Read Online Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale - Free Book Online

Bjorn is … Well, surely you’ve met him by now. What is your opinion of our king?”
    The room was quiet, everyone watching Miri. Her mouth felt dry. If she was to learn more for Katar, she had to convince them she was on their side.
    “He eats large breakfasts and falls asleep during plays,” Miri said.
    There was a hushed sound of relief as many in the room exhaled. Timon stood beside Miri, a hand on her shoulder, as if claiming her as one of their own. The touch was gratifying. She continued.
    “I expected the king to be like the head of our village council—the biggest, the strongest, the first and last at work each day. But King Bjorn—does he do anything ?”
    “Besides grow fat off the labor of the shoeless?” said Timon.
    “It is a shame. What marvels a ruler could accomplish.” Lady Sisela’s smile hinted at secrets and possibilities. “If Bjorn had married someone like me or you, Miri, instead of his pretty, dull-witted doll, Danland’s changes might come from within the palace itself. We could enter a golden age! Ah well. In the end, I married a fine man, even if he was a noble .” She smiled to show she was teasing, but then her smile faltered. “He opposed the king’s tributes and was executed.”
    “Oh!” Miri covered her mouth with her hands.
    “It was some time ago. The heartache no longer grips me, but I cannot forget. I need not explain justice to a fellow academy graduate. You and I, we are sisters of a kind, aren’t we?”
    “I hope so, Lady Sisela.”
    “Call me Sisi. No title, not from your lips.”
    Miri had no memory of her mother, but at that moment she began to imagine, even to hope, that she had been a lot like Lady Sisela.
    Clemen, the lanky, thin-nosed pianist, transitioned into a more rousing song. A couple of the women sang about the downtrodden workers of Danland, repeating the chorus: “ We will march this kingdom down, we will break the golden crown .”
    “‘The Shoeless March,’” said Clemen, trilling out the last notes. “A composition from Rilamark.”
    Lady Sisela said, “Miri, are you familiar with the news from Rilamark?”
    “It’s the kingdom east of Danland,” Miri said as if spouting information for a test.
    “Not a kingdom any longer,” Hanna said happily.
    This time no one shushed Hanna, and Miri suspected she had been taken into their trust.
    “The people of Danland know what the king allows them to know,” said Timon. “The only legal news journal is the one his officials write. But the master scholars in the Queen’s Castle exchange letters with the university in Rilamark.”
    “Just months ago, Rilamark was a kingdom like our own,” said Lady Sisela. “A monarch in a crown ruled in riches while millions of commoners went hungry. Now Rilamark is a nation governed by its own people, no king or queen to rob them of their goods. At the harvest giving, even Danland’s nobles showed they tire of our king.”
    “That’s good, right?” Miri said. Surely nobles had more power than commoners and a better chance of making change. “If the nobles and commoners work together, we could make sure Mount Eskel—and any province—didn’t have to pay heavy tributes—”
    “The nobles don’t care about us,” said a woman in servant’s black.
    “It’s true, Miri,” said Timon. “Nobles have done next to nothing to improve the lives of the commoners on their lands. All they care about is their own wealth and power.”
    “But …” Miri looked at Lady Sisela, who was clearly a noble herself.
    “Even I will attest to that,” said Lady Sisela, raising her hand.
    Some in the room chuckled.
    “We here have taken a solemn pact to educate the shoeless,” said Lady Sisela. “It is in their power to transform this kingdom, if only they believe it. Hope spreads like wildfire. We shall follow Rilamark’s brave example. We shall create a nation ruled by the people, where everyone has the chance to thrive.”
    As Lady Sisela was speaking,