The door opened, and one of the guards from the gate stepped inside. He stopped in front of us and bowed his feathery head. “Sire! An express package arrived from one of the outpost villages!”
Cassian lifted an eyebrow. “Is something unusual about that?”
The guard nodded at me. “It’s addressed to Lady Holt.”
Chapter 32
My eyes widened, and I stabbed a finger at my chest. “Me?”
The guard nodded. “Yes, My Lady.”
“Which village?” Cassian questioned him.
“Thornwatch, Your Majesty.”
Cassian dropped his gaze to me. “Do you know someone there?”
“I don’t even know where that is.”
The king furrowed his brow and returned his focus to the guard. “Have you checked the contents?”
“We haven’t opened the package, Sire, but due to the unusual nature, we have checked to see if it contains magic using the luminarc.”
“And?”
“It does, Sire, of a quite potent kind. The machine couldn’t register that high a magic quantity.”
“Then we had better open the package outside the city,” Cassian told him as he turned to me and offered me his hand. “Will you come with us?”
I set my hand in his palm and nodded. “Definitely.”
“Have my carriage prepared,” Cassian commanded the guard.
The man bowed and hurried to obey, while we made our way to the main gates. I caught Cassian’s tense gaze as we hurried down the hall. “What’s a luminarc?”
“A machine capable of reading magic levels.”
“Why didn’t you use one on me? Did you not have one on you?”
“The machine can’t read magic in any living creature.”
“Oh.”
The starry sky twinkled down at us as we left the brightly-lit palace. We were soon at the gatehouse, and there was a tension in the air, and two of the guards were crowded around the doorway to their large room. One of them turned at our coming, and his eyes widened. He patted his compatriot’s shoulder, who turned and repeated the same shocked process. They scuttled out of the way and bowed their heads as we passed.
The guard room was only ten feet round and held a few chairs and a table. The commander of the gate stood at the table with his lieutenant at his side. They were both staring at a small package about half a foot tall and deep.
A strange machine sat on the table beside the box. It was a small, round box with a single antenna protruding from the top. The face of the round part revealed unfamiliar symbols and a clock hand in the middle. The hand was pointed at the symbol that would have indicated twelve on a clock face. The symbol looked like a four-pointed star with long upper and lower portions, and shorter side arms. The star appeared to be made out of rectangles, which gave it an artificial appearance. There was something familiar about that symbol, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen it.
The commander stood at attention at our arrival, along with his aide. “My apologies for calling you, Your Majesty, but this affair is most strange.”
Cassian picked up the luminarc and studied where the hand pointed. His lips were pursed, and his eyes revealed his worry. “So I see. When did the package arrive?”
“This morning, Sire, on the post.”
Cassian grasped the luminarc in both hands as he studied the package. “Have you made any attempt to inspect the contents?”
“None, Sire, save of the luminarc.”
