Kasira might not hate beasts with the same religious fervor as her countrymen, but she could understand their fear. Nowhere else did people face such a high density of dangerous creatures. Nowhere else was it as common to meet an orphan of an attack as a happy family. Nowhere else did a kingdom need a force whose sole purpose was protection from beasts, instead of relying on the Library for aid.
Beasts might not be the sins the church claimed, but they were certainly no blessing.
Everything Kasira did she reported back to Vera via the communication channel they had established: notes placed in a forgotten book. A compendium of some sort, it was two fists thick and twice as useless, as it was written almost entirely in a lost Avari language. A quality which also made it the perfect place to hide letters for the spy to retrieve.
By now, she had decided the incident in Allaster’s office meant that his abilities didn’t enable him to constantly know where she was, but that he likely had to actively seek her out. It was a risk to operate on that assumption without more proof, but if she didn’t, her movements would be severely limited.
She had just circled back past the Yrvas, nearing the end of her rounds, when a loudsnapstartled one near the fence. It spun, long tail lashing like a whip toward her abdomen. Kasira had dropped the feed bucket, dodged the tail, and drawn Revna’s blade from her boot before she realized what was happening.
Elyae stood across the pen, a broken stick in hand. Kasira tried to hide the blade, but it was clear from the girl’s expression that she had seen it, her lips curving with a satisfied smile. Kasira had dedicated the past two weeks to proving she was not a threat, but not-threats didn’t carry knives and resort to brandishing them at beasts at the slightest movement.
Kasira forced a neutral tone when she asked, “Elyae, isn’t it?”
“An Assistant Librarian can’t be afraid of beasts,” Elyae said in alight Ayadese accent as she approached. “An Assistant Librarian whose first response is to attack one can’t be an Assistant Librarian.”
Kasira returned the blade to her boot. “And who would make a better one? You?”
Elyae stiffened, a strange emotion passing behind her black eyes. May’s words came back to Kasira:Elyae has always wanted more responsibility than she has.That was the look in the girl’s eyes: jealousy.
Did Elyae want to be the Assistant Librarian?
“You can never have my place,” Kasira continued with Eirlana’s surety, seeking confirmation. “The next Librarian will be Kalish. There is no way around that.”
Elyae let out a rueful laugh. “Isn’t there?” She closed the distance between them impossibly fast, pinning Kasira up against the pen with a knife to her throat.
Kasira smothered the reflex to disarm her. When someone held a weapon to you, nine times out of ten, they had no intention of killing you—at least not before getting whatever they actually wanted first. So Kasira let the blade stay, and let her face reflect Eirlana’s fear and confusion, searching for help. But Elyae had timed her confrontation well. They were alone.
“I don’t know what you said to May to get her on your side,” Elyae began in a low hiss, “but the rest of us won’t be so easily fooled.”
“Need I remind you that I am the Assistant Librarian?” Kasira asked imperiously. Eirlana Corynth might not be accustomed to her role at the Library, but she would be used to being afforded the respect an elevated position granted her.
A sneer cut across Elyae’s face. “Even you can’t say it with a straight face. You weren’t sent here to become the next Assistant; you were sent here to spy for Kalthos. That’s why Allaster hasn’t fully named you yet, and without magic, you don’t stand a chance against me. So listen closely when I tell you that whatever it is you intend to do, I will stop you.”
Carefully, as though it were only an accident, Kasira used one fingertip to send a small journal in Elyae’s pocket tumbling to theground. Sure enough, the girl’s gaze tracked it. She leaned fractionally closer, growling softly, “Your days here are numbered, beast slayer.” Then she swept down to pick up the journal, tucking it carefully back into her pocket as she departed.
Kasira watched her go. There were some people whom you tried to convince of your persona, people whom you could build a story for that they would listen to; and then there were those who had made up their mind long before your performance began.
Those were the ones who could destroy everything.
KASIRA WENT STRAIGHTto the main library, where she asked a leopard spirit for help finding books about Amorlin’s internal processes, in particular the rotation of Librarians. A group of leopards arrived at her table several minutes later, each depositing a book. It didn’t take long to find her answers.
Amorlin: A Library Guidecovered the basics. The role of Librarian rotated between the six realms, each taking on an Assistant who would eventually replace them. It had since been modified to remove Avaria from the cycle, though if the kingdom ever reopened communications with the rest of the continent, it would be immediately reinstated.
The book went quickly through a summary of the Library’s powers, from authority over beasts and all things magic, to the special protections and immunities granted to the Librarian and their mages. It was not until she reached the information on the Conclave that she found what she was looking for.
She already knew a Librarian could be removed and replaced with their successor only by a majority vote from the Conclave. What Vera hadn’t told her was that the same could be done to an Assistant. If Kasira was found to be committing any of the same crimes she intended to set up Allaster for, she would be removed from her position, and an Assistant from the next country would be chosen. With Avaria’s doors closed, that meant Ayador.
Elyae was doing to her exactly what Kasira was doing to Allaster.
It almost made her laugh. The girl was certainly more forthright about her intentions, her first move lacking any cleverness, but it was effective nonetheless. She would do it again over the coming days, finding ways to make Kasira look dangerous, or inept, or like the very spy Allaster suspected her to be. It didn’t matter how many beasts Kasira fed if Elyae gave Allaster the fuel he needed to see her removed from her position before she even had magic.
If she didn’t do something about Elyae soon, the girl would ruin everything.
“Lana?” May stood over her, face lined with the sort of disappointment that told her Elyae had already been to see the First Mage. She had a book on beast diets tucked under one arm and dried remnants of dough along her fingers that suggested she’d been baking earlier, something Kasira had learned that May did to relieve stress.
Kasira reflexively sank into her chair, portraying a remorse that wasn’t entirely false. Something about the way May was looking at her actually made Kasira feel genuinely guilty, an emotion she carefully folded within a mental fist and crushed. Perhaps she had let herself get too close to May these past few days.
“I’m sorry,” Kasira said. “I panicked. The Yrvas—one nearly killed me.”
