“Dismissed.”
With that, she scurried away, her curvaceous hips swaying with each step. A pity she feared him so. He would have enjoyed indulging in her, given the opportunity to break her spirit prior to the fear.
Loren stood in the empty hall for several long minutes. There would be no reason for Ariadne to go anywhere aside from his bed—she had passionately given herself to him to escape the clutches of that half-breed monster. Where, then, would she have gone within the castle?
When he truly stopped to think about it, Loren realized just how ridiculous it was for him to set the entire staff onto the task of finding his wife. TheirQueen. Aside from remaining at his side, he knew Ariadne to wander to only one other place, no matter her mood.
The library.
Chapter 7
That no one could hear Ariadne’s thundering heart may very well remain a mystery never to be solved. She grew more and more grateful for the variety of ways to communicate through the vinculum with each passing second. If she were required to hear words, Ariadne was quite certain they would not register as they should.
Instead, she held onto the image given to her by Emillie. How her sister had managed to connect herself to the silent line used between bondhearts, she did not know, nor was it the time to ask. Rather, she was grateful for the link to her sister’s mind so she could find the book most likely to fit the proper description.
“Ari!” Camilla called and held up a brown leather book.
Through the vinculum came a distinguished feeling of displeasure before Emillie’s distinctive tone crept through, “No.”
Ariadne shook her head, unable to utter the same, horrible syllable yet again. She yanked a book free before shoving it backwhere it belonged, the moment that same unease crept through her despite it not being her own. Then another. And another.
“What was the title again?” Camilla asked, stacking the books beside her on the floor rather than replacing them.
Ariadne sucked in a breath, then said for what felt like the dozenth time despite likely having never explained, “It’s apparently in a different language that Emillie could not decipher.”
“You have gotten lazy with your grammar,” Revelie chided from the door where she kept a lookout, though when she turned in their direction, a sly grin spread across her face. “The King would be very displeased to hear such contractions.”
Casting her an annoyed look, Ariadne said, “I would be very displeased to hear even another word from theKing.”
“Then keep looking,” Camilla hissed, a stack of books tumbling to one side in a deafening clatter.
The three of them froze in shock, waiting and listening. Only when there were no sudden footsteps did they move all at once. Camilla kept her search, Revelie clicked the door shut and turned the lock, and Ariadne pulled down another tome, her hope waning.
“Ari,” Camilla said again. “Look at this.”
The book her friend held aloft fit the image-based description given by Emillie. Ariadne descended the ladder to give the black runes on the cover a closer look. Runes that she had, in fact, become accustomed to during her time looking through the old dhemon texts Azriel had collected for her makeshift library inAuhla. She frowned, unable to decipher if it was, in fact, the book for which they searched.
Yet it was at that moment that an unfamiliar flutter of excitement poured through the connection with Madan and Emillie. She pulled the book from Camilla’s hand and clutched ittight as the feeling of certainty grew. Then, all at once, the feeling disappeared.
“Is this not it?” Camilla asked.
“Open it.” Madan’s command struck through the connection. “Edira couldn’t hold on any longer, and now it’s my turn to decide.”
As instructed, Ariadne opened the cover. She scanned the title page, then flipped through a few of the following pages.
“Slow down.”
But anxiety spiked through Ariadne, bright and bold from her own heart. “I cannot.”
“I need you to look at each page,” he said, voice distant yet excited, “so I can see what it says.Emillie is certain this is it.”
Hope pumped from the spring into the dark chasm that had cracked wide inside Ariadne all those months ago. If this was the book, then they were almost there. But…what if the ritual was not in here? What if Emillie had been mistaken?
“Stop.” Another curt command from her half-brother had Ariadne bristling.
Annoyance had her slapping the pages to turn them. “If you do not stop telling me what to do—”
“No,” Madan said, his tone softer now. “I meanstopas in…” A moment of silence from him had her pausing. “Go back three pages.”
