More than once, she’d thought about riding to Durent to see him. It was close to the City. It wouldn’t be hard to find his guard post. They could just talk. Maybe she would even be honest, and tell him that she felt the same.
It wouldn’t change anything.
It’s not like she could leave everything behind, and his reception probably wouldn’t be warm even if she did–
“Kara, are you even listening?” her mother said, frowning.
She startled. “Yes. Of course.”
Liar.
She threw herself back into the conversation with more enthusiasm than it called for. She was mid-sentence about lavender fruit at the reception when a knock rattled the door.
It was sharp – urgent.
Her mother turned, her eyebrows drawing together in surprise.
Henry stood, already alert.
A servant entered, breathless. “Lord Henry. Lady Kara. You are summoned to Council Hall. Immediately.”
“At this hour?” her mother objected.
“It’s urgent, my Lady. Lord Alaric expects them.”
Kara’s heart began to race. She stood and met Henry’s gaze – even he looked tense now.
What had happened?
The air outside held a bitter chill that hadn’t been there before, the wind whipping Kara’s cloak behind her as she climbed the stone steps of the Council Hall with Henry. The building loomed against the clouded night sky, its tall black spires lit only by the flicker of lanterns. Two Thorne guards stood watch at the oak doors, their faces giving nothing away.
“What do you think this is about?” Kara asked Henry.
“No idea,” he said, his mouth set in a thin line. “But it must be serious to call us like this.”
The guards opened the heavy doors without a word. Inside, voices from the Council chamber echoed throughout the marble atrium – low, urgent, worried. Kara recognised her father’s voice amongst them.
Something was very, very wrong.
Henry’s hand brushed lightly against her lower back as they crossed the threshold and approached her father. Every Council member was present at the table. All of them. Even Tobias Thorne, who rarely attended outside the Arcalon, or when his soldiers were called to service.
Her father didn’t wait for her to speak. “The Earth Shard has been taken.”
Kara’s hands flew to her mouth. Henry stiffened beside her.
“Durent and Sorrel are in chaos. The magic of their lands in disarray,” her father said.
Lord Merrick Durent rose from his seat, his broad shoulders dominating the space, voice echoing through the chamber. “Bridges have collapsed. Entire structures, gone without warning. Gods only know how we’ve had no loss of life, but in Sorrel–” he gestured towards Lady Evelyn Sorrel across the table, “–the crops began to wither the moment the Shard was taken. If it continues, Vallenna will starve.”
“But how could it have been taken?” Kara asked. “The Shards are protected, guarded by Thorne soldiers.”
A heavy silence fell.
All eyes turned to Tobias Thorne. There was accusation in every glance. She didn’t understand, not until he spoke.
“The Shard,” he said, “was taken by someone from my House. That is how they bypassed the guard.”
The world shrank around her.
