“She’ll need volumes on Wiccan and daemonic history, runes and Imbuing, and…I’d like her to have full access to my private reserves,” Ty said.
Nial nodded in understanding.
Ty’s private reserves…that must be the books he got from Petyr. Did Nial know about them? Did he know about the amulet?
Ena looked over at Ty, hoping for more explanation. He looked back at her, giving her a small reassuring nod.
He knew what he was doing, and he’d explain later.
“Certainly. Give me a few minutes and I can have her set up in your usual alcove,” Nial said before glancing at her curiously again, then shuffling off to get a large wooden cart with metal wheels. He immediately began filling it with books that he pulled off the shelves, not even bothering to look at the titles as he stacked them on the cart.
“Your usual alcove?” Ena inquired with a smile, as Ty guided her with a hand on the small of her back towards one of severalrecesses carved into the chamber. Inside was a small table and two cozy, fur-laden chairs. It was more sequestered from the rest of the Archives than any of the other alcoves—whomever sat in here could avoid being seen by anyone who entered through the front doors, and she knew that was a purposeful choice.
“Yes, I found myself visiting the Archives quite a lot before my most recent mission. For…my own curiosity.” Ty gave her a small smile, and a glint entered his eye.
The way he was still talking in code told her that Nial most likely did not know about the amulet, which made sense, since they’d said only Steig, Turner, and Lara knew about it.
As Ena and Ty sat down at the table beside one another, she turned to him to confirm.
“He doesn’t know?” she asked in a hushed tone.
“No,” Ty replied, equally quiet. “But he’s loyal to me and was to my father. That’s why he’s helping me, keeping those books for me, even though he doesn’t know what’s in them.”
“What does he think you’re working on?” Ena asked.
“I don’t know. He’s never asked. I’m sure he suspects it’s something Cole wouldn’t like but…I can’t tell him. Not without risking the work we’re doing.”
“Because of your uncle Zak?”
“Yes, exactly,” Ty replied, his tone going steely.
“But where does he keep the books? And what if he’s found with them?” Ena looked around but couldn’t see the old man taking books off the shelves anymore. Had he gone down that dark passageway again?
“In his private chambers, through there,” Ty said, gesturing at the passageway in question. “Cole isn’t suspicious of him, not like he is of me, so I don’t think he’d go looking. But if he did, well, the old man specializes in keeping rare manuscripts and tomes. My hope is he’d be able to play them off as being of strictly academic interest.”
“And why is Cole so suspicious of you? You’re his nephew. Shouldn’t that garner some goodwill?” Ena asked.
“It’s…because of my father. They didn’t get along. Cole didn’t agree with the way he ran things.”
Ena put two and two together. “Your father was the king before Cole? Before he died?”
“Yes,” Ty said, looking at Ena, assessing her reaction to that information.
That was certainly interesting, and made sense for Cole to mistrust Ty if he didn’t get along with his father. From everything that Ty had told her, his father seemed like a good man and likely had different ideals than Cole. She wondered vaguely how daemons chose who was king anyway, given that Ty’s father and his brother seemed so different from one another.
Just then, Nial came shuffling over, pushing the cart full of books.
“Okay then, here we have the most comprehensive tomes on runes, Imbuing, and daemonic history. Don’t have much on Wiccan history, for obvious reasons, but there’s a few mentions in some of these,” he said, gesturing to a smaller, distinct stack of books. “And of course,” he said, picking up a discreet burlap sack filled with books at the bottom of the cart. “Your private reserves.”
“Thank you, Nial,” Ty said kindly. “This is a great start.”
“Of course, of course,” he responded, waving them off. “Just shout if you need more.”
Ty nodded, and Ena gave the man a small smile before he left them.
Looking through the cart of books, she felt almost giddy. All this new knowledge at her fingertips…she couldn’t wait to dive in.
Back home, she’d read almost every book in Heran’s possession—multiple times. She had fond memories of sitting in Heran’s altar room late at night, sounding out words with the matriarch’s help so she could practice new spellwords and potions. She’d wanted to learn everything she could, and Heran had encouraged her to.
