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I inhale slowly and will it to calm down. Will myself to believe I have everything under control and there’s no reason my power should be upset at me for not giving in.
My riven soul isn’t totally convinced. A needle-sharp prickling resonates through my ribs. I brace my hand against the doorframe.
It should be a relief when the two blathermouths outside finally budge. Their voices slowly but surely fade away as they amble off.
Now I just have to pull off a stealthy maneuver while my insides are gnawing on themselves. Lucky me.
With my jaw clenched, I ease up to peek through the window. The moment the two men have veered around the nearest bookcase, I gird myself and run for it.
With a quick push to ensure the door closes behind me, I sprint across the rug. A deeper jolt of pain puts a hitch in my stride, but I let myself drop with it so I can skid beneath the table.
As my shoulder bumps one of the wooden legs, Alek’s voice reaches my ears, raised a little louder than I’d typically expect. To make sure I hear them coming?
“Thank you so much for your help, Stera. Elzbita. I’m sure I’m on the right path now.”
While I watch from my hiding spot, the librarian pats him on the arm and heads back into her office. I stay braced for a few seconds in case she’s going to burst back out announcing the theft, the pain dwindling with each moment she doesn’t.
Alek ambles away with an uncertain expression. When I’m sure there’ll be no immediate retaliation, I duck out and follow him.
Through unspoken agreement, I hang back several paces behind him all the way to the stairs to the archives room. I hit the bottom of the staircase and find Alek waiting there, his eyes gleaming even brighter than before.
His gaze drops to the book clutched in my arms. “You got it?”
I grin at him. “This is the one.”
When I hold it out to him, he takes it and examines the first few pages. A smile stretches across his lips. “You really pulled it off. I don’t know how you did it.”
I shrug. “We all have our own talents. I couldn’t have talked the librarian into walking away with me.”
He swings the ledger under his arm and meets my gaze to encompass me in his delight. “Not bad for our first real mission together, huh?”
I can’t help smiling back. Who’d have thought it’d be Alek out of all of the guys who’d help me pull off a crime—and revel in the thrill of it?
As we head back to the meeting room, he walks with an extra spring in his step. “Is that the sort of thing you needed to do a lot of, surviving on the streets? Sneaking into places, making quick escapes?”
I think of my “home” in the cloth factory. “Yeah, that was a pretty big part of it. Especially as I got older. When you’re a kid, you can get away with a little more.” Sleeping on a doorstep. Plucking a few spare pieces of fruit off someone’s tree. “Thankfully, the older I got, the more practice I had at staying unnoticed.”
Alek halts, his gaze gone serious again. “When you’re a kid—how old were you when you left home?”
My stomach knots. I probably should have omitted that bit.
“Twelve,” I say quickly. “Notthatyoung.”
But young enough for Alek’s eyes to widen. “And your parents just let you—I mean, I know they were harsh with you, but—”
“They didn’tletme. I went, and there wasn’t much they could do about it.”
My tone is probably too sharp. It isn’t him I’m upset with—and he isn’t even wrong.
I doubt they ever looked for me. I doubt they felt anything but relief that I was no longer their problem.
Alek doesn’t appear to take any offense to my retort. He hesitates and then offers me another smile, smaller but somehow more giddying than the excited one before. “I suppose it worked out for the best in the end. If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t be here with us.”
He doesn’t really mean me. He means the woman I’m carrying with me. Iknowthat.
But my hand still reaches for his of its own accord, as if some part of me needs the physical contact to confirm our solidarity. Or maybe I’m trying to make it totally clear to him how much I am in this crazy situation with him.
Foolish of me. I’ve barely brushed his fingers before Alek is yanking them away.
