The messenger arrived before breakfast.
Pela heard the commotion first — the sound of boots on the main corridor stone, faster than the usual morning pace — and leaned out of the nursery doorway to look.
"What's happening?" Sola appeared behind her, Beren against her shoulder, one hand patting his back in slow circles.
"No idea." Pela muttered, craning her neck.
Mara was already dressed, sitting on the bench along the nursery wall with her hands around a cup of something warm that one of the kitchen girls had brought up. She listened to the footsteps fade toward the council wing and said nothing.
They found out at midmorning.
Dara gathered the household staff in the main corridor with the brisk efficiency of someone who had been given information and a task simultaneously and intende
