CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Deirdre
The guards escortedme toward my chambers, but where was Liora? Had we really been gone that long? She would’ve been frantic with worry. I had to find her.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said, turning to the guard that Kane had spoken to. “Do you know where my handmaiden is?”
He nodded. “She's been in the chapel since you left.”
“Take me there.”
“But the king—”
“I will go to my chambers afterward. She must know I'm safe.”
Agreeing, the guard motioned toward the grand staircase. I hadn't been to the chapel since I arrived here. I didn't even know one existed. Would it be a chapel to the All Father or one of the lesser gods that some races worshipped?
Fae were known to be split between the All Father and theGreat Spirit of the Life Tree, believing the tree was the mother of our world, and in a sense, it was.
The massive tree with roots that spread out across the world provided life crystals and sustained us in a way that would be impossible without, but for those of us who believed in the All Father, we understood it was the All Father who created everything and protected the Life Tree.
Back in the temple, there was no discussion about who we worshipped.
It had been a long time since I even said a prayer… That absence left a hollowness inside my soul. Once, I used to pray every morning and then every night before I closed my eyes. I’d ask the All Father for strength, for love I didn’t deserve, and for guidance on how tobethe child of prophecy.
I had buried those prayers with Crispin.
Part of me wondered if I avoided the chapel because I was avoiding the truth. I wanted to live in my anger, my hate, my need for vengeance. It was the only thing that made sense. Crispin died fornothing. If I had stayed at the temple, maybe eventually Kane would have come.
Even if I thought Kane didn't want to marry me, I should have stayed and believed in my purpose, but with the doubt growing every day, the bullying, the sneers, and the curses behind my back, I wanted to be far away from the prophecy.
We walked down the grand staircase and made a left past the large entrance hall toward an area of the castle that I had never been to. A long, covered hallway with windows on each side led to an enormous set of wooden doors. Gardens surrounded the outside, though there was no door here to reach them.
One of the guards went into the chapel first and I waited outside, the remaining guards in front of me and behind me, protecting me from every direction.
Normally, I had two guards following me, but it seemed our brief trip to the Dryad Realm caused quite a commotion.
I wonder how Kane is doing. He seemed so terrified.
The door swung back open, and the guard nodded, allowing me to enter.
The structure had been carved out of the stone, or some fae elementalist with the ability to manipulate rock had formed this quaint place. Four stony pews were aligned on each side, a small walkway between them leading to an altar arrayed with a few candles blowing.
Carved into the stone above the altar was the symbol of the All Father: a circle surrounding the Life Tree with two hands pressed together and in front of those hands an eye and inside the face of an eagle.
Liora kneeled in front of the altar, hood down.
“Liora.”
She turned at my voice. “Your grace!”
With quick steps, she rushed to me, arms open, stopping just before she reached me.
But title didn't matter to me.
I ran forward and hugged her.
She froze briefly, then immediately embraced me back. “Where have you been? You went into the royal courtyard, and then you never came out. Everyone has been searching for days.”
