Arik stopped.“Where is Halvar?”
“I…” My hands tightened on my lyre.“I left him aboard.He… loved it so much.”
“Does not surprise me!”King Arik said cheerily.“He came from the storm.”
He nodded to Ivar and Eydis.They left without a word or even an acknowledgement, which felt odd for both of them.
My heart pattered a little faster, and I opened my mouth to greet Arik in return, but he was much quicker.
“I have been thinking about what you said when you cast my stones.And I am left with many questions.I will decide which course to take this day.It is important that I know who is to betray me before I do.”
I shifted.“Betray?”
“Yes,” he said, coming around the table so we were facing each other.“The person who is to harm me?—”
“I said disappoint?—”
“Disappoint, betray—to a king these are the same thing.”
My jaw tensed.
“You said I would not expect it.This is the part, Gentlewoman, that confuses me.As always, with everyone, I am expecting it.”
“I… maybe I choose poor words, I had only just learned to speak?—”
“It matters not.These were the wordsskaelhad you speak.I am hoping you could cast my stones once more before I make my final decisions.You and Jorn have given me drastically different readings.”
“Of course,” I said, my heart still pattering inexplicably.I turned to the tent entrance, which Eydis had closed on her way out.“I didn’t bring my casting stones—” I had packed them, thinking Arik might ask me to read for him, but hadn’t thought to bring them to shore.I’d been too distracted by the mass of ships.
“Use these.”Arik tossed a sack across the table, and it landed with a plop in front of me.The bag was made of orange felt.It was familiar to me…
I set my lyre down on the table and picked up the pouch, my mind scrambling to place where I’d seen it before.
They’re Jorn’s, I realized.The king had given me Jorn’s casting stones.
Beware, they said from within their little pouch.Beware.
My fingers threatened to shake as I loosened the leather drawstring.Tell me quickly,I thought at the stones.Where is Jorn?
I slid my fingers into the bag and pulled out a single stone.Birth.That was also the stone for death.
I looked up at Arik.He seemed his normal self, enthusiastic, picking apart an idea in his mind.Surely, he would be bothered if Jorn were dead.
“What question do you have?”I said.
“Ah, first I would ask about the man you were betrothed to, Grainkeeper Loric.”
Grainkeeper, I thought.Rowan had told me he inherited his father’s kepen since I’d seen him last.Someone must have told King Arik as well.“What about him?”
“Do you think, if he were to discover you were with me, he would agree to meet and talk?How do you think he would respond?”
“He hardly knew me?—”
“Ask the stones,” Arik said.
So I did.I meant to scatter only one, but three came out.I raised my brows in genuine surprise.“They say he would… offer to pay you for my release.”They also said he would hold back his forces, but I didn’t believe that part for a moment, so I didn’t say it.A grainkeeper’s most important role was ensuring the defence of their fields.The order wouldn’t approve of him holding back his knights.
“You doubt the stones?”
