Every book, every page, every ink stain and twisted spiderweb reminded me of the fragility of this world, of the ash it would become.
Wickett searched carefully, of course, while Lucette stood perfectly still in the center, just... observing. Pip waited beside Silas, mindlessly petting my familiar, who seemed very pleased with himself, for someone that hadn’t contributed a thing to my impromptu trial.
Calder stood in the corner by the stairs, arms crossed, waiting to move on because we both knew there would be nothing to find in Thistle and Thorn. We’d agreed a long time ago: the bookstore was to be protected at all costs, which mostly meant avoiding it. Sometimes I snuck down to steal books or the Grimora Gazette if I wanted to read the newspaper while Calder and Vitoria were working, but that was about it.
Wickett gave up long before he admitted it to the rest of us, but I didn’t think anyone else noticed. He’d walked the shelves, examined the stairs, messed with a couple of floorboards, but there was no fire behind it. He’d been going through the motions and had almost seemed bored in moments he thought no one was looking.
At one point I saw him reach for a book in curiosity, but then, realizing what he was doing, had jerked his hand away. He was bored... and curious. I spent my life reading people, and this man spent most of his time acting. It was clear to me who he was when he thought no one was watching.
The hunter had drifted toward the philosophy section, his fingers hovering over a leather-bound spine before pulling back. I slipped between the shelves, approaching from his blind side.
“Roehrich?” I read the title he’d been reaching for. “Interesting choice for a hunter.”
He didn’t startle, but his shoulders tensed. “Just checking for hidden compartments.”
“BehindThe Unbending Contract? How thorough of you.”
He turned, and suddenly the narrow aisle felt like a trap. “When did you last see her?”
The shift caught me off guard. “Vitoria? Two nights ago. Before she vanished.”
“Where do you think she went?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I would have told you.”
He moved closer, each step deliberate. He definitely thought he was getting closer to a truth he couldn’t have. “Did she have friends outside your circle? Places she went alone?”
“Sometimes she’d disappear at night. Never said where.” Truth, carefully selected in a nonchalant tone.
Another step. My back hit the shelves. “Any patterns to these disappearances?”
I pretended to think about it. “Always after midnight. Always alone. Almost always came back before dawn.” My voice stayed steady despite his proximity.
“You know,” he said, pulling something from his pocket, “I’ll be able to tell if you’re lying.”
A rune sat in his palm, obsidian with golden veins that pulsed with power. A truth stone. My stomach dropped. Not from fear, but from recognition.
“Where did you get that?”
His eyes narrowed. “Does it matter?”
I stared at the familiar weaving pattern. “Those were experimental. Commissioned by the Magistrate over a year ago. They never worked. Not for a single hunter who tested them.”
“This one works.” He stepped closer, swiping a tight wet curl from my face as he pressed the rune between us, the stone warm against my sternum. “Tell me you had no idea what she was planning.”
The stone shouldn’t work. I’d woven them for an experiment in species-specific runecraft that had failed spectacularly. Every hunter who’d tried had gotten nothing but dead stone. Thankfully. Even though I’d carefully built in one other feature, immunity for my bloodline, buried so deep in the weaving that even I had to look to find it. But I could manipulate it all the same.
“I had no idea what she was planning.” The words came out clearly, steadily. The stone pulsed green. Truth.
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Tell me you don’t know where she is.”
“How are you making it work?” I demanded instead. “Those stones were tested by so many. No one was able to?—”
“Answer the question.”
“I don’t know where she is.” Another green pulse. “Now you answer mine. How?”
He studied me for a long moment. “Tell me you’re not hiding anything about her.”
