Chapter 18: The Memorial

The great hall of Stonecrown held four hundred people, and every one of them was in black.

I stood behind the double doors with my hood up and my hand in Caleb's.

Keely was at my other side with the black case in both arms.

Through the crack I could see the dais.

The king sat at the center of it, young and tired, with his chin on his fist.

Three elders of the council sat on his left, and Hortense stood on his right.

Ansley was at the lectern in grey silk with a lavender ribbon, holding a single sheet of paper.

Alastair sat in the first row. He looked as if someone had taken the bones out of him.

"I will read my sister's last wish," Ansley said.

Her voice shook so prettily that a woman near the front began to cry.

"I, Rosalind Ferris, being of failing health, name my beloved sister Ansley as my heir in all things.

"I ask that the Luna's seal pass to her hand, so that Stonecrown is never without a mistress."

She looked up with wet eyes.

"I will sign the transfer here, before the Crown, in her memory."

An elder uncapped a pen.

"Now," I said.

Caleb pushed the doors open with both hands.

They banged against the walls, and four hundred heads turned.

I walked up the center aisle with my hood still up.

Nobody spoke. Someone's chair scraped.

Halfway to the dais I stopped, and put the hood back, and let them look.

A woman screamed.

A man near the door made the sign against the dead.

The whole hall rose at once, and the benches roared across the floor.

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