“These are the royal apartments,” Zella said, stopping outside one of the few closed doors. It was made of polished red oak, and carved with the Skalan royal crest above that of the Hierophant.

“The governor seems to have wanted to link the histories of Skala and Kouros,” Seregil remarked.

“Toneus thought to honor the queen by including both crests, to show that she is mistress of both.” Zella took out a large key and unlocked the door. “The bedchamber is at the back of the suite, overlooking a garden.”

“Sedge, you’ll take the lead from here,” Klia ordered.

Nodding grimly, the man opened the door and led them into a large receiving room partially furnished with heavily carved pieces similar to what Alec had seen at the governor’s palace. These were pushed to the center of the room, however, and draped with paint-spattered canvas. Two walls were freshly frescoed with archaic designs of lines, circles, cross-hatching, and more of the six-pointed stars they’d seen on the statue. The other two walls were in the process of being painted in a similar fashion. The painters’ tools and buckets were neatly arranged along one wall.

“This, too, is the original style of decoration?” asked Klia. “It’s different than the rest.”

“Yes, Highness.”

“They may have symbolic, perhaps even magical significance dating from the original Hierophant’s time,” Thero mused, studying the symbols on the wall beside him with interest.

“Do you feel any magic here?” asked Alec.

“No more than I have so far. In fact, it may be weaker in here.”

“Where were you when you heard the cries?” Klia asked Sedge.

“Outside the bedchamber, Highness. The governor had dismissed the servants, so it was just him, his lady, and the two guards on duty outside.”

Two smaller rooms let off this one, and a door at the back of the room led down a short corridor to a library with empty shelves and then into a lavish and quite modern bath chamber.

Zella produced a brass key and handed it to Sedge. “Please forgive me if I do not continue with you.” She was pale, and her hands shook noticeably. “It’s just … I knew them.”

Klia nodded. “I understand. Please, go back to the front room. We’ll meet you there.”

“If I may, Highness,” said Captain Brescia. “Let me and a few of my people go in with him first and make sure it’s safe.”

Klia nodded and let the captain and her riders take the lead with Sedge.

Passing through the bath chamber, they went through another short, windowless corridor with several servants’ chambers along it and came at last to a carved door.

“I was here, near the door,” Sedge told them. “And the lieutenant was there on the other side.”

He indicated a corner flanked by bare stone wall. There were no doors or windows a person might have been pulled into or out of.