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“No kidding,” I said, grabbing the edge of the table to hoist myself up. Shado offered me her hand, but I ignored it, avoiding her touch.The envelopes looked completely unphased by the spell I’d set off. It was as if I hadn’t touched one at all. My hand shook and I reached for the R. “I’m gonna be so pissed if this one is trapped, too.”
“Let me just do a little…” Shado muttered under her breath and a healing aura swirled around the room. “Just in case.”
“Here goes nothing.” My eyes closed on instinct and I picked up the envelope.
Nothing happened. The paper hummed in my grasp, but there was no electricity or any ominous lights. I flipped it over, the wax seal bore the Devereaux fleur-de-lis. It was just a letter.
“Do you want to be alone?” Shado asked.
“I’m not even sure I want to read it.”
“What?” She gaped at me. “We find a secret room specifically locked against you, three creepy black boxes, and youdon’twant to read the letter?”
“I know I need to read it. I just…It’s complicated,” I said, shoving the letter into my back pocket. My insides were in a knot. I could barely breathe. “Let’s just get out of here and keep searching the library.”
“Bex, you can’t just—”
“Stop,” I snapped. “I’ll read it, just not right now.”
She held up her hands in surrender and backed out of the room. “Whatever you say.”
I felt bad for snapping at her, but it had to be done. I had to make sense of my own feelings before I even thought about dealing with hers. Viktor and I had a complicated past. There was no telling what was in that letter.
I walked around the edge of the table and froze halfway towards the door. The box; I could feel it calling me. Whatever spell Viktor had cast over them didn’t like that I’d only taken the letter.
Rolling my eyes, I flipped off the boxes and walked backward into the library. I twirled around and the door closed with a soft click. The light of the annex spell flashed behind me, and I walked away, the letter hanging on my hip like a lead weight.
When Viktor died, I thought I’d finally be free of him, but every inch of this house was covered in his fingerprints. I could still feel the bruises of his attention on my soul. I rolled my shoulders and raked my fingers through my hair. I wanted to crawl into bed beside Jackson and just forget everything, but work came first.
I guided Shado to another set of shelves, and we started sorting through them together. We piled as much as we could on the table by the window, and then collapsed in the chairs. Twenty-two books, on everything from high-powered illusion spells and shapeshifter legends. Just looking at them made me yawn.
“You know that’s the third time you’ve yawned in the last five minutes. I think you should go upstairs and get some sleep. Tate and I can dig into this stuff. Make notes, and whatnot,” Shado said.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Really? Could you be more obvious?”
“Obvious? What do you mean?”
“You don’t want me to go to bed. You’re just looking for an excuse to spend time with Tate,” I said, shifting in my seat. “I thought you were dating that chick from France.”
“What? Mina? She was from South Africa, and moved to London two years ago,” Shado snorted.
“Oh.” I frowned. “I guess I’m out of the loop.”
“You need sleep,” she said. “You’ve been worrying about Jack for days. You deserve a rest. I’ll wake you if I find anything.”
“Oh, so now you’re gonna go through all of this alone?” I chuckled. “What about Tate?”
She glared at me. “You’re not nice when you’re tired.”
“Enough. I’m fine. Let’s get start—” I yawned again.
“That’s it.” Shado stood up and marched around the table. She grabbed me by the arms, and shoved me towards the door. “March your little behind upstairs and get some sleep. Real sleep. The kind that comes from laying down in a bed, with a pillow. Why you wouldn’t want to curl up next to that husband of yours, I don’t know.”
“Shado, stop!” I complained as she pushed me into the hall. “I’m fine. I’m not tired, and Jack needs his sleep.”
Tate rounded the corner into the hall. “Yes, you are. I can smell it.”
“Wow, yeah, that’s annoying.” I shot him a glare. “I get enough of that from Jack.”
