“I… I do not really know him.I only met him the one time.It feels a generous response for how little we spoke.”
“Regardless, it is good to know,” Arik said.“Now, your brother?—”
My heart slammed into my chest.“I cannot go back,” I said, suddenly terrified that this was King Arik’s intention.He had said moons ago he’d thought to exchanging me for trade deals.“They would kill me for what I have done here.Halvar could not?—”
“I am merely trying to understand his character.If he came to know you were with me, what would your brother do?”
“I…”
“Ask the stones,” Arik said again.
I reached my hand into the pouch and pulled out a stone.“Unclear,” I said, turning it around in my fingers.
Arik frowned.“What do you mean,unclear?”
I frowned.“I think he does not know what he would do, so the stones cannot know.”
“Interesting.”Arik stood quietly for many moments, stroking his beard.“Very well.”He set both of his hands on the table and stared straight at me.“This question will be harder for you, but I want you to do your best.Use the stones if you must, but you might not need to.I will be here the whole time.You need not rush in your answer.”
I nodded.
His bright wolfish eyes locked onto mine.“What is trapped in the vaults?”
My face went cold.“What?”
“The vaults in your home country.They are of a particular build, no?I have seen treasuries ransacked… temples… it is more than gold housed within.”
My mouth had gone completely dry.“I cannot speak of them?—”
“Ah, but I already know a fair bit.I have been near one.Many years ago, the very kepen you were meant to guard after your wedding, the Hard-Won Kepen.I heard a strange voice from within.Clear as the sun on a cloudless day.It asked to be let out.What is it?”
The hair on my arms raised.I shook my head.
“Gentlewoman, they have frightened you for years, I know.But you are safe from them here.Tell me, what lives in the vaults?”
I remembered the voice from within the vaults.The way Elfrith’s hands had swollen up after they were whipped with stinging nettle for mentioning it.The leeches…
“Gentlewoman.Focus.”
My feet felt like lead.We do not mention it…
“You know of what I speak.Something lives inside the vaults.Something that wants out.”He snapped his fingers twice, trying to shake me out of my cold terror.
“I know you went into the room I had forbidden you.”
My entire being stilled, but I think the words were effective in the way he meant them to be, because my cheeks heated and for a moment, my mind worked a little.
“What…”
“Jorn told me.It was how I knew you were to become a soothsayer for me.Those who see it and attempt to flee my company in fear—they are the false readers, the ones who doubt their ability, or the ones who have been dishonest in their readings to me.”
I shook my head.“But Jorn?—”
“Gentlewoman, let us focus.I am sorry to have brought up something that disturbs you so, but it cannot be delayed any longer.Now is the time to act.There are nineteen vaults in the Land of Mud and Mist.They are of similar build based on all the accounts I have been able to find.What unlocks one should unlock another.So, Gentlewoman, here is what we will do.”His voice was as sturdy as stone, each word a promise.“You will accompany me to your home country.And you will open the vaults for me, one by one?—”
My stomach turned to ice.“You do not understand what you are?—”
“I understand entirely.This could be difficult for you, but I will make it easy.Halvar will stay with those I trust.He will not be harmed—you know I love him.I could not allow harm to come to him.But you will not see him again until I have seen the inside of a vault.”
