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“Where are we?” His tone was laced with annoyance, and I found some comfort in that.

Pointing to the hidden door he had just closed, I motioned for him to leave. I had no idea where all the listening runes were, and I didn’t intend to risk my voice now. He had his phoenix outside—he could fly away and never be caught—but I didn’t have that luxury.

“Not without the book,” he ground out.

Ah yes… I had taken three books, and he had let me. Which meant he wanted or needed me to fix the book as much as the codex. The book and the book restorer. Unfortunately for him, I had more pressing issues this Yule than mending books.

I tilted my head to study the place I believed his eyes would be. No. I shook my head. The Master’s corridors were hidden in the wall between the rooms of the library. It was strange that they needed secret passages for such a mundane profession, but perhaps even with all the years I’d been an apprentice book restorer, I hadn’t learned everything about the men who ran it.

I shifted the bag away from him to behind my back and placed my hands inside to check that the three books were still there.

My hands were signing before I could stop myself. “You could’ve taken it from the cabinet. Why didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer, and I wondered if he didn’t know as much of our signs as he wanted me to believe.

From the other side, footsteps stopped. “She went through there. What’s behind this wall?” a man said. “Someone find all those fucking Book Masters. Or I’ll fly up there and get The Goddess Morrigan herself to wage war down on this building!”

I scoffed and shook my head, but my heartbeat picked up pace. The gods had left us long ago, preferring to leave the phoenix and their Riders to wreak havoc instead.

“He’s not lying,” said the Nomad. “Zephyr is tethered to an Air Phoenix for a reason.” I gave him a questioning look.

When he didn’t continue, I signed, “Go on.”

“Our phoenixes choose us as a balancing force. Gaoth, the Air Phoenix, is quiet and thoughtful, but he enjoys indulging Zeph, and I wouldn’t put it past him to fly to the Otherworld and bring a goddess back. Some up there love a drama.” He stepped back and indicated the dark corridor beyond. “Let’s go.”

It wasn’t just any Tracker Flock searching the Grand Library; Zephyr was the prince of The Wilds. It confirmed my worst fear. It was the Elite Trackers who were searching for me.

I scanned the man in front of me again. If he were hiding from them, then he wasn’t one of the Elite. But he was a Phoenix Rider, and that wasn’t any safer.

And why was the Elite Tracker Flock—who were rumoured to only fly together on ceremonial days—in the library? They each came from the ruling families of the different Cursed Lands kingdoms, and it was seen as a symbol of accord between the lands that they were one flock. However, the rumours around the court and the rebellion were that they secretly hated each other and only toed the line as Torran, the Northlands Prince Rider, ruled them with an iron fist.

Regardless, this was my opportunity to kill a few of them. My brother had been one of the Elite Tracker Flock once, but that didn’t stop the others in the flock from betraying him and playing a part in his phoenix being shot out of the sky as he sought to save our lands. I turned away from the Nomad and reached for the door handle. I was going to make them bleed.

7

The hidden corridor we were standing in was only a little wider than the Nomad’s shoulders, and it was as ominous as the Yule night outside.

“What are you doing?” the Nomad hissed, grabbing my hand as I tried to twist the handle.

I flicked him away; he didn’t need an explanation.

“We wait until they’re gone. Then you’re coming with me,” he demanded.

His body was coiled with tension, yet it slowly relaxed as the Rider’s footsteps faded. I twisted out of his grip, and a small sliver of skin showed between his glove and the cuff of his tunic. The vein on the underside of his wrist was so perfectly close to the surface. It was the ideal opportunity to get rid of him. Using my free hand, I reached for the pin, and once it was between my fingers, I stabbed it into his exposed wrist as close to a vein as possible.

His entire body stilled at what I had done. Disbelief flared in his eyes.

It was his own stupidity for thinking that I wouldn’t try again. Stepping away, I started to count the seven seconds it would take the poison to reach his bloodstream… until I considered that perhaps, with a Rider’s fire magic in his blood, it could take seven minutes instead. Regardless, I started running.

One.

I hurtled down the corridor and found the first set of stairs. The roof was my only option. Phoenixes above, Riders below. I would take my chances with the brightly coloured monsters in the sky.

Two.

His boots hammered on the stairs behind me until there was a thud as he collided with the wall.

Three.