Page 129 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Sneering like a little feral cat, she pulled the treats and dove inside the book pages. “This was why I hated these stories when I was a child,” she scoffed, flipping through them with disdain. “So much colour and pretty words for the gruesome truths they were based on. Sam told me Alaric didn’t speak for a whole year after the Ater battles because of the horrors they’d seen. Yet ‘Seven Red Tales of Numen’ paints the soldiers with a smile on their faces and a puny sword.”

“They are for children, Snow,” Nia said quietly.

As if in realisation, my wife’s hand stilled on the page. “For children, yes.”

We looked through the library, each to one corner. We’d spent hours doing so, and before we knew it, that titian glow of sunset filtered through the ceiling windows.

Snow was behind me, raking her attention over the stacks of books when she let out a gasp. She carried a book in her hand, shaking it in amazement. “Marianne Hawthorne,” she whisper-shouted at me. “The unpublished copy of Blood Bound, the recollection of tales: The two lovers of Saratuza.” She fluttered the pages open full of unadulterated marvel, so rare to see. “Do you think he will let me have it?”

I lifted a brow at her and her excitement.

The book was snatched from her hand by Moriko whose stare turned wild when she read the title. “You don’t read that sort of rubbish, do you?”

Irked, Snow snatched it back. “Let’s not shame readers for what they like to read, shall we?”

Nia must have heard the commotion because she poked her head from behind a shelf and came to us. “Marianne Hawthorne. Oh, it’s the unpublished—” Her enthusiasm diminished when she looked up at me and Moriko. “What? She is a woman of refined literature.”

“What literature?” Moriko asked, crossing her arms and giving Nia an amused look.

“Uhm.” Nia’s gaze flinted to Snow for help, but she was too entranced by whatever she was reading on the pages of the odd book. “Women’s literature?”

Attracted by the commotion, Magnus joined our group. He frowned at the title Snow held. “Is it something worth your interest?”

“Yes,” Snow and Nia said at the same time.

“You may have it,” he offered and the two beamed. “Anything else?”

I pointed to a couple dictionaries I’d set aside. “Besides those, I don't reckon there is anything else of much help.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome to peruse anytime you wish, son.”

“Actually,” I said, “would it be a possibility for me to return sometime to view the Abendrot site? I’d like to see how the beast has managed to get past the Arx Triad.”

“Of course.”

Chapter eighteen

Praeteritus

Snowlin

I’d been knocked around the training platform like a ragdoll. A ragdoll with ragged thoughts. A ragdoll who was going to make a few others very mad with a decision I’d made after we’d returned from Solarya a couple days ago.

When I lost my balance, Cai hooked a hand on my elbow and pulled me back to my feet. “Concentrate or go.”

“My bones are a bit rusty, no need to be nasty.”

“Yeah, all that time down the humid dungeons really rusted you well.”

“I haven’t been down there in—”

“Two weeks, I know.”

I was going to say a while. But it seemed like he'd counted. Had it really been two weeks?

He grabbed my jaw tight, angling my head to the side where his dagger had grazed me. “I’m not explaining to your husband how you got that.”

“Scared of him?” I taunted, pushing his hand away.