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No one was supposed to be in the library once the librarians left. There were rumors that the two monolithic statues that guarded the massive doors were enchanted, and would decapitate any intruders. Parys himself always scuttled quickly through those doors, using his wind to close them behind him—even though he had special permission to come and go from the library as he pleased.
But the voice wasn’t coming from down below in the stacks, where the doors waited, silent and massive sentinels. They were coming from above; the top of the staircase.
Parys sent a silent, sun-kissed wind along the stairway. Up past each of the private reading rooms, then back down to whisper in his ear.
Not one voice, but two. Another female—and this one, he recognized.
The Dowager.
* * *
The door was so cleverly disguised, Parys almost missed it as he crept up the staircase. Every few steps, he sent out that silent breeze to see what it would carry back. The voices were getting clearer, though he was still only catching words and phrases.
The Dowager—crystal… witch…
Merlin—getting closer… put away…
Nonsensical, for now. Until he could get closer.
Past the reading rooms, to the very top of the staircase. Where he’d thought it just… ended. He’d never bothered to go to the top. There weren’t any books up here.
But there was a door—carefully carved to resemble the goldstone, coated with a paint so accurate that it must have actual flakes of goldstone mixed into it. But it was wood, and Parys’ wind was able to slip between the cracks that were invisible to the eye. The tiny gap above the floor. The seams where the wooden planks had once been perfectly fused, but had shifted over time.
His wind carried their whispers back to him. They were indeed whispering.
A covert conversation in a hidden room.
Between two dangerous females.
More words floated to him—over the crossing… sister… chalice…
They were getting farther away.
How could that be possible? The reading rooms were compact. Unless…
The door didn’t lead to a room at all, but opened into the secret network of passageways reserved for the royal family. The same ones Roksana had used to sneak in the humans who killed Arthur, and the forces that attacked the goldstone palace.
The Dowager was not allowed access—not anymore. Not since Arthur had sealed her in her wing with fire.
Parys didn’t know the exact details of what had gone on in the water gardens, but he remembered the haunted look in Arthur’s eyes. His best friend. And then Veyka, his… best friend.
He scrubbed a hand over his face.
He needed to make friends with someone without the surname Pendragon.
Without Veyka or Arran to enforce the rule, however… Guinevere. He needed to find her. Tell her what he’d heard….
Which wasnothing.
A few words whispered in secret. If they needed to meet at night in a secret passageway, that said enough about their intentions. Merlin had recovered from the stab wound Veyka had dealt her. To his knowledge, the priestess had dismissed her acolytes as ordered. But he would need to check on that. He would need Guinevere to enforce it.
He could hold his own, his wind magic strong enough to protect himself, generally. But Parys wasn’t stupid enough to think his skills any match for the sort of destruction that Guinevere the Graceful could wreak.
His wind ebbed away to nothing. They’d gone too far away, or stopped talking entirely. He couldn’t even hear footsteps.
As he retreated down the staircase back toward the reading room, the words flashed through his mind.Crystal. Witch. Sister. Chalice.He had more words to add to his list.
He wouldn’t be leaving the library tonight.
