by Mike Shelton
The TruthStone, which was in her pocket still, began to feel warm through her dress. She reached her hand in and pulled it out. A green glow spread out from the Moldavite stone and filled the room.
Alva squirmed around in bed and mumbled, “What are you doing, Shae?”
Shaeleen felt panic rising up within her, and she cupped her hand around the stone, to shield Alva from most of its light.
“Nothing to concern yourself with, Alva. Go back to sleep.”
Alva mumbled again and then grew still.
Holding the stone in one hand and the book in the other, Shaeleen noticed faint writing appearing on what had seemed to be a blank page. She moved the stone closer, and the writing became more clear. So she flipped back to the first blank page and read it: If you are reading these words, you are one of the rare holders of a TruthStone. For, to see these words, you had to have been given the stone freely by a keeper—and you are now named a TruthSeer.
A TruthSeer? Shaeleen panicked. No. No. Not me!
Then Shaeleen felt a jolt of energy run from the stone into her hand and up her arm, spreading until it had expanded through all the corners of her body. This brought clarity of mind—the same feeling she had received when Melindra had first given her the stone—but now the feeling remained with her.
“Oh no,” she groaned softly and dropped the stone on top of her blanket. The words on the page disappeared once again, and the stone’s green glow diminished back to the normal dull shine of the Moldavite itself.
What have I gotten myself into this time?
Shaeleen wrapped back up the stone and the book, hiding them under her pillow, changed into her nightclothes, and then lay down to sleep. But sleep didn’t come that easy. She tossed and turned as she thought about what being a TruthSeer actually meant. She eventually fell asleep, thinking about how her actions had caused her father trouble.
* * *
Early in the morning, as the sun peeked over the horizon, Shaeleen’s eyes popped open, and she found that her hand was under her pillow, cradling the stone in her fingers. She knew now what she must do to fix the problem she had caused. She glanced over at her sister—who was still breathing deeply and would not be up for another hour. Shaeleen hoped no one else was up yet.
Quietly, she changed from her nightclothes into a tan cotton dress, tied her hair back into a ponytail, and slipped on a pair of serviceable brown shoes. Grabbing the TruthStone, she opened the door of her bedroom and looked around. She seemed to be up even before her father, something that was hard to do.
Before going to the front door, Shaeleen grabbed a muffin from the kitchen. Then she headed outside. Biting into the muffin, she wished it was sweeter. I really do have a sweet tooth, she realized with a smile.
It would take her a good half hour of walking to get through the city, though it wouldn’t be crowded this time of day. As she walked closer to the shoreline, she noticed the early fishers already pushing off in their boats and preparing to cast their nets for the daily catch. The sun made her skin tingle, and beads of moisture formed on her brow, both letting her know it would be a warm and humid day.
Soon she came to the nobles’ district. It wasn’t like she wasn’t supposed to be there, but she hugged the shadows anyway. It would not do for a lone girl to get caught, this early in the morning, traipsing through this part of town.
When the sun was shadowed briefly, she peered upward. It was directly behind the tallest spire of the castle, which sat on a small hill next to the shore a few blocks away. She tried to remember the way to Lady Judith’s home, but she got turned around twice. Finally, she recognized the right street.
Coming to their driveway, Shaeleen noticed the gates were still closed. She growled softly. I hadn’t thought about that. She continued walking and came around a corner of the estate. She stopped briefly to consider her options.
Suddenly, she heard, “There you are,” and an older woman came up from behind her, adding, in her high-pitched voice, “Why are you dawdling around here? Get inside now.”
“Inside?” Shaeleen asked as she turned around. She didn’t know what this old woman was talking about. Am I in trouble?
The old woman clicked her tongue and smoothed down the gray bun on the top of her head. “Aren’t you here to help with the party preparations today?”
Party? Shaeleen smiled at her good fortune and said, “Sure. Sure I am.” Then she bowed over with pain. Stupid lies!
A brief look of concern crossed the old woman’s face at seeing Shaeleen’s obvious pain. Then she went back to her stern look. “I don’t care if you are sick or not. I need the help.”
