After lighting a lamp at the front counter, I shuffle behind Notus through the back stacks, a palm pressed to his lower spine. The heat of his skin through his robes is the only warmth in this lightless place.
“This way,” I whisper.
Down, down the gloomy hall where the air grows icy, my breath pluming as clouds before us. The special collections are still in disarray, books and documents stacked haphazardly along the walls. I direct him to the last doorway at the end of the hall, our single lamp wavering.
The room is empty. Everything has been straightened, the desk rightened. The shelves have been cleared, leaving bare walls behind. Not a book or scroll in sight.
“You didn’t happen to clear this room,” I ask Notus in unease, “did you?”
“No. I searched it but found nothing.”
“No documents?”
“None.”
That’s what I suspected. If Notus didn’t clear the room, who did? Prince Balior? The head archivist? I could demand a search of the prince’s room, but what if I’m wrong?
“I suppose,” Notus says, “I can do some research of my own, reach out to some old contacts to see if anyone has books or information regarding the labyrinth.”
I nod in agreement. “I’ll keep looking through the book I grabbed to see if anything else stands out to me.” The more we know about the labyrinth, the greater the likelihood we stumble across material regarding my curse.
With no signs of disturbance, we return to the corridors emptyhanded. My mood darkens the farther we travel through the palace. I have questions for Notus concerning tonight’s ball, but this is not the place for private conversation. These halls echo.
A nearby door catches my eye. That will do. “In here.” Dragging open the door, I shove him inside.
Darkness surrounds us, though a strip of light shines beneath the crack at the bottom of the shut door. Stacks of bedsheets, tablecloths, and towels stuff the shelves lining the cramped space.
“A linen closet?” Notus drawls. “Really?”
I lift my chin. “You have a better idea?”
His scoff wafts across my upturned face. The spice of his breath is so familiar it makes my teeth ache. We stand too close—the toes of his boots brush my slippers. Notus is a shadow before me, a ghost of my past, yet he is warm enough to rival the sun.
Once again, I understand the mistake I have made. This deity’s presence clouds my thoughts and rips clarity from my grasp. There can be no worse place to have a conversation between former lovers than a closet, where his every breath becomes mine.
“What is this about, Sarai?”
That ugly, grinding sensation in my chest returns, shaving itself down to a vicious point. I think of Notus’ promise, now broken. I think of that woman in the silver gown. I think of how lonely I am, how lonely I have always been, despite having been surrounded by people my entire life.
“Do you recall our conversation at the beginning of the week?” I say.
The South Wind regards me warily. “I’m not following.”
He will make me spell it out for him. Very well. “About agreeing to the fake engagement. About being a little moreconvincing?”
His silence is telling. I sense rather than spot the pulse in his jaw. “I apologize for revealing our engagement. I understand why you would be angry about that. I should have discussed it with you beforehand.”
“I’m not angry because you told the entire court about it,” I hiss. The truth would have revealed itself eventually, with or without his aid. “I’m angry because you ignored me for the entire evening.”
“I didn’t ignore you,” Notus counters, voice heating to match mine. “You were the one who ignored me.”
A slow throb consumes me, a bright shimmer in my blood. Wounded Sarai is an entirely different beast. “Oh, really?”
“You were speaking with Tuleen,” he growls. “When I attempted to approach you, you pretended I didn’t exist.”
My mouth clamps shut in surprise. He is right. I had forgotten how I’d ignored him in front of my sister-in-law. And yet— “Why didn’t you approach me a second time?”
“Sarai.” He shakes his head, the gesture of a man at his wit’s end. “Do you hear yourself? If you sent me away, I would assume, as any sane person would, that you do not wish to be near me. Anyway, Amir was present. He hates me. You know this. I was trying to prevent a scene, which obviously didn’t work. I was doing what I believed to be in your best interest.”
