Not picking up the macabre meaning, Caspian leaned closer to the tree, his chest brushing my shoulder. “It’s possible. Although I cannot tell the difference between real-life ravens and crows. So it’s anyone’s best guess which it might be here.”
My balance shifted, and I swayed a little. Caspian reached forward, his body now fully wrapping around mine, and rubbed at the bark where the strange light had stalled. It disappeared beneath his fingertip, and he glanced skyward in search of a ray of sun.
He would not find one, and I knew that. But did he know what he’d just frightened away?
Did I even know?
The old way is the true way.
The old way of what? Could the initials really belong to my uncle and mother? If so, who was the third person? Not Fredricks Allisand, my father. So who?
Taelon reached for my hand, maneuvering it away from Caspian and into the protection of his grasp. “We should return to the luncheon,” he suggested, allowing me to keep hold of his hand while I fought to regain my balance. “This has been an exciting adventure, but your uncle will be anxious about your absence.”
“Yes, of course, you’re right.” I tipped my head back so I could focus on his handsome face. He smiled down at me, and it was tender and soft. I leaned against him for more support. I didn’t know why this chapel had shaken me up so completely, but I felt upended by some fear I could not name.
Caspian’s gaze had shifted to us and altered his temperament. There was something darker in his already dark looks, his bright, gray eyes almost glowing in the dim light. “Yes, it’s a good idea. Also, I believe we managed to leave Tessana’s guards somewhere behind us. And if we don’t want them to ring the alarms and send an entire army to find us, I suggest we put them out of their misery soon.”
We’d managed to lose my guards? But how had we done that? I had totally forgotten about them on the walk here, but they were supposed to stay out of sight when I was in the company of others.
Katrinka moved toward the exit in a flurry of gray skirts and panic. “Hello!” she called to the outside. “We’re over here.”
Caspian gave Taelon and me one more long look, then followed Katrinka outside. I allowed Taelon to lead me back toward the door but remembered Oliver near the windows.
“Go ahead,” I told him. “I’ll follow right behind.”
He leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss to my temple. “We will find time to catch up soon,” he promised in a whisper. “Your uncle cannot get in our way forever.”
I smiled at his back as he squeezed through the small opening. I hadn’t liked the way Caspian looked at us. Like he knew something about us that he shouldn’t.
Taelon and I hadn’t hidden our affection for each other intentionally. We simply knew it could not lead anywhere. He had a kingdom to run. And I a realm. But that did not mean we could stop ourselves from moving toward each other from across the room. Or that I could stop my eyes from seeking his whenever he was near. It did not mean I could help feeling safest around him. Or that I could stop the frantic thumping of my heart when he pressed kisses to my temples, or hands, or lips.
But still, best not to let the realm think they could ship me off to Soravale and be done with me so easily.
“Oliver,” I called, pulling him from intently staring at his hands. No, not his hands. A piece of stained glass he must have picked up from the ground. “It’s time to return to the castle.”
He looked up, shaking his head as if waking from a dream. He moved toward the exit, and I met him at the doors. When he approached me, I saw that he was still holding the glass.
“What is it?” I asked, nerves jangling in my belly like the alarm bell I feared would sound if we tarried any longer.
He tilted the glass so I could see it as it was meant to hang in the window. There was an image cut into it with different shades of color. But I could see the image clearly because it was a larger piece that had not shattered.
A raven.
Nearly matching the crude reproduction scratched into the tree. The colored glass was all triangles, so it was more rudimentary than classical, but the shape was clear. Wings spread wide. Talons long and sharp. In its clutches was a burst of light, like a star or sunburst.
I looked around at the other windows, now frantically searching for similarities, and found them everywhere. Cut into each window. At the front of the chapel. On the way out.
Oliver set the glass down as he very well could not carry it back to the castle, but my heart pounded frantically within the frail shell of my body.
TF + RP + GA
The old way is the true way.
But now, those haunting words felt familiar. I had seen them somewhere. Read them somewhere. Was it at the Temple? Or here?
We rushed back through the wheat-like grass to the stone path, where we nearly collided with our guards. They looked white as ghosts, pale with panic.
“Where have you been?” The question came from one of Katrinka’s, who was clearly not as adept at hunting for her as mine were for me.