The old woman led her to a back gate, through the grounds of the estate, and into a back door of the mansion. Shaeleen pushed down the pain and stood gawking again at the wondrous riches of the home.
“In here.” The old woman motioned for Shaeleen to follow her again. Soon they came to a large dining room.
“Wow!” Shaeleen gasped. The room’s outside wall alternated between high windows and decorated tapestries. The dark polished table must have been at least thirty feet long. And red velvet, high-backed, cushioned chairs sat around its perimeter.
“Stop gawking, and start working,” the old woman said. “Lady Judith is not paying you to stand around here.”
Shaeleen laughed inside. They had mistaken her for another, but this would be fun.
The old woman showed Shaeleen where all the dishes were, and Shaeleen went about the task of setting the table. But the old woman said she would check on her periodically.
Once she did, Shaeleen asked her a question: “What is the occasion, ma’am?”
“It is Lord Gregory’s birthday, and Lady Judith wants a surprise dinner party for him. He is away on business this morning.”
Shaeleen was surprised that, after yesterday’s events, a party was still in order. She cringed inside at the mess she had made of things and then asked, “The party is still on?”
The old woman stared at her suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”
Shaeleen shrugged. She couldn’t lie without feeling pain, but she could say nothing.
The old woman walked closer to her and grabbed Shaeleen’s arms with both of her own hands. “What have you heard?”
“Nothing,” Shaeleen tried to say but was racked with pain once again. She was able to stay standing ,though, and just had to close her eyes for a moment. Then she corrected herself by adding, “I just heard there was some trouble here yesterday.”
“And where would you hear that from?” came a new voice from behind Shaeleen. It was Lady Judith’s.
Shaeleen turned around and smiled, though she knew her smile was weak.
“Y-you!” Lady Judith stuttered. “What are you doing here?”
Shaeleen searched for the right words to say.
But Lady Judith didn’t wait for a reply. “Alice, why did you let this troublemaker inside my home?” Lady Judith demanded, now turning her attention to the old woman.
Alice’s face turned red. “I thought she was the help we’d hired for the party. There still is a party, isn’t there?”
“And why wouldn’t there be?” Lady Judith snapped. “I surely can’t just disinvite all our important friends because of a spat, can I?”
Then Lady Judith reached her hand out, grabbed a hold of Shaeleen’s arm, and pulled her away, saying, “I will have words with this one.”
Shaeleen tried to think of what she could say as she was pulled into a smaller room. Lady Judith shut the door behind them, and Shaeleen looked up into her demanding eyes.
Shaeleen took a deep breath and plowed ahead, trying not to lie as she did so. “Lady Judith, I am sorry about what happened yesterday. Please don’t punish my father. He is a good man and creates the best furniture in the city. Please give him another chance.”
“And why should I?” Lady Judith asked.
Shaeleen searched for an answer but couldn’t find one.
Lady Judith loo
ked at her shrewdly. “How did you know about my…uh…indiscretions and that my husband was innocent?”
Shaeleen gulped. She couldn’t tell the woman that she had a TruthStone or that she might be a TruthSeer. Shaeleen was still trying to figure out what that even meant.
“I…uh…I guess I am just good at reading people.” Shaeleen braced for the pain, but it didn’t come. Curious, she thought. Maybe she was good at reading people. She would have to think on that later.
Lady Judith squinted her eyes and pursed her lips—lips that were painted bright red. Shaeleen tried not to look away, but finally she did.
“You are right,” Lady Judith said. “Shaeleen—isn’t it?”
Shaeleen turned her face up and nodded. What was Shaeleen right about?
“Your father is one of the best furniture makers in the city, and it would be a waste to neglect his talents and not hire him for more work.” Lady Judith smoothed her hands down over her full skirts of bright blue fabric.
Shaeleen let out a deep breath—which she hadn’t realized she had been holding—and tried to smile as she bobbed her head at the woman and said, “Thank you, Lady Judith. I will go and tell him.”
