With Firraand Donaigh acting as their escorts, passage to the palace was remarkablysmooth.
The two mages led them through the hallways with such purposeful strides, no one—neither the servants dressed in their crisp uniforms, soldiers, or even the occasional fancifully dressed noble—stopped the duo from wandering wherever theywished.
(However, Angelique caught more than a few side-eyed gazes and was fairly certain her presence would be reported to the king within thehour.)
Even the guards standing duty outside the library offered only the feeblestresistance.
Firra and Donaigh strode into the library without hesitation, but it wasn’t until Misha and Nadia moved to join them that the guardsstirred.
“The Royal Library is off limits to those who do not have the king’s express permission,” the guard on the leftsaid.
“You’ll need to petition his steward,” the guard on the rightadded.
Donaigh made a U-turn and circled around back, throwing his arm over the left guard’s shoulders. “Oh, come on, man. Don’t you recognize Lady Enchantress Angelique?” Donaigh gestured to her, and Misha and Nadia obligingly shuffled aside so the guards could stare. “She’s the champion of Ciane—andthe one responsible for saving Princess Rosalinda from the terrible curse Carabosso placed on her. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call her the savior ofSole!”
“Lady Enchantress.” Both of the guards bowed lowly to her. “Thank you for all you havedone.”
“It was my honor,” Angelique said. “But I’m afraid I must ask that you would allow myself and these three—who are my closest of companions—entrance to the library. Speed is of the essence.” Angelique could read it in their stances that they weren’t going tobend.
It seems a little bit of verbal manipulation will beneeded.
“For after this,” she continued, “I must speak to King Giuseppe. Carabosso is rampaging through thecountryside.”
The guards stilled; only their adams’ applesbobbed.
“Already he’s destroyed towns,” Odette added, twisting theknife.
The soldiers steppedaside.
“May the heavens go with you,” the soldier on the rightsaid.
Donaigh winked at Angelique as she and the smugglers passed through thedoorway.
The Royal Library was a long and narrow room. All bookshelves were pushed against the walls, and the center was a maze of tables, desks, and wooden displays encased with glass and sealed with such powerful magic even Angelique strongly felt it. The room stretched at least three stories high, with bookshelves crowding all the way up to the arched ceiling. Wood walkways wound snug against the walls, giving access to all the tomes, and at roughly three-fourths back into the room, there was a wooden rail that blocked off entrance to the rest of the library, except for one opening located by a giant desk riddled with precariously stacked piles of books, scrolls, and layered with loose paper and dozens of quills andinkwells.
Firra led them through the maze of tables, straight up to the giant desk that blocked the rest of the room. “Benigna!” she called out in a sing-songvoice.
There was the scuttling of paper, and after a few moments a tiny, elderly woman wearing moon-shaped glasses that magnified her eyes peeked out at Firra between two stacks of books that were leaningtogether.
“Mage Firra.” The little woman spoke in a wheezy but cheerful voice, and as she gazed out at them, her wrinkle-lined face transformed into a wide smile. “It seems you have brought some visitors to this most sacred ofplaces.”
“We need some help.” Firra leaned against the desk, propping her elbow on a tiny patch of open surface. “The Lady Enchantress needs to see any and all records and entries you have onFoedus.”
Although Benigna’s eyes were a little red and weighed down by wrinkles, they were bright with intelligence. “The magical artifact and the dagger of the RobberMaiden?”
“That’s the one. Does the library have any references toit?”
Benigna eyed Angelique and the smugglers, her jowls puffing. “You want to use it against the Chosen, don’tyou?”
Angelique’s jaw dropped. “How didyou—?”
Even Firra and Donaigh gaped at the elderlywoman.
“The King began going through this past year’s reports and correspondences that he missed while unconscious,” Benigna said. “One of those missives was a report from Prince Severin containing the uncovering of the Chosen. He sought me out to inquire to the validity of theclaims.”
Angelique attempted an elegant smile. “And what did you tellhim?”
“Based on the continent’s history and the wise tomes of the library, it was very likely.” Benigna coughed again. “But you have not answered my question. You intend to use Foedus against theChosen?”
