The wolves chased after them, but Six snarled, and pressed faster into flight. The wind followed, whisperingyes,as the wolves fell behind.
Ezer glanced back to see them banking, turning back towards the Expanse where easier prey awaited.
And for a moment, it all feltright.
Until the shadows erupted. Until the boom split the night, and in the distance, the war began.
A gust of wind crashed against them, and Six dipped in the wrong direction, like she hadn’t a clue how to feel and understand the drafts. How to glidewiththem instead of against.
They soared over the treetops, too fast.
‘Higher,’ Kinlear said in Ezer’s ear. ‘She’s got to go higher, or she’ll clip the trees!’
Ezer tried.
But the panic had taken over her, just as it had taken over Six. The raphon dipped too far to the left, and she yelped a warning too late as Six’s wing clipped a tall tree.
They spun sideways.
Everything blurred. The last thing Ezer heard was Six’s screech before they crashed against the snow.
29
She woke in her labyrinth, the skeleton key in her hand.
A safe space for the moment, because something in the waking world was wrong.
Ezer couldn’t remember, couldn’t place it.
She ran until she came to the hall that held her memories. She skidded on ice as she stopped before the door to where she’d last seen her mother – the face, so like her own.
She placed the key in the lock and practically shoved it down trying to get inside.
Ezer had stepped into the library again, but this time it was dark, as if hours or days had passed.
She spun around … and there she was.
Her mother.
Styerra was in the same spot Ezer had last seen her. She knew the young woman couldn’t see her. But it was so real. As if they were truly together in a sea of books.
She stepped closer, peering down at the small woman as if she were looking at a better version of herself. Unscarred. Unruined by darkness and pain.
One delicate hand penned a note into a journal in her lap – the coverwas worn, crimson leather – while the other hand stroked the black cat. It purred loudly, giving no mind to Ezer as she stood over them.
‘Now, you keep prying eyes away from this, Saber,’ said Styerra, as she finished up her note and closed the book.
Instead of taking the journal with her, she slid it onto the shelf.
The cat meowed in agreement, settling down on the floor as if to protect the secret. And Styerra scurried into the shadows, her brown robes flying behind her, a smile on her beautiful face.
The scene darkened, and before she knew it, Ezer was spat back out in the hallway.
The memory was over.
So she went to the next door, unlocked it, and crept inside.
She found Styerra in the library again. This time, Styerra’s hair was braided back from her face, like a ribbon atop her head. The very same way Izill did her own hair. She had a plain face, like Ezer’s, but without the scars it was easy to see her features. Her eyes were grey, her lips a pretty pink, and her smile was like a beam of sunlight. She grinned, ear to ear, as she rounded the corner between shelves, heading deeper into the library.
