The Crown’s hands slid onto the arms of her chair in a weary way. “Decision by duel. Escort the claimants. Parties assemble.”
She rose. Once more the family dropped to their knees.
Moments later, footfalls on the stone alerted them that they could stand again.
When Magda lifted her head, she found the Captain of the Crown’s guard, a woman with piercing blue eyes, standing before her.
“Claimants, follow me,” she said.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Kaelan turned to her. “What’s going to happen now?”
The ready room was a tiny closet with no place to sit and nothing but a trickling fountain built into the rough stone wall, a single bronze cup hanging from a hook beside it.
She paced the length, which was slightly longer than the width.
“We wait for the family to assemble at the dueling grounds and the Crown to take her place,” she said. “Then Lavana and I fight, until one of us yields or dies.”
His jaw hardened. “And I’m just supposed to stand there?”
“No,” she said. “You’ll be positioned at the edge of the circle, guarded. If I can reach you, you can help me, heal me if I need it, but you’re not allowed to break from your station or the guards will incapacitate you.”
“And the family?”
“They’ll be able to offer help,” she said, “if they wish to do so. Weapons, shields, magic even, but they risk their own lives by throwing in for me or Lavana. If they offer support and their chosen victor doesn’t win, then they had best run quickly. But should the family choose to take sides, the duel can be far more decisive.”
“What happened the last time?”
“The family didn’t intervene, but I didn’t have a Prince and Alanna did. That made the difference in the end. I wounded her. It would’ve been fatal, but for her Prince. So long as a Rae is in her Prince’s hands, she can’t be touched.”
“For how long?”
“Until the Crown decrees. Never long though.”
“What do you think happened to the Enneahedron?”
She stopped pacing. “I don’t know. But it’s not important right now. The Enneahedron will heed the call of the Radiant.”
“Then it’s not really lost?”
“No. Only until the next Radiant is chosen. Then it should return to her.”
“Then why steal it?”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t—”
“To force the duel,” he said.
Her heart slammed in her chest. Sweat dripped down her back.
“If you’d had the Enneahedron, then your claim would’ve been stronger, right? The Crown could’ve named you Radiant without the duel. Isn’t that why we went out of our way to find it?”
“Yes,” she said. “But who would want to force me into the duel? Why? If they favored her, why not simply give it to her?”
“Maybe they didn’t favor her.”
“Then why take it from me?”
He rubbed his temples. “We’re missing something.”