“Not so fast,” Lady Judith said as Shaeleen began to turn away. “This favor I give does not come without a price.”
“A price?” Shaeleen shifted back and forth on her feet. What did the woman mean?
“I want you at my party tonight,” she said.
Shaeleen was confused by this.
Lady Judith continued, “I want you to tell me who is lying and who is telling the truth.”
Shaeleen gasped. “I can’t do that.” A headache started forming at the base of her head and then spread upward.
“You can’t or you won’t?” Lady Judith asked, her hands on her hips, peering down like a hawk. “You do this for me, or I will destroy your father’s business.”
Shaeleen’s heart pounded. She had never felt so afraid in her life. This woman was threatening her father’s entire livelihood, his ability to take care of their family. Shaeleen had made a bigger mess of things, now, by coming back to Lady Judith’s. I should have left well enough alone.
“Well?” Lady Judith said, waiting for her to answer.
Shaeleen felt the stone in her pocket. It was warm against her skin. She hoped it wouldn’t flash green in front of Lady Judith. Then she did the only thing she could do.
“I will do as you ask.” Shaeleen lowered her eyes to the ground for a moment. Then she let anger fill her, and she looked back up—her mouth tight and her eyes flashing—and said, “But you will make sure my father gets more business than he had ever thought possible. If you don’t do this, then I will tell all your noble friends all your secrets.”
Shaeleen’s head throbbed faintly at saying that. She was pushing the truth. She didn’t really know all of Lady Judith’s secrets. It didn’t work that way. She only knew whether people spoke the truth or not.
“Quite a bit of spunk in you, child.” Lady Judith laughed out loud. “I like that in a young woman. We need more like you in Stronghaven. The men rule over too much as it is. Now, go home and at least try and find something appropriate to wear. It is a party for my lord husband, you know.”
Shaeleen stood still for a moment, thinking.
“Off with you now!” Lady Judith waved her hand in the air. “And be back before dark.”
Shaeleen said nothing more and was soon ushered out of the house, but not before she caught a glimpse of another young woman, working with the old woman in the house, the one that was supposed to have been there all along.
CHAPTER SIX
When Shaeleen arrived back home later that morning, her father demanded to know where she’d been.
Shaeleen smiled broadly. “I got your commission back for Lady Judith, and she has promised to tell all her friends about your talents.”
Her father seemed at a loss for words.
But her brother, Cole, stood off to the side with a look of suspicion on his face. Pushing his dark hair out of his eyes, he walked closer to Shaeleen and their father.
“And why would she do that, Shae?” Cole asked.
Shaeleen paused to consider her words. She was getting better at not lying—or, at least, at hiding the lies among words that were technically true. “I told her how good father was and that she shouldn’t punish him for what I did.” There—that didn’t hurt at all.
“And she just smiled and agreed to your reasoning?” her father asked, joining Cole in a suspicious look.
“Well,” Shaeleen paused, trying to think of what to say. Then she smiled brightly. “On condition that I help her out at a party tonight for her husband.”
Cole’s eyes opened wide in surprise, but he stayed quiet.
Her father shook his head. “Shaeleen, I know there is something you’re not telling me, but I do thank you.”
Shaeleen let out a deep breath and then said, “I think you will find that she mentions you to a lot of her noble friends.”
“If what you say is true, I better get to designing some new pieces.” Her father left to go back to the shop.
Cole, however, walked up closer to her, grabbed Shaeleen’s elbow, and led her farther back behind the shop. The day was growing warmer, and it was more humid among the grass and trees. Beads of sweat began to form on Shaeleen’s brow.
“What are you up to, Shae?” Cole asked.
“Me?” Shaeleen asked, trying to look innocent. But this didn’t work on her brother.
“Shae?”
As Cole stood immovable in front of her, she realized how tall he had grown lately and that his shoulders were more broad now. His face had thinned, and he was looking more like a man all the time.
“I can figure things out,” Cole said. “You agreed to find out something for her about one of her noble friends, didn’t you? Using your TruthStone or whatever it is.”
