Chapter 4
an audience
with the King
The dining hall was a grand room with tall, narrow windows that peaked at the top. The thin strips of iron that held the stained-glass pieces together glowed softly when the sunbeams touched them.
It was impossible not to hear the melodic echo of her heeled shoes when entering the grand room. The sound brought her back to when she had been sixteen and worn high heels for the first time. She’d felt so grown up that day, tapping the heels against their small porch as she waited for Aaron to fetch her for the summer fair. The shoes had been Mother’s, from the time she’d spent in the big city. She had found them only two days earlier while rummaging in the shed. After polishing them, Mother had presented the shoes to Nelia when she came in from finishing
