It was small but cozy. A single bed sat in the corner, a tiny kitchen stretched along one wall. While I took in the space, Ailis rummaged through a shelf of old books.
“I have something to give you,” she said softly.
I blinked. “Me?”
Her fingers skimmed along the spines until she lit up. “Aha!” She pulled a slim volume, blowing dust from its off-white cover.Gold trim glinted in the dim light, but there was no title, no author, no markings at all.
She handed it to me. I flipped through. Every page was blank.
I tilted my head, trying to sound sincere despite my confusion. “It’s a… journal?”
Ailis shook her head and laid her hand on a page. “This story has already been written.”
I closed the book slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”
“In due time, my dear,” she said with a knowing smile. “The truth will come face to face.”
I walked these streets in even more of a haze than before. When Ailis repeated the exact words from the prophecy I’d found in the Eternal Tomb, I froze. She gently tapped my hand, looked me in the eyes, and then walked back up the stairs while I remained standing by her bookshelf.
She was already gone by the time I gathered my wits enough to move, so I wandered aimlessly, holding an empty tome that apparently had a story written in it my eyes couldn’t see.
I needed sleep.
For some reason, I couldn’t leave the book behind. How was it possible she knew those words? Not only had I found them in the hidden corridor, but the Grim had spoken the same prophecy when I lay on her altar for slaughter.
My grip on the tome tightened.
“Scarlet? I’ve been looking for you.”
Rhodes, on horseback. He swung down in front of me. Without breaking his gaze, I stuffed the book into my pack.
“There’s guest lodging available if you want it. Or I was going to offer the treehouse.”
I couldn’t help the grin that tugged my lips. “Treehouse?”
He paused, expression easy. “Shayde and I built it around our favorite tree here. I was going to take his bunker if you wanted mine—it would have more privacy than the public lodging house.” He blinked. “And away from your sister.”
I exhaled. “Perfect.”
Chapter 26
I lifted my chin up, and up, and up until my neck almost broke.
“So, you meant an… actual treehouse,” I said.
The smirk on Rhodes’s face revealed a dimple and made my core heat. I forced my eyes away, focusing on the extravagant treehouse before me. In the largest oak I’d ever seen, two cottage-sized cabins rested on opposite sides of the tree. While one sat on a series of branches higher than the other, a rope bridge that fit around the oak’s trunk and spidery limbs connected both cabins.
It was truly the imagination of a young, teenage set of twins.
Rhodes jogged to the oak and began climbing a rope ladder that he propelled downward with his secret air element. I followed suit, climbing up into the majestic scenery as I admired the deep purple and blue leaves of the surrounding forest.
Rhodes exited the ladder and landed on a small platform to the left before holding out his hand to me. Once my feet were planted on the secure platform, he opened the door to the lower cabin, revealing darkness within.
“Here’s my bunker,” he said, lighting the sconces with a flicker of fire and opening the door wider. “Make yourself at home. Youshould have everything you need for the night, but I’ll be up above if you need me.”
I mindlessly stepped into the space, browsing the small but cozy feel of Rhodes’s home. A tall bookshelf overflowed with novels to the left, and an extra-large bed with a dark cover took up most of the room. Rhodes stepped out of the doorway and began climbing up to Shayde’s bunker.
I left the door open as I slowly sat on his bed—his comfortable, oversized bed—and tossed my pack onto the floor. Tomorrow night, we would venture to Mageia hoping to find the missing artifact needed to win this war. We knew the Grim was hunting for something, and that Tyria would most likely have conquered Arya if they already had it. So that left us on a wild-goose chase, searching for something, but nobody knew what.
