Ria paused at a corner, checking before she waved him on. Along the hall, she stopped. “You sound like a herd of Tambaa beasts tramping down to the river.”
He frowned. He thought he was pretty darn quiet.
“Loosen your muscles. Let your knees absorb your steps. Think light.”
He followed her advice. After a few steps, she nodded and kept going. Damned if his steps weren’t quieter.
Soon they passed through another door into a magnificent room.
“Holy hell,” he whispered.
Shelves filled with Old World books and folders rose up to the double-height ceiling. The domed roof was lit with a warm glow and coated in some orange-hued metal.
“Incredible.” Ria turned in a slow circle. She ran a hand over one of the shelves. Fingering the documents. “We’ll never find the plans just by searching.”
He agreed. “It would take months.”
“We need to find their catalogue system and find the Assassin’s Guild record.”
“There’s some sort of console in the center.” He approached a small domed pedestal that stood waist-high. Inside, it swirled with what looked like smoke. “At least I think it’s a console. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Me neither.”
“All right, then.” Zayn held his palms over the console. “Let me see what I can do. What if it trips an alarm?”
“A risk we have to take.”
He touched the dome.
Nothing.
He swirled his hands around, looked for anything to activate it.
Suddenly, voices echoed in the outside corridor.
“Son of bitch.” He followed it with some more curses. They both searched the room for a hiding space. Damn the Tekton for being so neat and tidy.
“There!” Ria pointed at a tiny niche behind a statue. An ornate grate was attached to the wall. She whipped out her multi-tool and in seconds had the grate off. Zayn frowned. The space behind it would be a tight fit for one, let alone two.
The door to the library creaked open.
“Get in!” she whisper-yelled.
He ran and dived into the space. Ria followed in behind him and tugged the grate back into place.
His breathing was rapid. One, because of the two Tekton who’d just entered the library.
And two, because he had a lap full of luscious female.
CHAPTER SIX
Ria kept her gaze glued to the two men in the library—at least she thought they were men. Tekton men and women looked very similar.
She tried to pay attention to what they were doing, but she was distracted by the hard male body surrounding her.
She was used to hiding and being patient. She knew how to deal with the anxiety that came from the risk of being discovered. But she was almost always alone, and on those odd times she wasn’t, they rarely ended up plastered together with no room to move.
Zayn surrounded her, overwhelmed her. She drew in air, but every part of her was aware of him. His scent filled her senses—hot male mixed with plain soap.
