The line landed exactly as she hoped. She wasn’t the only one who had noticed Elyae’s yearning for more responsibility, but Kasira had pressed far enough. The rest was up to Allaster.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” he said at last. “But I won’t believe this until I have proof of it.”
It was better than nothing. Elyae might still be here, but she had effectively been neutralized. Allaster wouldn’t believe a thing she said now. But more importantly, this had been the last test of Allaster’s newfound trust. He’d chosen Kasira,believedher.
It had taken two near-death experiences and nearly as many months, but Allaster St. Archer, Librarian of Amorlin, trusted her.
That should have satisfied her, should have been nothing more than another step closer to her goal, to her new life.
It should not have left her feeling as if she had carved a gaping hole in her chest.
For earning Allaster’s trust meant only one thing: It was time to move on to the next stage of her plan.
PART III
CHAPTER 26
KASIRA
WITH HER ALLOTTED THREE MONTHS UNTILVERA CALLED THEConclave counting down, Kasira began planning. There were a variety of ways she could convince Allaster to transgress the Library’s laws, from misusing its resources for personal gain to discriminating against individual nations, but she would start small and work her way up, beginning with the other mages.
Over the following weeks, she focused on widening her sphere of influence. Things had changed for her around the Library after the council meeting, as if it had been the final blockade between her and the mages’ acceptance. Those who had still been reticent were more friendly to her now, joining her and May in the main library as they discussed Kalish beasts or inviting her to play games of dice over glasses of mylak by the evening fire.
Which made it easy to begin siphoning their loyalty from Allaster.
They were already frustrated with how distant he had become since Mora’s death, and the more time Kasira spent with them, the more they spoke about it in front of her.
“It’s an O class mission, Car. What’s Allaster need to be here for?” Fen asked, walking beside Carlia on their way back to the soulice door. The three of them had helped relocate a mother Vynan that had given birth to two kits in an abandoned building in a Miravi port town, and Carlia had been muttering about Allaster half the day.
“That’s not the point.” Carlia’s hands fluttered to emphasize her words, the beaded bracelet she wore clattering with a sound like tumbling river stones. Kasira recognized the material for it now, the makhet a liquid silver made solid. All the Jacari mages wore a piece of it, fashioned into earrings or torcs or pendants. “It’s all the other ones he’s refused and more beyond that! When’s the last time you even spoke to him?”
Fen shrugged one shoulder. “He’s never been the social sort.”
Kasira glanced over at the two, and they both quieted. She only smiled, a friendly face and receptive ear. “It’s all right. I’m not sure why he’s been so reclusive, but if there are things I can help with, will you let me know?”
After that, she heard more from other mages whose annoyances with Allaster’s absence were growing, and she placated each of them. Before long, people were coming to her directly. She approved Fen’s endangered species breeding program, gave Warrin permission to take on more shifts in the infirmary, helped May schedule a viewing of a vylor mine for her research. With each decision, she siphoned responsibility from Allaster and May both, divvying up beast care and responsibilities and assigning missions, though a great many of the latter she took on herself.
She visited the Jacari deserts and the southern seas of Riviair. She saw great burrowing Bairna, mole-like creatures with spotted fur that made their homes in Jacari mylak vineyards; red-scaled Lyna lizards as big as her arm that liked to nest in Riviairen hothouses; and iridescent-winged Dorian Birds, whose excrement had a habit of burning through Ayadese tile roofs. And with every mission, the mages came to trust her more and more.
Only Kasira seemed to see Allaster with any regularity, their time together spent at dawn training sessions, during which they worked to increase Kasira’s stamina with magic and to expand her control of her other abilities: summoning items, communicating with beasts, and tracking people inside the Library. For the most part, the magic did as she commanded, but on occasion, it seemed to stutter or pull back before giving way to her renewed efforts.
When she wasn’t with Allaster or May, she was with Gievra, feeding him or talking to him, trying to coax him outside the enclosure. But the Alkatir refused to emerge from the safety of his pen, and their meetings inevitably ended with Kasira lying in the grass outside his gate. It was during one such afternoon that she sensed something in the magic that sent a spike of alarm through her.
With a snap of her fingers, she reappeared in the main library, very nearly tripping over a large, furry body.
“Iylis!” she exclaimed when she had steadied herself.
The snow leopard set down the notebook he’d been carrying in his mouth, which she recognized as his coin collection. There was no one else nearby, and yet Kasira held her breath as he said, “Lady Eirlana. Is something the matter?”
She softened at the sound of her false name. “You’ve been gone for weeks.”
He tilted his head. “I have no idea what you mean.” Then he picked up his notebook and retreated to the hearth, a cup of tea floating in his wake.
Kasira watched him go, torn between concern and relief, before remembering that she shouldn’t feeleither. Granted, it made sense in her evolution of Eirlana’s character that she would be worried for Iylis now, but the problem was those emotions were real—and they weren’t the only ones.
She genuinely enjoyed playing cards with Fen and Carlia and teaching May about Kalish beasts; she sought the thrill and challenge of a beast mission the way she once sought a con; and when she settled beside Allaster among a stack of books in the evenings, she forgot, if only for a little while, that it was all a lie.
She was getting comfortable here, and there was nothing more dangerous for a con artist than losing themselves to the person they were pretending to be.
