agreed. “No issues here.”
But his sister didn’t seem willing to be friendly just yet.
