Behind me, Casteel had stiffened. “The guards are new,” he said to Kieran.

Guards weren’t usually posted at the entrances to where the King and Queen were currently staying?

“That they are.” Kieran drew his horse closer to ours as he eyed the guards. “But not entirely a surprise.”

“No, they are not,” Casteel agreed.

The guards bowed deeply, but they watched the wolven with wary gazes. Suspicion tinged with curiosity radiated from them as we rode through the breezeway. I didn’t pick up on any outright hostility as I guided Setti past them, but they were definitely watchful as we entered the courtyard where a tiered fountain gurgled water. Crimson roses climbed the basin, scenting the air as we dismounted from the horses. Several stable hands appeared, taking the reins.

Placing a steadying hand on my lower back, Casteel guided me toward the rounded steps. A man dressed in a golden tunic stood at the door, bowing before opening both sides. My nervousness resurfaced with a vengeance as we entered a short hall that opened to a circular chamber. The last of the sunlight shone across the numerous rows of empty benches, and light spilled from electric-powered wall sconces inside alcoves on either side of the vast chamber. The space could easily accommodate several hundred, and I couldn’t help but notice how different this was from the Great Hall in Masadonia. There was little to no separation between where the people sat and the dais before them.

My eyes were trained on the white banners hanging on the back wall as Casteel led us to the left. In each banner’s center was an emblem embossed in gold, shaped like the sun and its rays. And at the center of the sun was a sword lying diagonally atop an arrow. It was then when I realized that the arrow and sword were not equally crossed. They met at the top instead of the middle, and I didn’t know how I hadn’t noticed that before or why it stuck out to me now. But situated this way, the sword was actually longer, more prominent than the arrow.

“Has that always been the crest?” I asked.

Kieran shot me a quizzical look as we stopped before the banners. “You ask the most random things.”

Honestly, I did, so I couldn’t even muster up a retort.

“The crest can change with each ruler if they want.” Casteel glanced at the banners. “But it always contains the three symbols—the sun, the sword, and the arrow.”

“So this isn’t the one your mother and father chose?”

He shook his head. “I believe this was what King Malec chose,” he told me, and I was a little surprised to hear that his choice for a crest hadn’t changed.

“The sun represents Atlantia?” I surmised, eyeing the crest. “And, let me guess, the sword represents Malec, and the arrow your mother?”

“You would be right,” Casteel answered. “You don’t like it, do you?”

I shook my head.