Page 32 of A Lie so Pretty and Poisonous

“I was not given a name. Just that I was to meet with scholars and then peruse the library at my leisure.” I tried to speak steadily, but I didn’t exactly come off as confident when I spoke.

He nodded, turned toward the library, and walked with purpose. I moved briskly to catch up, one of his strides matching two of my own. He kept his gaze on the library. “Take as long as you need. I have some books I need to find after you meet with the scholar.”

“You like to read?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me. “I do.”

Goddess, Rory. Don’t act so shocked.

As we entered the library, leather, dust, worn-out pages of well-read books, and candle wax lingered in the air. The sun filtered through the large windows, casting soft rays of light across the shelves of books. It was a building of quiet composure that appealed to me greatly. My mouth hung open, and I turned in a circle with steady steps, taking in the vastness of it. The tensed muscles I held loosened for the first time since arriving in Tironaill.

We were approached by a seraph with a weathered face, wearing deep purple robes and a smile. The wrinkles etched across his body were indicative of the many moons he had surely seen. In a voice just above a whisper, he greeted me. “Hello. Is there something I can help you with today?”

I matched the volume of his voice, “Yes, I was sent by King Torrish and Queen Mollah. They said you may be able to help me. I’m Aurora.”

“The human!” He blurted out. All eyes in the library lifted to me. The scholar glanced around at the audience he created and then landed on my rounded ears. “Yes, yes, please come with me. I am most excited to speak with you. I am Acrion.” He paused at Darragh and waved his knobby knuckles in his direction. “He may stay here until we are done.”

Acrion turned, and before I could take a step to follow the scholar, Darragh gently placed his hand on my arm. My breath stilted, and my stomach fluttered. I looked at his hand and then his face. His warm brown eyes met mine. “I must accompany you under orders.” He assessed Acrion behind me and dropped his hand. “Afterward, we can peruse the library. Together,” he said softly.

I inclined my head. “Yes. Of course.”

The scholar scowled at Darragh’s accompaniment but said nothing. He led us past row after row of old, musty books, the pages of which I desperately wanted to read.

Reading was often a way for me to escape the reality of my youth. When I wasn’t on the back of a horse, my nose was buried within the pages of fantastical stories of dragons, monsters, and faeries. Stories of girls having unbridled adventures into the unknown and having control of their lives after they free themselves from wicked queens or menacing ogres. I found solace in their plights. Like I was not alone in my need for a life filled with more than avarice and ego. Once my mother found out that the books I read were for fun and not for education, she tried to take them from me. She didn’t want her daughter’s head in the clouds when I should be focusing on the bore of noble snobbery. My governess would often sneak me the books I craved under the stipulation that I kept them hidden in my room and only read them at night.

“In here, my lady,” Acrion directed.

He opened a large, solid oak door, and I followed behind the scholar into a room, bright and airy from two large windows. In the center was a long table with chairs, and the walls were lined with bookshelves. I turned to the doorway and gasped as Acrion, with a sneer, flung the door in Darragh’s face as he was stepping through the threshold. Darragh shot out a hand and stopped the wood from making contact with his head, swinging it open with a thud as it hit the inside wall.

“Oops! Silly me. In my old age, I forgot you were behind us,” Acrion spat, dripping with sarcasm and vitriol.

Darragh’s eyes narrowed, and he slowly stalked toward the old scholar, stopping a foot from him. Acrion was far less frightened than I was at this moment. I stilled, waiting for Darragh to turn into the monster Gabriel claimed to be.

The deep crease between Darragh’s eyebrows smoothed before pulling out a chair from the table, gesturing for me to sit. He pushed my chair in as I lowered myself into the seat. No monster in sight.

I didn’t blame Darragh for being pissed. The old scholar was causing strife where it wasn’t warranted. The fire I kept buried inside me briefly lapped its flames against the mask I was holding to my face. I took a cleansing breath, and my anger at the scholar pushed back down. Darragh sat beside me, keeping a respectful amount of air between us.

Acrion took a seat across from me. “Lady Aurora, I would like to ask you some questions and record them for posterity's sake. Interaction with humans is supremely rare, so I would like to have a record of our conversation so that we may learn more about Edenalee. Humans are fascinating creatures, and I need to know more about your culture, customs, politics, and the like.”

“I—I suppose,” I replied. I wasn’t aware that he would be asking me questions instead of the other way around. My priority was finding out how to get back through the barrier.

Acrion lightly clapped. “Excellent! Now, Lady Aurora, what⁠—”

“My lady,” Darragh said, turning to me, “you do not have to answer his questions if you are not comfortable.” He searched my face and gave me the slightest nod.

“See here, youngling,” Acrion practically spat out. “She agreed to it, and we have to record this for the betterment of seraphs.”

“You,” Darragh pointed his finger at the scholar, “are to help her. She wants to know how to get back to Edenalee, and the king and queen sent her here to get answers. Do not waste her time on your selfish pursuits.”

Acrion’s fists clenched, and he shook through narrowed eyes.

“Also,” Darragh said coolly as he leaned back in his chair, folding his arms, “do not mistake me for a youngling, old man. I am nearing forty and have lived more life than you could imagine. I don’t take kindly to condescension. But by all means, continue to do so. See where it gets you.” He gave a one-sided smirk at the scholar’s trembling anger.

The unspoken threat lingered in the air, but Darragh’s words hit their mark, and the seraph scholar stuck his chin in the air with a sniff, unclenched his fists, and folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Yes. Well, Aurora, I suppose we will start with you. The scholarly brotherhood searched the library for any mention of seraphs or humans breaching the threshing wall when we first received word of your arrival. There was only one mention of a human who arrived here nearly two centuries ago.”

I sat up straight, my interest piqued. Just as Gabriel had said, a human had been in Tironaill. “And how did they get here?”

Acrion shrugged. “We aren’t entirely sure. Literature states that he arrived, stumbling out of the forest, and couldn’t even recall the last twelve hours of his day. He was a farmer in Edenalee and stated he woke in the forest feeling awful but was able to get his bearings and started walking, looking for help. He didn’t realize he crossed the wall until a seraph soldier intercepted him and held him in a cell at the castle until King Suntik, Themis rest his soul, deemed him nonthreatening. The only other mention of him in our texts is that he ended up employed on a farm owned by one of the noble families of the time. He lived a productive life there until his death fifteen years later.”