Rowan, though he had read the story about the world he was now living in, didn't fully grasp the depth of his situation. Unbeknownst to him, he was slowly being absorbed into the very fabric of that tale and he was no longer a reader, but a living part of its rewritten course. What he failed to realize was that everything unfolding before him had already strayed from the original story he once knew.
Though he had forgotten most of the significant details of it.
A perfect example of this was Celestine. She felt no trace of hostility toward him, even though she knew that Rowan was favored by Zalyric, the king himself. And while Zalyric might deny it in words, his actions betrayed him like the way his eyes softened whenever Rowan stood before him spoke volumes. Celestine and anyone else perceptive enough to watch could tell that the king cherished him far more than he ever intended to show.
