Ambassador Vera smiled thinly. “I want you to be the next Assistant Librarian of Amorlin.”
Kasira didn’t think she’d heard her correctly. She must be delirious from the blood loss and the pain, because it had sounded like—
“What?”
The Ambassador reclined in her seat. “The Library’s laws stipulate that an Assistant must be chosen no later than one year after a new Librarian takes their position, and as such, the current Librarian must accept a Kalish Assistant by the week’s end. As our kingdom’s Ambassador to the Library, I have the authority to select our candidate. I want to send you.”
“For what purpose?” It had been nearly two hundred years since an Assistant had been Kalish, but as the Library was on neutral territory, the position of Librarian rotated through the six nations, their successor always from the next to inherit. Except, the last time a Kal had been chosen, Haidrinism had been a whisper on the wind, not a religion so powerful it had infiltrated the royal court. Kasira had half expected the crown to reject the appointment when the time came, refusing to contribute to the perpetuation of the very creatures Kalthos sought to destroy.
“I have an informant there who has reason to believe that something is wrong with the Library,” Vera replied. “Allaster has become increasingly reclusive, his time and attention absorbed by something he won’t share with his mages. I want you to ingratiate yourself with the Librarian, discover what is wrong with the Library, and help us execute a plan to remove Allaster St. Archer from power. At that point, you will take his place as head of the Library until such a time as we can take control and relieve you of the position.”
Kasira ran through the Ambassador’s words several more times andstill could not make sense of them. The Library of Amorlin was not a thing to be obtained. It was independent of all six nations, a neutral midpoint of international politics that regulated the treatment of beasts and use of magic.
It could not betaken over.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What do you want with the Library?”
A fervor descended upon the Ambassador as she replied, “It is time to begin setting our sights outside of Kalthos’s border, where Haidra’s light does not yet reach. With the Library’s resources, we will spread Haidra’s message across the continent and begin the final extermination of beasts once and for all.”
Only then would they all be free of evil and pain. Only then would Haidra return to her people in the flesh to grant the Final Forgiveness, resurrecting the faithful to live in everlasting peace. Kasira knew her doctrine well, the same way she knew how precarious this moment was for herself. She had the disturbing feeling of balancing on the edge of a precipice with only a choice of which way to fall.
Vera’s lambent gaze searched hers. “You do not believe.”
Kasira wanted to laugh. Even if she had sought Haidra’s light once, there would be little left of that faith now. Not after what she had been through at the hands of the goddess’s servants. There was no room within their holy walls for girls who spoke of beasts.
“Do you?” She looked to the Paratal, who was picking at the remains of his food, not paying their conversation a moment’s notice. Dessen, however, watched with rapt interest. “I can see what a victory this would be for the church and, by extension, the Paratal’s allies.”
Vera’s lips split into a saccharine smile as she leaned close. “Understand one thing, girl: If you question my faith again, I will demonstrate it to you with a blade.”
Not just a political move, then. No, the Ambassador was something far more dangerous than a politician.
She was a true believer.
Kasira reflected the Ambassador’s smile back at her. “No.”
Vera’s eyes flared wide. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.”
It was not just that Kasira did not wish to see the Library destroyed, that the idea of it falling into Kalish hands crushed something inside her when there should be nothing left to crush. It was that she knew with absolute certainty that if this fell apart, it would fall squarely on her shoulders and hers alone. This entire thing had been designed to go unnoticed. The Paratal and Ambassador had arrived early to conduct their business in the dark, under the guise of an official circuit of church visits among Malikinar battalions, and they sought the help of a disposable criminal.
Kasira had no intention of dying in this woman’s righteous war.
Vera’s expression grew tight. “I’m not sure you fully understand your situation. If you refuse, your current arrangement with the Malikinar will be at an end. You tried to kill a senior officer. You will be returned to isolation in Belvar to spend the remainder of not just your sentence, but the entirety of your life in a windowless box.”
The Ambassador’s voice softened. “Or you can execute the con of the millennium. Just think, you’ll have stolen the Library of Amorlin right out from under Allaster St. Archer’s nose. Certainly that sounds better than a life in a cell you can hardly stand up in?”
The illusion of choice—it was a con artist’s favorite trick. You present the mark with options, knowing all along what they will decide, for there is never really any choice at all. Kasira could suffer six more years of service, even beneath Commander Dessen’s hand. Death she would accept gladly.
But she would not,could not, return to Belvar.
And Vera knew it.
The Paratal let his fork clatter to the table and reclined in his chair. “Is this really the best option we have, Vera? I’m starting to doubt she could even pull this off. I’ve seen more life in a sacrificial beast. Who is she going to convince of anything?”
The Ambassador tilted her head, as if expecting Kasira to defend herself. People always thought of con artists as slick and charismatic—showpeople who performed so lavishly, you never saw the trick coming. That was Thane through and through, and he had reveled in it, but she and Loraya had been more subtle. Though Kasira hadalways lived a little more dangerously than her partner, chased the thrill for the pure sake of it.
In the end, she got Loraya killed for it.
