“I’m glad,” she said. “I feel that our interpretation of Decens-Lenitas is the same. I feel, Kaelyn, that we are of the same heart, the same cloth.”
I couldn’t believe what Lordin was saying. She and I, of the same cloth? Could it be true? And the whole time, Zawne was petting Lordin and smiling at me. Was I in a freaking dream?
“We need you to sign the papers right away,” Zawne said. “I’ve prepared the necessary documents to transfer ownership, funds, and other technical details from Lordin’s private work over to you.” He gestured to a small stack of papers on the table between us. “Will you sign them?”
I beamed widely. “Do you have a pen?”
“It went well,” I said to Tissa. We were in the office the morning after I had accepted Lordin’s offer, going through the insane amount of paperwork that had flooded in overnight. “Lordin was different in person. She was tired. Like, really tired. It made me wonder if something more hadn’t been going on behind the scenes.”
“Like what?” Tissa asked.
I crinkled my nose. “I’m not sure. It was just a gut feeling, you know? Something felt off.”
“But how was Zawne? Is he as handsome in person as he is on the—?”
I rolled my eyes at Tissa. “I can’t answer that, not with the way he and Lordin were totally in love with each other. It would be inappropriate of me to call Zawne handsome … which he was!”
She giggled. “I knew it!”
“Seriously,” I said, “Zawne and Lordin are the most lovey-dovey duo I have ever met. At one point, after I had signed all the documents, Lordin fell asleep, and Zawne quietly told me about their first date. It was so magical!”
“Magical how?” Tissa asked. She had forgotten all about her work. “Tell me. I must know!”
I straightened up. “Okay, here’s the deal. Zawne told me they first met at Prince Jaken’s homecoming ceremony, two years ago, after his Aska training. Zawne was in the crowd, and Lordin came out on stage with the Grucken. He told me how beautiful she had looked to him, speaking into the microphone, congratulating the bold warriors on their hard years of struggle and training. Lordin was showering the warriors with praise, telling them all how proud Geniverd was of them. But all that Zawne could concentrate on were the blue oceans in her eyes.”
I sighed, getting soft at my own telling of Zawne’s story. “Once Lordin got off the stage, Zawne scrambled through the crowd, looking for her. He completely ignored the throngs of young women and heiresses keen on trying to seduce him and found Lordin on the other side of the room. He was out of breath when he got to her. Zawne pulled her aside and said, ‘I know this is inappropriate. You might not even know who I am, so I apologize. But your beauty has arrested me. I must see more of you, Lordin. Can we meet?’”
I was giggling now. “Isn’t that great, Tiss? It was love at first sight. Obviously, Lordin agreed to the date, but they kept it secret. They met at Lithern Shrine in the Grucken’s training complex early one morning. Zawne arrived in his blue steel flyrarc like an action hero. Lordin made him tea. They lingered around Lithern Shrine all day and were in love before nightfall. They continued to see each other in secret for over a year.”
“That’s kind of hot,” Tissa said, getting all flustered. “I wish I could have a secret romance … Well, any romance would do. A secret romance with a rich prince would do better.”
“You will have your time,” I assured her. “Your day is coming. Actually, I wanted to mention something to you about my brother, Raad. Maybe if—”
“Be careful, Tiss.” Nnati entered the room and cut me off. “You could find yourself on the throne!”
Tissa and I winked at each other. I’d save that conversation for another time. I knew that Tissa would absolutely gush if I told her my brother was interested in a date with her.
Later that evening, when I was alone in my apartment, my mind returned to Lordin’s moist eyes and her sunken body. I turned my visin on and flicked to the celebrity channel, hoping to catch a glimpse of her looking more cheerful. I flipped onto the news channel for a moment first and saw that there had been another fire, this time a huge inferno that had swallowed some nobleman’s nine-story castle in the northern Lodden mountains, where he and his family went skiing in the winter. The fire was so strong it had melted the stones and left a brown spot in the snow, but somehow there were no casualties at all. The reports on the news were starting to call the arsonist “the Gurnot Dragon.”
I finally reached the celebrity channel and gasped at what I saw on the screen.
Lordin has been found dead on a walkway near Sud Cottage, where she lived with Prince Zawne. There are reports that she was decapitated with a cleaver.
Chapter 4
I was still in shock at the funeral a month later. It was hard to comprehend that Lordin was dead. I had watched her for so many years on the visin, then finally been invited into her home and embraced as a friend, only to have her gone the next day. I had spent the last month in shock. The only thing that had kept me sane was focusing on the overload of work that she had passed on to me. It made me wonder, Did Lordin know she was going to die?
“Bad way to go, huh?” Nnati asked. He stood to my left, Tissa on my right. We were watching the crowd of mourners cry as everyone readied themselves for the traditional Gaard burial. We were to walk Lordin’s remains one mile to her ultimate resting place on land acquired by VondRust Palace on Zawne’s
