The Waking Crossroads
Excerpt
Suddenly self-conscious, Elowyn tore her gaze away to see that the entire assembly was staring at the newcomer in degrees of shock, icy contempt, and horror. One person even took a step back from him.
Yikes.
She glanced across the Guardians’ expressions. None were surprised. Most were curious. One or two were carefully – though not entirely – concealing… agitation? All of them were also staring.
“Is that a shade?” someone asked in a stage whisper.
The elegant woman to her left was the first to turn away, facing ahead as if the man who roughly fifty sets of eyes were boring holes into didn’t exist. Her expression remained indecipherable.
Elowyn turned back to look at the young man and found he met her eyes.
She attempted a warm smile, but under the weight of all the awkward silence, it turned into a sort of friendly cringe. Without hesitation, the man’s ghost-pale face cracked into a toothy grin. Head tilted, eyes squinting, he playfully imitated her pained greeting. Elowyn laughed and three people almost hit the ceiling.
The orator coughed politely, “Ahem. Welcome! Kiran of Amaranthos, ward of the Court of Tantalus-“
Kiran approached the assembly. He walked on eggshells and somehow made it look liquid. Stopping on the outskirts of the group, he spoke like he was sharing a bit of news over a coffee.
Calculated ease.
“Master orator, an amendment to your records if I may?”
The orator was clearly not accustomed to this level of formality. After a few moments, he clued into the expectant pause and responded.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
This close, Elowyn could see Kiran’s startling cat-like yellow eyes, the only point of saturation in his otherwise overcast complexion.
“Kiran forsaken of Amaranthos, if it please you.”
An audible gasp from several of the candidates. Here the orator gained his composure, apparently unsurprised by the change of title.
“My apologies.”
“None necessary.” Kiran said with a bow, placing his right hand over his left shoulder in the traditional fashion.
He gave Elowyn another glance and they exchanged a genuine smile. This time, his was small and private and perhaps, Elowyn thought, a touch relieved.