“Books.” Lorien shouldered forward, not letting go of my arm for a second. “The lady would like some of your best books on ancient dragons.”
“Really?” The librarian’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Inspired by the lecture I gave about Aisenbran the other day, are we?”
“Not just Aisenbran.” The stories of the massive ice dragon who lay dead under the king’s own estate, his blood used to make terrible weapons, had horrified me more than anything. “All ancient dragons. The ones that lived in Nevermere before humans came. They were quite different to the ones we know now.”
“Very different,” Christian agreed, leading us deeper into the library. “Huge creatures with terrible powers that terrorised the world…” He smiled at his dramatic tone. “Of course, it’s very difficult to sort fact from fiction. Dragons don’t keep written records and they don’t often allow humans access to the dragon stones used to store their ancestral memories, but…” With a gesture, he indicated a small selection of books at the back of the library. “What information we do have is here.”
“Dragons…” Lorien crouched down in front of the shelf. Those long fingers skimming across the books’ spines had my own twitching. “Dragons, dragons…”
More and more books were pulled free with a kind of enthusiasm that had both Christian and me moving forward.
“Ahh, Master Lorien…”
Gingerly, I retrieved the pile of books from his grip.
“Just Lorien.”
He glanced up at me, staring far longer than was polite, and somehow I couldn’t bring myself to be the first to look away. How had I never noticed the tiny flecks of gold in his dark eyes? It felt like I counted each one now. A small clearing of the librarian’s throat had me stepping back, realising I was gawping too.
Christian made a small sound. “Yes, well, Lorien… perhaps we’ll start with this one?” He removed two books from the other man’s grip, handing me one. “It’s a good introduction to the topic of pre-human history. This one.” The possessive way he stroked the cover had me leaning closer. The foil embossing was almost entirely worn away, the spine starting to separate from the book block. “It’s a very old text. You’ll need to be extremely careful with it.”
“I’m always careful with what matters.” Lorien wasn’t looking at the librarian, nor the ancient book that drew me closer with its promise of hidden knowledge. Rather, his lips twitched, those gold and brown eyes sparkling as I stopped just short of the book. “And right now, that means carrying all these books for you. Oof…!” He made a show of stumbling under the weight of his burden, but the way his biceps popped had me thinking it was all for show. Christian’s frown seemed to confirm that. “Now, a table for milady?”
Lorien held the books with one arm, reaching for the mug of coffee he’d brought in with the other, but Christian was already there, removing it from the shelves.
“No drinks around the books,” he said primly, picking up the flowers and depositing them in Lorien’s now free hand. “You’ll let me know if you need anything else?”
“Yes.” Lorien stared after the librarian mournfully. “Coffee. I need coffee.”
“Oh, well, I can take things from here.” Moving forward, I went to take the books, but his grip tightened. That roguish smile was back as I tried again and failed. With a sigh I stepped back, but he broached the gap, moving until the books were almost pressed into my chest. “You’re free to go and get coffee, Master… Just Lorien. Breakfast, perhaps?”
My own stomach felt faintly hollow at the thought of that, but the allure of the books was too great. Food could wait, but knowledge…
“Only if you’ll join me for a meal.” Had his voice gotten huskier? And how had I missed how tall he was? Lorien loomed over me, blocking all view of the rest of the library. “Walking in to the mess with you on my arm? That would be a grand thing.”
“I… Well…”
Knowledge, Auren prompted.You went to the library to find out more about Drathnor.
Of course.My cheeks were burning hot as I scurried over to the closest table, but before I could reach it, Lorien was there. The books were deposited, then my chair whisked out, as neatly as a gentleman.
“Books first, then breakfast?”
He took his own seat across from me, looking too large, too wild, for a library. It was as if one of those massive panthers they talked about prowling the wilds of the continent had chosen to curl himself up in an overstuffed chair. Lorien may as well have been one because I felt completely out of my depth. But books? As soon as my eyes landed on the covers, I drew the pile closer.
“Books first,” Lorien amended with a grin. “Books second, third, fourth?—”
“This research,” I explained. “It’s why we returned. Auren… she can’t live like this, being hounded from the skies. Queen dragons, they weren’t always a prize for males to win.” His smile faded. “We have reason to believe they were considerably more powerful than they are now and we need to find out why that changed.”
When I stared at him, it wasn’t the rider I saw, but the vision gifted to us by the stone egg. That silver queen sweeping forward, destroying everything in her path. Auren might want to claim such power, but in my heart of hearts, I knew I needed to find out more simply to avoid that happening again.
“There has to be a way for Auren and all the other queen dragons to live free.” I opened the first book carefully, a little alarmed by the crack of its spine. The paper was as fine as parchment, feeling terribly fragile under my fingers. I flicked past the title page where the words Dragon Prehistory was printed, then skimmed the table of contents, stopping at a familiar name. “Drathnor…” I gasped.
Seeing the ancient dragon’s name in black and white feltdifferent somehow. As if the vision was just a dream, but it was only now I was waking up to reality.
“Drathnor?” Lorien moved, dropping down to one knee beside me to peer at the book. “That’s who you want to find out more about?” His eyes rolled up to meet mine. “Well, the gods have indeed been kind.”
“What do you mean?”
