“Well, maybe except for the Aetheric thing.”
“The Aetheric thing is complicated enough. Maybe as complicated as being royal. Even without a treasure room. Although if there’s no treasure, it’s just a room.”
I stopped, looked at him. “What did you say?”
“That I care about you?”
“No—about the room.”
He looked puzzled, ran a hand through his hair. “If there’s no treasure, it’s just a room?”
Hadn’t I said something similar about the library? Maybe it was time to reveal that particular secret. “Come with me,” I told him, and waited for him to follow.
I led him to the library and heard his sigh behind me when I opened the door. “I can barely stand to see this,” he said. “It’s depressing. Feckless damned brother. Why are we here?”
“Because I found something I couldn’t figure out. Maybe you can.”
“Found something?”
I slipped the coded book from its spot on the shelf, carried it to the bookcase that led to the secret room, and opened the door.
“What in Oblivion?” he murmured, and stepped inside. “A secret damned room?” He walked around, surveying the empty shelves, table, chair. “How long have you known about this?”
“My first visit to the library. I’m a very clever Fox.”
“I’d be mad you didn’t tell me if I didn’t find it incredibly arousing.” He stopped on the other side of the table and looked back at me. “Why did you bring me here?”
“There’s ash on the floor,” I said. “And only one book left hiding in a corner. The ones who apparently cleaned out the room didn’t find it. They didn’t want anyone else to find what they’d had in here, so it must mean something.”
I put it on the table in front of him.
He opened it, his brow furrowed. “By the gods…” he murmured after a moment, and a smile appeared.
“What is it? Can you read it?”
He looked up, a boyish grin on his face. “It’s the princes’ language—made up by my older brothers. It was passed along through books and messages so we could communicate with each other in secret.” He looked up. “Although it’s impossible our father didn’t understand it. He wouldn’t have allowed real secrets.”
“So it was probably made and left by one of the former princes—one of your brothers. What does it say?”
He flipped through some pages. “I’m not sure. I’m going to need to translate it, and that will take a while. I haven’t used these words in years.”
He looked up and pressed his lips to mine. “Good work, Little Fox.”
I did a curtsy.
“You’re getting better at that. Not great, but better.”
I poked him in his side.
We closed up the secret room, the book in the prince’s hands.
“Oh, the things I could do to you in a library, Fox.”
My toes curled in my boots. “Such as?”
“How sturdy do you think that ladder is?”
I blinked, trying to imagine exactly how…
