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He studied her in the space between the seconds, ticking slower with each passing moment. She searched his face for what sheknewhad to be there, disgust, hatred, revulsion, pity...
“My love,” he said finally. He nodded to himself, casting his gaze to the side before continuing. “You can show me whatever you want. But let’s just agree that when we’re done, we’re just going to kill the fucking bitch and end this.”
Ana trudged several paces ahead of him. Her gown, still filthy from the evening in the forest with his family, was bunched in her fists, hiked high as she huffed and panted up a path so steep, he wondered how she visited so often.
Then it dawned on him.She usually flies. She has to walk because of me.A strange thought, no matter how he attacked it.
But Magda climbed the hard way every time, which must have required a level of determination powered by a prize so great, there was nothing that could keep her away.
Ana hadn’t said what they were going to see. He hadn’t asked. She was so visibly rattled, he feared questions would unhinge her further. He wanted to assure her nothing she’d said and nothing she could show him would change his commitment to her, but even that seemed unsafe in her state of disarray.
She’d given him an illusion for the trek. He’d never had any desire to look like Ludya, but there he was, trekking up a mountain in the guise of a wise vedhma. Every time he looked down at his thin-toed boots and flowing skirt—which he could very muchseebut still felt like trousers and thicker shoes—he was wracked with a powerful dissonance.
Despite wolfing down three thick slices of fry bread, he was ravenous. He thought about the food Ana had wrapped in her cloak for the trip, and his mouth watered.
“Almost there,” she called back after they’d been walking for nearly an hour.
Tyr squinted through the fog, searching the mountainside for signs of anything resembling a place they might end up. All he could see was a white haze and the hint of fresh snow, the last thing anyone wanted to see in the brief season of springtide. But the Cider Festival had been canceled after the horror in the market. He’d heard whispers it might never come back.
The path veered into a wicked switchback that had him gripping low shrubs to keep from losing his footing. Ana marched on with astonishing determination, not slowing at all.
There were two more turns just like it, then they seemed to be headingintothe mountain. The ground evened out until they were standing at the edge of a small enclave, in the center of which sat an obscenely large glass dome, dusted with the fresh snow, the view above only sky.
“The observatory,” he muttered. “I’ve never seen it before. Not even from the ground.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Ana replied, dropping her dress. She tilted her head back and breathed in. “It’s meant for the sky, not the earth.”
“What’s it—”No, not that question. Not yet.“Why was it built? Did it have a purpose beyond the view?”
“My ancestress Imryll,” Ana said. She rubbed her arms under her cloak. “You recall it was she who founded Books of All Things, the coterie of scholars and students in the village? Where Addy takes her instruction?”
Tyr nodded. He glanced around to guess what she’d brought him there to see.
“She had a partner in the endeavor. A man from Duncarrow, who had been her teacher there. His name was Rahn Tindahl, but most called him Duke Rahn. He had a particular fascination with the stars and, unlike most of the realm, didn’t grow up believing in the Guardians. He had other hypotheses about all this light in our sky, and he and his disciple, Aesylt Wynter, built this place so they could explore those ideas. The observatory was used for generations, but interest eventually dwindled, as those things go. I don’t think they ever found satisfying answers.” She turned toward him. “But... They shared all their findings with the Reliquary, which was still being built back then. The Reliquary then stole their work and claimed it as their own. Or so the tale goes. But one thing is absolutely certain, which is that Imryll opened Books of All Things in the Cross two full years before the Reliquary named their realm compendiumThe Book of All Things.”
“Can’t say I’m very surprised,” Tyr said. “I spent my entire tenure there translating documents that had either been purchased or stolen from their rightful owners. I have readThe Book of All Thingsfront to back.”
Ana arched her brows, impressed. “All tomes and volumes and chapters? That must have taken you months.”
“At least once, maybe twice. It’s all I had in the Reliquary dungeon, time. I can assure you no one ever gave your ancestress credit. She was given reverence as a matriarch of Witchwood Cross, but I don’t remember anything about her contributions to science or discovery. Or Duke Rahn.”
“Of course not.” She turned back toward the dome with a hard shiver. “Let’s go.”
Tyr had avoided dread the entire exhausting climb, but as they neared the unusual structure, the sense they’d approached the point of no return pulsed in his temples.
Movement inside the dome stayed him a second time. He saw it again, noting the flickering light, reminiscent of candelabra or a hearth fire, catching and reflecting off the glass.
“Ana. Ana, wait. There’s someone inside!” he whisper-screamed.
“I know. It’s why we’re here.” She turned just outside the arched doorway and swept her gaze over him with a curt nod. His illusion faded away. “I didn’t want anyone to see Tyreste Penhallow following me up the mountain. But it’s Tyreste who should enter the observatory and meet the person inside.”
“Who... Who’s inside, Ana?”
“Not her, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She held out her hand to him, then seemed to think better of it and tucked it inside her cloak. “Come on. He can’t hurt you. You’ll see why soon enough.”
“He?”
Ana dipped under the arch and disappeared inside the dome. Tyr warily followed her in.
