Earthly Crown by Kate Elliott Read Free Book Online Page B

said, and he winked at Diana and left, that fast. Leaving her breathless and embarrassed and warm.
    David moved away from her, walking over to sit down on a bench. She felt all at once that she didn’t have to make any excuses to David, that he wouldn’t judge her. Marco had a reputation; he didn’t apologize for it or even try to hide it. So why, when she sat down herself and closed her eyes, was his the first image that came to her mind? But after a while, the peace of the chapel seeped into her, and she let the silence wash over and envelop her, the silence through which the Divine spoke to each individual.
    “David!” A sharp whisper.
    Diana started. Suzanne Elia Arevalo hurried into the room, striding over to stand beside David, who lifted his head and regarded her quizzically.
    “Charles needs you. You can’t imagine—” She broke off and looked straight at Diana. “Oh, hell,” she swore. “I need another woman anyway. Diana—that’s right, isn’t it?” Suzanne had a brisk, competent air about her. Diana felt impelled to stand up, like a soldier awaiting orders. “Are you free? I don’t know how long it will take.”
    “I’m free for the evening,” Diana admitted.
    “Good! Then come along.”
    “You might explain—” protested David, but he followed meekly in her wake, and Diana was far too curious to be left behind.
    As they hurried down the yellow curve, Suzanne spoke in a hushed voice. “That wand, the request, came from a Chapalii lord who is on board with his family. Well, his wife and retinue, in any case. It turns out that his firstborn child—or male child, it must be, since it’s to be his heir—is about to be born. And under Chapalii law the birth of an heir must be witnessed by a noble of higher rank. Well, Charles is the only duke on board—so…Here.”
    They came to a pink lift, which halfway through its rise turned flat white on all its walls. It opened onto a threshold of granite columns. The scent of cloves and cinnamon hung in the air, smothering, and the heat swallowed them. Diana broke into a sweat. Four stewards waited at the threshold. Their pale skin bore tints of colors, bewildering in their variety. Under their escort, the three humans proceeded forward. Diana stared around, but here in the sacrosanct Chapalii halls she saw nothing that looked different: just the sickly-orange walls. They crossed two intersections and came to a broad white seam. One side opened. The stewards gestured to David to go through, and followed after.
    Suzanne laid a hand on Diana’s arm. “We don’t go with him. There’s a separate place for the females.”
    “But why—?”
    “—are we here?” Now they waited alone in the corridor. Suzanne leaned back and looked down one curve, then the other, and touched the brooch at her shoulder. She swung her shoulder slowly back and forth, taking in the entire scene—scanning it, maybe—not that the scene itself was much to look at. “Charles has Marco and David attending him, and evidently they want two females to balance the two male attendants. I don’t know. Parity? Harmony? Hostages? How should I know? Have you ever seen a Chapalii female?”
    “Of course not! I thought they were all in seclusion, or something. Purdah.”
    Suzanne took her hand off the brooch. “Neither have I, and I, my dear, have seen a damn sight more of the Chapalii than most people. And no human has ever witnessed the birth of a Chapalii child. Ah.”
    The other side of the seam opened. A rush of cooler air swept over them, mingling with a scent like nutmeg and a charge in the air that sent prickles down Diana’s back. She tried to shake it off, but it coursed down through her and made tiny sparks at her feet as she and Suzanne stepped onto the black-tiled floor of the chamber within.
    A riot of color greeted them, so profuse that it made Diana dizzy. Animals and plants in garish hues intertwined like lovers clutched together in an endless embrace. A beaded