He leads me past some guards and out onto the small balcony where we kissed. Sitting there grazing on some kind of fish is the griffin.
“She stayed,” I say. I walk to her cautiously, but she recognizes me. She headbutts me, nearly taking off my mask. I pull the mask the rest of the way off, and Ronan does the same.
“I named her Kira. In honor of Kerensa.”
“I thought you weren’t a believer.”
“I have a soft spot for the goddess of beauty.”
“And love,” I say without thinking. Then my heart begins to race as I realize what I’ve said. “Are those straps?” I say, quickly changing the subject.
They’re anchored around her neck and waist. It looks like we’d fit on her back between her wings, which seems like a much more comfortable place to ride than her neck had been.
“I want to have a saddle made, but there hasn’t been time. The stablemaster did a couple of test flights with the straps. I’m not sure if he was more excited or terrified, but he said they work well to keep you strapped on. What do you say?”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“You’ll see.”
I climb up onto her back with Ronan’s help, sitting at the front. He takes a seat behind me and then tightens the straps around us both. Then he takes a thin strap connected to a collar around her neck. Reins.
“I’m thinking of going back after the festival to see if I can find more of them. Imagine it: griffins for everyone. We could cross the desert safely. You could return to Nithyria to visit when you wanted to. It would be wonderful.”
To return to Nithyria to visit. I hadn’t thought of that. If I stay with Ronan, I’ll have to move here. I won’t be going back home. Not that there are many people there I’d miss, to be honest. Butwould Larus stay with me here? Or would he return with my siblings, assuming I can get Adria to go home and stay there?
I don’t have time to give it much thought before Kira flaps her great wings, and we’re off into the night sky over the ball.
The view is as spectacular as I remembered, more so without the fear of falling. The straps keep us firmly attached to her as she soars and dives, flying at Ronan’s direction up the River Mara.
Kira climbs sharply as we round a bend in the river, and I can finally see her target: the Ivory Spire, home of the Great Library of Faros.
“Is it open?” I ask.
Ronan laughs. “For us, it is.”
Kira lands on a very narrow balcony that circles the top of the tower. The ledge is decorated with marble statues of the gods, each of them facing outwards to overlook the city. Vayla, a torch in her hand; Vahlo, a sickle in his; Arnan with his trident; Kerensa with her bow and arrow; and Sai with his sword and shield. Ronan helps me down and moves a waiting bucket to Kira: more fish.
“I know you wanted to see the Five Wonders, but this place is a wonder to me. My favorite place in the city.”
Here at night, we’re the only ones inside. Ronan leads me through an arched doorway into a small observation room. There are strange golden instruments on wooden stands near the windows, the kind they use to chart the stars. “Are we interrupting their work?”
“Not for long.” He leads me to a staircase that spirals down into the tower proper.
“Goodgods,” I say as we step onto the landing. The floor we’re standing on spirals down at least a dozen stories, with bookshelves lining every wall. Thousands of books. Tens of thousands.
“That’s just the third floor,” says Ronan, leaning over a wooden railing. “There are two more floors below it.”
“Are you serious?”
I’m jogging down the ramp now, scanning the books as I go by. Histories, biographies, dictionaries of languages I’ve never heard of, books of poetry and music. The ceiling is painted with men and women in ancient robes frolicking in nature and recording observations on scrolls.
I understand their joy. It's beautiful here. It’s everything everyone knows about the entire world, all of it in one miraculous place.
I pick a book at random off the shelf. “A Complete Study of Brakkari Architecture, 3rdCentury to 5th.” I don’t know the first thing about Brakkari architecture.
Looking around here, I realize I know so little aboutanything. It’s overwhelming. “There’s an entire world out there I know nothing about.”
“That’s why I brought you here,” says Ronan, taking my hands after I put the book back. “You said you wanted to see the world. I thought we could make a list of places to go. There’s a section—where are we?” He leans out to read the nearest sign. “There’s a section a couple of floors down with maps and travel accounts. It should be much more up-to-date than the books you had back at home. That is, if you want to. If you wanted to do that with me tonight. I wouldn’t have to come on the trip with you, if you didn’t want me to. We could just plan it.”
