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“Ourexperiments.” Kia widened her eyes at him. “But let us not discuss them. We wouldn’t want anyone to discover our…professional secrets.”
Silent laughter echoed through Cassia’s aura. She must have realized he and Kia were talking about the scroll of Konstantina’s they had destroyed. Perhaps he and his Trial sister could help his Grace recapture her good mood.
Chrysanthos strode past Kia, examining the shelves. “Are there many secrets in this library, Sophia Eudokia?”
She turned in place to track him with her gaze. “We do not hoard knowledge here, Honored Master Adelphos. The doors of this library are open to all, at any hour of the night, every night of the year. These texts keep constant vigil in defense of truth.”
Tychon followed in his master’s wake with a disdainful look at the shelves. “We saw larger libraries on our visit to Cordium, did we not, Master?”
“The Akron’s Library occupies three chambers,” the Dexion mused.
Kia smiled. “This is only the first chamber. Our library occupies eight halls across four levels.”
“Astonishing.” Eudias clutched his hands in front of him, his nose inches from the shelves, as if he intended to breathe the titles on the spines and scroll ends.
“You live here?” Cassia looked all around them again, wonder in her voice. “You grew up surrounded by this?”
“I learned to read in this room,” Kia replied.
Lio pointed to a nearby alcove, where there was a pile of silk cushions under a window. “Your mother sat on the floor with you right there. She held you on her lap for hours while the two of you worked through her scrolls.”
Kia’s gaze lost its sharpness and became distant. “I often came to tears because I was so impatient with all I did not know. Each time, she gave me a knowing smile and pulled me close and promised that one day, I would read every word in this room.”
“She was right,” Lio reminded his Trial sister. He knew she wanted no comfort about her differences with her mother, but he gave it to her, anyway. “How proud your mother is that you are here tonight to lend your thoughts to such a momentous discussion and participate in this historical moment.”
“I don’t know how proud she’ll be by the time we’re done. I make no promises to bite my tongue.” Kia gestured around her with a scroll. “There is only one secret in this library. The first person who discovers it has my respect.”
Eudias appeared thoughtful, but Tychon snorted.
“A scavenger hunt, is it?” the Semna piped up.
“A contest,” Chrysanthos said. “Challenge accepted, Sophia.”
Now Kia marched past the Dexion. She halted suddenly before Skleros and rapped his knuckles with her scroll.
The necromancer’s tinderbox dropped from his hand. He glared at Kia over his unlit smoke.
Kia inched closer to Skleros. Lio took a step forward, unsure whether she or the Gift Collector needed a diplomat as a shield. Mak and Lyros flanked the necromancer in silence and watched the confrontation.
Kia glared into Skleros’s eyes. “No. Fire. In the library. I will not tell you twice.”
His answer was a sneer and a huff.
Kia levitated the tinderbox, and it hit her hand with a smack that made some of the mortals jump. She strode past Skleros, showing him her back, and handed his tinderbox to Mak. “You may petition the Stand to return this to you once you are back at the guest house.”
Mak smirked at Skleros. “If everyone is extra friendly tonight, perhaps we’ll feel inspired to be generous.”
Kia held out her hand to Skleros.
“What?” the necromancer demanded.
“Fire charm,” she stated.
He hesitated an instant too long. The fire charm flew out of his pocket, disarranging his robes on the way, and landed in Kia’s hand.
“So, you get handouts from the greased robes in Corona.” Kia worried the sunstone between her fingers. “You hardly ever see these in this hemisphere. Too bad they’re so hard to replace.”
There came a hiss, a pop, and a puff of smoke. The gleam inside the sunstone faded.
