Page 117 of The Fifth Heir

“I have work.”

“You always have work.”

“The First Trial record was altered. The Fifth Wing contains sealed cabinets. I manifested a scale no one can identify.”

“And all of those things will remain mysterious for an hour.”

What I wanted was one hour in which she did not have to be an anomaly, an heir, or a problem waiting to be solved. I had no intention of saying that aloud. She might have mistaken me for someone sensible.

“You don’t know that.”

“If one of them resolves itself while we’re gone, Sebastian will be ecstatic.”

Her gaze shifted past me toward the study.

Sebastian turned a page.

Traitor.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“To show you something.”

“No.”

“You don’t know what it is.”

“If you found an unidentified object in the Fifth Wing and touched it without telling anyone—”

“I didn’t touch it.”

She stared at me.

“I can follow rules.”

“For how long?”

“Nearly an entire afternoon.”

The orange runes became gold.

Talia looked upward and sighed.

“Where is it?”

“Through the kitchen.”

“That is not reassuring.”

“It’s perfectly safe.”

“You said that about the Trial.”

“No. I said the Trial probably wouldn’t kill us before dinner. We survived until after breakfast.”

She tried to remain serious.

The corner of her mouth betrayed her.