It had been so natural to sit next to him and make sure he didn't continue to have nightmares. Every time she’d let go of his arm, he’d started trembling again. So she’d stayed until at last, she had succumbed to sleep after what felt like two or three hours.
But somehow, she couldn't shake the fact that he had talked in his sleep and said things that he probably would never have said had he been awake.
She could not change the horrible things that had happened in his past, but she could help prevent whatever was going to happen next. She just had to figure out how to do that, and if thatmeant she spent the next five days in a library researching, that was what she would do, because her husband needed her.
She was already sitting at the breakfast table when Alexander walked in. There were hollows under his eyes, but he was immaculately dressed as always, and he appeared completely normal as Jenkins brought in the mail.
Beatrice wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or frustrated that he seemed completely unaffected by finding her in his bed this morning.
Perhaps the nightmares hadn’t affected him as much as they had seemed, other than making him tired. Maybe they had affected Beatrice more than him.
Or maybe he was pretending it didn’t affect him, and he was more rattled than he was letting on. He certainly had enough things to worry about—perhaps finding his wife in his bed didn’t even make the first page of his list of concerns.
It only gave her the determination she needed to focus on the task ahead.
“Alexander,” Beatrice said, catching his attention from the envelope he was opening, “if I was planning to search for a particular subject in the library, is it organized in any particular manner, or should I just start looking?”
Her husband frowned. “I know my mother had a system,” he said, “but she didn’t write it down anywhere, as far as I know, and it would be difficult to guess. If you want my help, I could come and help you look for a little while.”
Beatrice shook her head. “I’m sure you have other things to do. Guinevere and I can manage it.”
“Guinevere is helping you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Beatrice said. “She and I are both interested in discovering a little more about the library.”
With several servants wandering around the dining room as they ate, Beatrice didn’t know what she could say and whatshe couldn’t, but figured it was probably best to stay vague. Alexander knew what she was talking about, and as far as everyone else was concerned, she was simply being her normal librarian self.
But when she retired to the library with Guinevere after their meal, she had to take a deep breath at the sight of all the books on the shelves. “This is going to take a while,” she said to Guinevere.
The sheer volume of books that had felt like such a gift only last night was suddenly overwhelming. How were they supposed to find a book about magic among the hundreds of books here?
“I know,” Guinevere said with a sigh, “but the good news is there are two of us.”
“You start on that end,” Beatrice said, pointing to the left, “and I’ll start on this end. Perhaps Lady Dunham kept items grouped similarly. Once we find the right section, hopefully, we will find all the books on the topic.”
Guinevere nodded and headed left, and Beatrice went the opposite direction.
She started at the first bookcase, opening each book to read the title and thumb through its pages if she thought it might have anything to do with magic. She would have preferred to read them all, but for now, she contented herself with taking a deep breath of that old book smell.
“Another benefit,” she called to Guinevere, “is that by the end of this, I should know what books we have in the library.”
“I’m surprised you’re not cataloging them,” Guinevere said with a grin. “Isn’t that what librarians do?”
Beatrice sighed. “Yes, it is. And unfortunately, that is a task I should like to accomplish at some point, but we don’t have the time to do it now. So we’ll have to go back through a second time.”
“And I’m sure you will love every moment of it,” Guinevere said.
Beatrice smiled and returned to looking through the books.
If she weren’t searching for something that had completely turned her world upside down in the past twelve hours, she would have enjoyed this task. But the idea that she and her husband were in danger and she knew nothing about it didn't make for a very enjoyable search.
After nearly two hours of work and finding absolutely nothing related to magic, Beatrice grew fatigued. The thought of continuing to sort for another few hours without any progress was discouraging. “I think I might take a walk,” she told Guinevere. “Some time to clear my head would be helpful, and I think I will be better off for it.”
“That sounds like a great decision,” Guinevere said. “I will keep looking, unless you want me to accompany you.”
“No, no,” Beatrice said. “I have some thinking to do about everything that’s happened.”
“That’s understandable,” Guinevere said with a smile. “Would you like help with your cloak?”
