Marin accepted both. “You won’t get in trouble for removing her from the library?”
“All my staff are distracted by the events at the palace. I ordered the removal of all scrolls and art from the North Reading Room, to be placed in secure storage, in case of further upheaval. No one will notice that this statue did not make it with the rest.”
“You expect further upheaval? Beyond the…” What was the word? “… defenestration?” Wasn’t it enough that the emperor was dead? Splatted? Hadn’t the revolutionaries achieved their goal? She thought again of the sorcerer blasts she’d heard. She wondered if that meant more violence or an end to it. At some point, the imperials would exact punishment.
“I have studied history,” Rijes said. “No matter how just the revolutionary cause is, the outcome of chaos is never certain and rarely short-lived. Violence begets violence, and forced change is as painful as birth and even less assured of success. You would do best to avoid Alyssium in the near future, if you can.”
That sounded like excellent advice. She trusted Rijes’s assessment far more than she trusted her own gut. “Do you…” Marin wasn’t sure if she was overstepping. This was the head librarian, after all, one of the most important people in the empire, keeper of all knowledge, history, and intellectual treasures—and especially every spellbook ever written. But Marin had already started the question, so she plunged ahead and finished it. “Do you want to come with me? Away from Alyssium? I can take you to wherever you’d like to go.”
Perri echoed that offer by rising halfway out of the water andspreading his fins. He chirped a cascade of notes at her, encouraging her to come.
“I…” Rijes began. For an instant, Marin saw an emotion flicker on Rijes’s face, but it was too fast for her to identify what it was. “Thank you for the kind offer. It’s appreciated.”
“I mean it,” Marin said. “If it’s going to get unsafe, that means it’s especially unsafe for all the important people.” The head librarian wasn’t an emperor, but she had power and influence. Marin knew enough of history to know people with power and influence didn’t always have happy or quiet endings to their tales. “You can come back when it’s calmed down.”
“My place is here,” Rijes Velk said. “There are irreplaceable treasures that I must ensure are not lost. I have taken oaths to protect them.”
“Your life is an irreplaceable treasure,” Marin said.
Rijes smiled again, and Marin had the sense she didn’t smile often. Each smile seemed to surprise her, as if she didn’t know her lips curved that way anymore. “I knew I was right to choose you. You should go, before it worsens or before anyone seeks me out.”
“You should take the crate of books.”
Rijes shook her head. “They’ll only be in danger—”
“It will give you an excuse for being here on the dock, if anyone notices. You can wheel them directly to your secure storage, if you want.” She maneuvered the statue onto the deck of the boat and then inched it toward the stairs. Made of wood, it wasn’t light, but she’d hauled heavier supplies. She didn’t lack for muscles. Bracing herself, Marin carried the statue of the librarian downstairs into the cabin and then returned with the crate of books. Huffing, she carried the crate off the boat and placed it on the same wheeled pallet that Rijes had used for the statue. “You should think about leaving, though, if it gets bad. Books aren’t worth more than your life.”
“We will agree to disagree on that.”
As soon as the crate was positioned in the lift, Rijes stepped in beside it, and Marin returned toSilver. She unwound the line fromthe cleats. Behind her, the library lift door squealed as it shut, and Marin thought of one more question: “What spell did she cast? What did she do to get herself condemned?”
Rijes said simply, “She made herself a friend.”
And then the lift carried her upward.
CHAPTER FOUR
It was nearly sunset by the time Marin was able to pole her way to the southern gate. She was not alone: the canals were packed with families fleeing Alyssium. Ships, boats, gondolas, and skiffs clogged the waterways, slowing her down. She didn’t know if they were imperial sympathizers or just people who didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a violent conflict, but it didn’t matter. Everyone in the canals wanted the same thing: to leave.
She didn’t have a plan for what to do if the gateways were shut and they couldn’t.
She tried not to think about it—why would the guards seal the city?—but by the time she maneuveredSilverthrough the crowd to the archway, her hands were slick with sweat and her heart was racing like a merhorse galloping through the waves, and she’d thought of at least eight different reasons why the guards might want to seal the city in the wake of the emperor’s murder. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she thought it would be a sensible precaution.
Luckily, it appeared that the guards were too preoccupied to be sensible.
She saw the archway up ahead, open and unwatched, and she poled faster. Beside her, the surface rippled as Perri swam, submerged enough to be invisible to the other boats, close enough thatwhen it was her turn to pass through the arch into the open sea, she knew he was safely with her.
Raising her sails, Marin caught the wind and spurted away from the city. She wondered if the other crafts had a destination or if their only goal wasaway. She didn’t blame them. Certainly she had had enough of Alyssium.
Beside her, Perri breached and then crashed down, stretching to his fullest now that he could. He chirped at her and then craned his head to look back at the city.
She sang notes back at him as she twisted to glance behind her. Even with only a little bit of distance, Alyssium looked beautiful and peaceful and not at all like a city that had just defenestrated its emperor and allowed two sorcerous blasts within its walls. She felt sick, thinking of all the people who were going to suffer when the imperials enacted their retribution. In the dying light, it glowed amber, a candle against the deepening blue.
“He’ll be safe,” Marin told Perri.
After leaving Rijes Velk and the Great Library, she’d tried to pole her way back to the conservatory to reinforce her “don’t leave the conservatory” directive, but the canals had been clogged with boats and skiffs and ships. She’d had to give up and go with the flow toward the gate.
She hoped Dax stayed oblivious within its walls.His friends and the grandmasters will ensure he doesn’t leave.They’d kept the news of the revolution from him, telling him it was only more of the same kind of protests; surely they’d keep him physically safe as well. “He’ll be all right,” she reiterated, as much to herself as to Perri. “The revolution won’t touch the conservatory, even if the violence spreads. He’ll be safe there.”
