Page 117 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“Well, we can’t all stab or fire-breathe our way out of problems like you and your brother,” I said with a smirk, then turned a corner leading to another row of tomes, glancing over historical records, almanacs, and religious texts. Knowledge always paved the way when magic or brute strength failed.

She snorted. “I suppose Nox and I have that in common.”

“You two are far more similar than you think, trust me.” I opened another book, but when I saw that it was poetry and not ancient languages, I slammed it shut. The sound echoed eerily in the quiet hall.

Vera, who was still on the row around the corner, shoved aside a few books on the shelf between us to create an opening. She rested her elbows on the wooden shelf and quirked an eyebrow at me. “You seem tense.”

My jaw shifted. “This place is too quiet.” And I can’t think with you here.

She smirked. “It’s a library, Everett.”

“Still, there should be…” I waved my hand in the air, searching for the word. “Life. It feels off.” I couldn’t shake the strange feeling this place gave me. Our little library at the Keep was nothing in size compared to here, but it was constantly surrounded by sounds. Flames crackling as Milo experimented with new spells. Arowyn and Kieran target practicing in the corner. Faint scraping of chairs, footsteps, and low chatter from outside the workshop.

The palace was full of commotion the day we got here. Movement and whispered conversations, staff going about their jobs. Today, there was nothing. It made the sore muscles in my shoulder twitch with nervous anticipation.

Or maybe it was just her.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that dream last night. She didn’t know I had truly been there, but her nightmare called to me. It had been a long time since I’d dreamwalked without meaning to, but sometimes when my magic sensed heightened emotions around me, it would pull me into that person’s dream. I saw Mortep and those cell walls closing in on her, and all I wanted was to take her pain away.

Then she kissed me. She thought none of it was real, but Fates, I could still taste her. I forgot what it was like to truly feel her. Free and reckless, with an edge of heat simmering just beneath her skin. I wanted it to consume me. Her flames were the most exquisite form of torture, and now that I was back in the blaze, all I wanted was to feel it again.

Yet here we were, alone in the forced silence, a constant reminder that I should keep my distance. That things weren’t so simple between us anymore.

“Maybe you need a break,” she suggested, snapping me from my thoughts.

“Not until we’ve found something.” I motioned to her. “I’m surprised you’re so calm after today.”

“Me, too. Honestly, this is the most calm I’ve felt in days. Weeks.” Vera chewed on her bottom lip. “I know everything’s going wrong, but things always seem better when I’m…”

She trailed off, and I set the text in my hands down. “When you’re what?”

Her eyes slid up to mine. “When I’m with you.”

It was so simple, but the words squeezed my chest. The fact that I could still be a safe space for her, even after all this time apart, felt better than any touch.

Before I could respond, she moved farther into the shelves on her side. “I get what you mean, though. About this place,” she continued, as if she hadn’t just cracked my heart wide open with four words. “It doesn’t feel like the Keep. It’s always warm there. And loud,” she added with a chuckle.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t think anything will ever feel like it. That’s home to me.”

“You miss it,” she said.

It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Yes. I miss them all, as annoying as they can be.” I wondered what Nox, Devora, and the rest of them thought was happening. If they assumed we found Vera and were on our way back to Drakorum on the Grand Dragon, safe and sound.

If we didn’t get off this island, there would be no one to tell them why we never made it home.

“You’re going to see them again, I promise,” Vera said, making me look back at her between the books.

I shook my head. “That’s unsettling, you know.”

“What is?”

“How you always seem to know what I’m thinking.”

Her lips tilted upward. “You’re easy to read, Swift. If you know where to look.”

I hummed, moving down the row to another section of miscellaneous books. We both perused in the quiet for a few minutes, still finding nothing of use that looked like the symbols I saw. I pushed a stack over to see Vera across from me again, those gold eyes meeting mine through the small space between spines.

She chuckled. “This is a familiar view.”