“And Ellis is going with them?” I exclaimed, now understanding the label Timothy had given him. “Of all the traitorous…” I let my voice trail off with a wary glance at our mother who was coming toward the table with a fresh dish.
The kitchen door burst open, slamming against the wall as someone tumbled through the opening, gasping for breath.Mother dropped the dish she was holding, and it smashed, food spilling across the floor.
“Ellis!” she cried in indignation, glaring at the new arrival. “What in the kingdom are you?—”
But he ignored her, his eyes on me as he struggled to speak through his panting breaths.
“Just…came…from the…law enforcement hub,” he managed to pant out.
“Yes, I heard you went there,” I said with narrowed eyes.
He waved a hand through the air as if to wave away such petty concerns.
“Heard…the clerk talking,” he managed to get out.
Timothy straightened. “Don’t tell me Byron’s name wasn’t on the list, after all? That would serve him right. I don’t know why you’re friends with such a poisonous toad. Last week, he said?—”
“No. His name’s there.” Ellis’s words became more comprehensible as he regained his breath. “But so is Aria’s!”
“What?!” I leaped to my feet, my chair clattering to the floor behind me. “What do you mean? Are you sure?”
He nodded, gesturing frantically toward the doorway. “We were hanging around in the foyer of the law enforcement hub after Byron went in, and we heard two of the clerks talking. One was listing off the names of the people who hadn’t arrived yet. And he said your name! I even asked to be sure, and it was definitely you.”
“But I don’t understand,” I said, bewildered and frozen with shock. “What does that mean?”
“It means your name got on the list as well as Byron’s,” Ellis said. “It means your name is down to be sealed.Today!” he added when I didn’t immediately move.
My mother sucked in an audible breath, looking between Ellis and me.
“Aria!” Timothy shouted, shoving me roughly in the back, propelling me toward the door.
“But…But how did it happen?” I asked, still struggling to make sense of Ellis’s dramatic pronouncement.
“Never mind that,” Timothy said. “The ceremony is happening this morning, and who knows when the next one will be. You have to GO, Aria!”
His words finally penetrated the fog of my confusion. I strode toward the door, and Ellis stepped aside to let me through.
“Run!” he shouted after me as I stepped into the street, and I picked up my pace.
It made no sense. It was impossible. If I was on the list, I should have been informed, surely? And yet, administrative errors did occur.
I pushed the questions out of my mind so I could focus on running. It didn’t matter how it had happened, as long as I made it there in time.
I dodged a wagon and leaped over a sack someone had dumped on the pavement while he chatted with a neighbor. The two men shouted after me, but I was already well past them.
I ducked and wove as I careened down the street, calling apologies over my shoulder whenever I bumped against someone. The ceremony being at the central hub meant it was closer to the palace and the sections of the city inhabited by the mage families than to my home.
My pace began to lag as my breathing grew labored. But the specter of missing the ceremony by seconds filled me with a second wind, and I increased my speed again.
I careened around a corner and onto South Road, the main street that ran all the way through Corrin to the palace itself. I had avoided it until the last possible moment, knowing it would be bustling with traffic. And sure enough, it was far busier than the smaller street I had just exited.
But ahead of me I caught a glimpse of free-standing red sandstone. I dodged three horses, a donkey, and an elaborate carriage, ignoring the shouts of disapproval that followed me down the street. Taking the steps into the building two at a time, I tripped, staggering into the foyer and nearly falling.
CHAPTER 6
“The sealing!” I cried loudly into the large space. “I’m here for the sealing.”
“There’s no need to shout about it.” A disapproving clerk moved toward me.
