Page 55 of Soul of Fire

“I think so.”

“Arik didn’t tell you anything else?” She asked incredulously. “No hidden doorways or secret codes or anything?”

I frowned. “It’s not a fairytale, Branka.”

She gave me a wry look. “It’s a magical book about the history of dragonkind. It may as well be.”

An elderly skald shuffled out from a nearby shelf, and we sank back into the shadows. “We need the skalds to leave,” I hissed.

“On it.” Branka turned back toward the front of the library, shuffling far too swiftly to be a skald.

What is she doing?I asked Bryndis.

A pause, and then golden sunshine filled my mind.Sheis lighting one of the chairs on fire, Drekadrottning.

She’s what?!

The next moment there was shouting and crackling, and the old skald near us let out a cry as he fled to the scene of the disaster.

Go now,Idunn commanded.Grab it!

I didn’t hesitate, running toward the lectern and praying no one would see me as I snatched the book off the podium and returned to my shadows, breathing heavily.

This is it?The cover was a deep green leather stamped with embossed golden lettering I couldn’t read, and it was surprisingly small for such an important artifact. I flipped through a few pages to make sure it was the right thing, and was met with an illustration of the different dragons and their sizes. I frowned, waiting for the Book to do something more exciting, but nothing happened.

I thought it would be more magical.

Idunn reached out through my senses, examining the book as well. I knew my eyes glowed blue as she looked over each page with me.Something isn’t right.

“How do we get it out of here?” Branka startled me as she appeared at my side, and I snapped the book shut. I’d have to look at it more closely when we weren’t at risk of being caught. “Is that it?”

I nodded, slipping the Book beneath the scratchy robes. I had to hold it against my torso to stop it from falling to the floor, which made it look as if I were hunched in pain.

Just playing to my strengths, I supposed.

“Hold my arm as if you’re helping me,” I suggested, beginning to shuffle back to the entrance. “If anyone asks, mutter something about illness and don’t stop.”

“The fire is already out, but I can say you breathed in smoke or something?”

I nodded, hobbling along and trying not to garner the attention of the other skalds.

But when we reached the doors and looked back, there were no skalds in the library at all. We were completely alone.

Branka laughed. “That was almost too easy.”

“Branka, wait—“

The laugh died on her lips as she threw the door open to find the king, a ring of guards with swords drawn surrounding him, and several elderly skalds, some with dark smudges of ash on their robes, cowering against the stone wall behind him.

The king held out his hand as he glowered at me. “The Book. Now.”

Chapter seventeen

Eisa

Wewereledbysword point to the Great Hall, and my only comfort was that at least Arik and Jorgen had not been with us and might yet get away.

It was a forlorn hope.