“Did he have Alexis in mind as that human from the beginning?”
My eyes quickly find Golem, watching as he turns directly at me with a slow nod.
Ancients.
Keane takes a heavy breath that mirrors my own, his hands gripping the back of the settee as he glares at Golem.
“I need to ask about the terms of the agreement,” Desmond adds.
I find my voice in the chill of the room. “I can provide one.”
Both brothers look at me in surprise.
“I only just found out tonight,” I shake my head, “after dinner. Apart from the vow your father took for the King of Aireal, claiming any ofmy actions as those on behalf of him and Disce, the Leviathans dictated that I only be allowed two nights and three days to search any libraries that fall within foreign lands.”
Keane and Desmond stare at me quietly, not recognizing the significance at all. I sigh and shift under the blanket, giving them a small explanation.
“It would be damn near impossible for me to find what I’m looking for in three days. I typically take that long just to navigate the halls of larger libraries and understand how they’re catalogued. I doubt I’ll be able to coordinate my search properly in that amount of time, especially since I’ve been given the impression that this library in Red Falls is fairly large.”
“Their way of deterring her search,” Desmond says to Keane. The Prince nods his head in agreement as if it makes sense.
“But why?” I ask, still immensely curious as to the Leviathans and their aims, “why deter it at all?”
“The information in the text must be important enough that they don’t want it falling into our father’s hands,” Desmond replies.
“Are there any other terms?” he turns back to Golem, “we know about his promise to share the knowledge with the other Kingdoms. I suspect he’ll have the book transcribed and copied?”
Golem nods in answer, but I know by now that Desmond’s questions were delivered too vaguely and the nod could be in answer to either of them.
“Are there any other terms to the agreement,” I glance at Golem, “other than the three we’ve listed just now?”
Golem looks back at me with a sad gleam in his eyes, almost as if he wished I hadn’t specified the question. He nods his head ever so slightly in answer, the subtle movement making me uncomfortable.
“It has to do with me…” I murmur.
His head sinks into another small nod.
I let my gaze fall to my lap and hear Keane curse and push off the settee.
“We need to navigate this properly, brother,” Desmond says softly.
“Fuck if I even know where to start,” Keane laughs.
I sigh and bring a hand up to my temple, taking another deep breath. My thoughts drift to Princess Clair, to her warming smile and friendly eyes. She mentioned wanting to spend time with me at some point down the road, even offered to loan me books with the expectation that she would receive them back. Did she know or suspect that she would be seeing me again, under different circumstances?
“Golem…” I say quietly, “does the term have to do with me actually fulfilling the search?”
Golem eyes are steady on mine as he nods.
“So our father expects Lady Alexis to find the book?” Desmond asks, needing to confirm once more.
Yes.
“Here in Red Falls?” he continues.
I glance at Golem in anticipation and watch him give another nod.
“Shit,” Desmond exclaims quietly.
