“Shall I post assistants at the door?” the librarian asked. “To turn away those who will come by to see you. Or the princesses.” She shot a sidelong glance at me.
“Please. Our guards will be inside too, but it’s better that your assistants intercept others.”
Our guards were vampires, though it was difficult to tell when their eyes were no longer red, and they took care to blend in.
The librarian left, and Lord Balik turned to us. “This is where I leave you. I will have my sleigh return after it takes me home.”
“Thank you.” I inclined my head.
“It’s the least I could do for my allies.”
As he walked out I spotted two assistants already posted at the door. The librarian worked fast.
“Split up?” Duran asked.
He, like Clem, Anna, and Arie, appeared stunned by the beauty of this place. Livia acted as their guard, but as the most bookish of the vampire assassins, she too looked charmed by the room. Astril and Freyia, on the other hand, seemed bored.
“We’ll cover more ground that way,” Thyra said. “But if anyone finds a section on magic, call me over.”
“Me too,” I added.
Anything we learned about the Shadow Fae might be useful, but learning about their magic remainedthepriority.
We made to split up, but before I got too far, Clemencia came to my side, a faint cloud of her signature snow lily perfume in her wake as she fidgeted with excitement.
“We’re here for academic reading, but?—”
“Before we leave, we’ll find the section with stories,” I promised her, not needing to hear the rest. My friend was a prolific reader, and I enjoyed tales of adventure and romance, too. “I’m dying for something fun and swoony to read too.”
Thyra smirked. “I’ll never understand what you see in those things.”
“Or course you don’t,” Clem said dryly.
Thyra’s back stiffened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Clem’s lips whitened. “You rejected your own mate. Given that choice, I don’t imagine you know much about romance, Princess Thyra.”
My mouth fell open. Despite her respectful tone and use of my sister’s title, which Clem insisted on because she didn’t know Thyra like she knew me.
Red splotches appeared on my sister’s cheeks, and I rushed to diffuse the situation.
“I’ll find you later, Clem.” I took my sister’s hand and pulled her down an aisle.
“I suppose your friends all dislike me for rejecting Thantrel?”Thyra murmured.
“To be honest, it doesn’t come up much anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“When Thantrel was drinking a lot and crying, people brought it up. Hard not to when we were all living in the annex and had to witness his pain.”
My twin winced.
“But he hasn’t been acting all wounded for a while, so no one has been saying anything.”
“Still, they want me to accept him.”
I rounded on Thyra, exasperated. “Of course they do! He’s a good male. Kind, smart, and honorable.”
