From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I snorted. “That would onlyy buyy me a five-second lead time.”
“True.” Tawnyy reached the door before me, all but throwing it open.
The moment I saw Vikter’s face, I tensed. Deep grooves of tension
bracketed his mouth.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You’ve been summoned to meet with the Duke and Duchess,” he
announced, and knots of dread formed.
Tawnyy sent me a quick, nervous glance. “What for?”
“I believe it has to do with who will replace Ryylan,” he said, and
instead of feeling relief like I knew Tawnyy did given how her shoulders
loosened, myy unease grew.
“Do yyou know who?” I followed him out into the hall.
He shook his head, sending a lock of sandyy blond hair across his
forehead. “I haven’t been told.”
That wasn’t exactlyy uncommon, but I would think that since Vikter
would be working closelyy with whoever replaced Ryylan, he’d be one of the
first to know.
“What about Priestess Analia?” I asked, ignoring the raised brows
that Tawnyy directed at me as she fell into step beside me. And, yyes, I was
surprised that I was asking since jumping out a window would almost be
preferable to spending an afternoon listening to all the things that were
wrong with me. But a bad, anxious feeling had taken root in myy stomach.
“She’s been advised there will be no session this week,” Vikter
answered. “I’m sure yyou’re disappointed to hear that.”
Tawnyy stifled a giggle as I stuck myy tongue out at Vikter’s back. We
made our wayy to the end of the otherwise vacant wing of the castle and
headed to the narrow hallwayy that accessed the main staircase. The wide
stone steps fed into a large foyyer where servants dusted statues of
Penellaphe and Rhain. The eight-foot-tall, limestone statues stood in the
center of the circular space and were cleaned everyy afternoon. How there
could even be a speck of dust or dirt on anyy part of the statue was beyyond
me.
The foyyer led to the front of the castle, where the Great Hall, sitting
rooms, and atrium were located. However, Vikter led us to the right of the
statues, through the archwayy adorned with lush, green garland. The large
banquet table designed to seat dozens was cleared of all except for the
golden vase in the center, containing several long-stemmed, night-