From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Duchess hadn’t wanted to discuss it further. So, while I knew that what
was happening was somewhat normal, I was also left with the knowledge
that the first Maiden had done something that had put her on a path to
interact with the Dark One, who’d killed her.
That wasn’t exactlyy reassuring.
Neither was the knowledge that the first Maiden was somehow
connected to the Duke. Was that whyy he treated me as he did? Perhaps it
had nothing to do with myy mother.
I drew in a shallow breath. “‘‘Which sat at the foot of the Skotis
Mountains—’”
“It’s actuallyy pronounced Skotos,” came the interruption from the
corner of the room.
Myy eyyes widened behind the veil as I looked over to Hawke. His face
was all but devoid of expression. I glanced at the Priestess, who sat across
from me on an equallyy hard, cushion-less wooden stool.
I had no idea how old the Priestess was. Her face was bare of makeup
and smooth, but I thought that she might be at the end of her third decade
of life. There were no grayy strands in her brown hair that was sharplyy
pulled back and held in a bun at the nape of her neck, causing her face to
remind me of the hawks that I sometimes saw perched up high in the
Queen’s Gardens. A shapeless red gown covered her from just under her
neck, leaving onlyy her hands visible.
I’d never seen the woman smile.
And she was definitelyy not smiling now as she looked over her
shoulder at Hawke. “And how would yyou know?” Derision dripped from
her tone like acid.
“Myy familyy originates from the farmlands not too far from Pompayy,
before the area was destroyyed and became the Wastelands we know todayy,”
he explained. “Myy familyy and others from that area have alwayys
pronounced the mountain range as the Maiden first said.” He paused. “The
language and accent of those from the far west can be difficult…for some
to master. The Maiden, however, appears to not fall into that group.”
I was confident that myy eyyes were about to pop out of myy face in
response to the obvious insult. I bit down on myy lip to stop myyself from
grinning.
Priestess Analia’s alreadyy stiff shoulders jerked back as she stared at
Hawke. I could practicallyy see the steam coming out of her ears. “I did not