“What is it you’re seeking?” he asked, his voice no longer holding that serrated edge. Kaos’ large, obsidian hands reached across the weathered table to the scrolls I’d carelessly left scattered and open. Instinctively, my hand darted out, smashing a tome closed just as Kaos’ fingers grazed the pages.
Those impossibly dark eyes widened with surprise as he slowly turned to regard me, and his gaze made me want to sink into my chair.
“I—I don’t know why I just did that,” I admitted sheepishly.
“You have no self-preservation instincts, do you?” he asked incredulously, not a muscle twitching as he spoke. “I could kill you likethat”—he snapped his fingers for emphasis, and I jolted at the sudden noise in the quiet library—“yet you slam a book on myhand?”
I chewed my lip in thought, choosing my words carefully. “I don’t always think everything through before I act.”
“Clearly,” Kaos deadpanned, but he relaxed back in his chair, the wood squeaking with the strain.
“I heard you were looking for lost things,” he stated plainly, softly, gaze darting to the quiet corners of the room as if searching for prying eyes and listening ears.
I shook my head, stray curls bouncing around my face. Kaos frowned, but I interrupted before I could speak.
“Iamlooking for . . . lost things. But there’s no one else here to overhear our conversation,” I said.
“Where are the librarians? Those creepy fuckers in the black robes?”
An unrestrained and completely unexpected bark of laughter exploded from my lungs, and I covered my mouth in embarrassment.
I coughed when Kaos said nothing, taking a minute to compose myself beforedropping my hands to the table once more with an audiblethunk. “Sirak and his . . . associates have been moved to an alternate, more secure location.”
A feral smile spread across Kaos’ face, understanding glinting in his eyes.
“What lost things are you seeking, Rune Master?” Kaos asked again, clearly pleased with my answer.
I huffed a laugh, rolling my eyes and cracking my neck a second time.
“What lost thing am Inotseeking, is probably a more apt question.”
Kaos hummed, his large fingers drumming on the pockmarked wood.
“Then you should find a Keeper. They tended to look after lost things,” he said offhandedly, but something about the way he phrased his statement alarmed me.
“The Keepers are dead,” I said, slowly sitting up in my chair until I was leaning on the table, trying to get as close to him as the god would allow. Kaos watched my movement with shrewd eyes, a small smirk lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Yes,” he admitted bluntly. “But even in death, they protect what was lost.”
“The Valley was burned. It doesn’t exist anymore, Kaos.”
“Hmm. Too bad, that,” he said, standing from the chair suddenly. I moved backward and craned my neck so I could continue to watch him. “They liked their secrets nearly as much as my sister. Secret rooms, buried information, hidden libraries. That sort of thing.”
My eyes widened at both the information and the offhanded way Kaos spoke.
“What do you want for that?” I asked, warily narrowing my eyes and crossing my arms.
Kaos grinned, his teeth glinting in the low light of the library. I shivered despite the relative warmth of the space, and Kaos’ smile only widened at the motion.
“There will come a time soon that I will need your help. Yours and that of the female godling’s. Best to make sure she comes with you on your little adventure, hmm?” he said as the library door creaked open with a loudbang.
My head flew to where the light streamed in from the large open doors. Rohak stood between them like some dark sentinel, his features unreadable and masked from the glare behind.
“Find the truth within the lies, Rune Master. Only then will you truly see,” Kaos urged, lingering long enough for Rohak to ascertain his identity before he opened a portal as black as the Academy’s scarab stone and stepped through, disappearing from sight.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Rohak