Shaeleen was surprised at her brother’s leap in logic. But that’s how he always was. The Labradorite IntelligenceStone had been broken up so many times and spread throughout the kingdom of Galena in the last two hundred years that it was hard to find much in any one person. But her brother seemed to have a higher dose of Labradorite flowing through his veins than the rest of the common folk did. He also had extreme strength in and skill with the sword—a power that normally came from the kingdom of Gabor.
“She did invite me to help out at her party tonight,” Shaeleen said. “That was not a lie. I just have to report to her afterward who was lying and whatnot. It’s not a big deal, Cole.”
“I don’t think that is what the TruthStone is supposed to be used for, Shae.” Cole’s eyes squinted at her.
Cole and his desire to always do what was right… She was getting mad at his patronizing tone.
“How would you know what it should be used for? Have you ever had one?” Shaeleen said, deciding to tear into him. “Do you know the burden I carry or the pain I feel when others lie around me now?” She brushed sudden tears from her eyes and turned her head away.
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then Cole took a step toward her. “I’m sorry, Shae. I was being insensitive.”
Shaeleen brought her head up slowly and smiled, blinking back her tears. “So, you can be wrong,” Shaeleen teased.
“Wrong?” Cole raised his dark eyebrows. “I wasn’t wrong. You shouldn’t be messing with magic like this. But I should have tried to understand how you are feeling.”
Shaeleen looked up at him. His light blue eyes stared back intently at her.
They had talked—numerous times in the past—about the color of their eyes and if that meant anything. Up until recently, it hadn’t. But now it seemed that maybe it had been a sign to what might lie ahead.
“Then come with me tonight.”
“What?” Cole seemed surprised. “How will that work?”
“I will inform Lady Judith that you are there to protect my honor in a strange home. She won’t
say no.”
Cole scrunched up his lips, something he always did when deep in thought. “I accept. It will be interesting to see how the nobles act.”
Shaeleen smiled at her brother, and he smiled back. She actually would feel a lot better with Cole there. In a room full of nobles, there was bound to be many lies—lies that would cause her pain.
* * *
Later that night, dressed in their best clothes, Shaeleen and Cole showed up early at Lady Judith’s home. Shaeleen really didn’t like wearing such a tight-fitting dress—cinched at the waist—but Cole looked dashing in his black trousers and blue tunic.
They announced themselves at the front gate, and then a servant met them at the front door.
“Lady Judith has informed me of your attendance tonight, Miss Shaeleen, but not that of another guest.” The servant had to look up because of Cole’s height.
“This is Cole, my brother, and he is here to protect my honor in a house I am not familiar with,” Shaeleen said.
“This is the third time you have been in my home,” came Lady Judith’s voice from down the grand hall, and her footsteps echoed on the hardwood floors. A bright yellow, trumpet styled dress swirled around her as she walked—tight around her body and flaring out below her hips—and silver jewelry adorned her ears, neck, and wrists. Nobody would mistake who was in charge of this function or this home. “I would have thought by now you would feel comfortable.” She stopped in front of Shaeleen and smiled wickedly. Then, turning to Cole, she ran a finger down the side of his cheek. “But he will add a fine look to the evening.”
Cole blushed profusely but bowed ceremoniously to the woman. “I am pleased to be welcomed into your fine home, Lady Judith.”
The woman clapped her hands in apparent joy and laughed. “Oh, Shaeleen, your brother is everything you aren’t.”
Cole’s face turned dark.
But before he could say anything, Lady Judith waved a hand in the air and said, “I will uphold your sister’s honor while she is in my home, Master Cole.”
The servant then escorted Shaeleen and Cole to the ballroom. Tables were set up in the front third, and musicians practiced off in the corner, in front of a small dance floor. A chandelier with at least forty candles lit the room, with smaller lamps and chandeliers spread throughout. It was the largest room Shaeleen had ever been in—even larger than their church’s chapel. Golden picture frames on the walls and artifacts on shelves shimmered while reflecting the bright candlelight.