“That is unnecessary.” She picked up the discarded works and reshelved them.
Kane ignored her scolding. “Oh, this is good.” He took a small volume the size of his palm and pocketed it in his coat.
“Your stuff is not here.” He turned to her and held out his free hand. “Arm,” he requested.
Erinna reluctantly placed her marked arm in his hand and pulled up her sleeve. The pirate tugged her closer, more than she was comfortable with, and stared intently at the mark. He traced his fingers over the constellation, his touch light as feathers.
“Follow me. I have an idea.” He slinked through the shadows again. Not even a disturbance in the dust as he walked.
“How did you learn so much about curses?” she asked, struggling to keep up.
“It’s an important area of study for a pirate captain.” Frustratingly vague.
“I noticed you had silver strips on your ship. How often do you travel to the Great North?”
He stopped and shot her an unreadable look over his shoulder. “You ask a lot of prying questions.”
“You keep a lot of useful secrets.”
He huffed out what Erinna assumed was a laugh but didn’t respond. Instead, he scanned the shelves, tapped dust off a few of the books, and then finally found the appropriate stacks. “Here we are.”
Erinna scanned the disordered stack. Loose papers had been shoved on top or between the texts, and a light layer of dust had settled, undisturbed for years. She reached for the closest one but kept an eye on Kane as he leaned against the bookshelf. The wood creaked against his weight.
“Are you just going to watch me then?”
“What can I say, I’m drawn to you.” He cocked his head playfully.
“Grow up, Atwater.” She busied herself looking intently for information that could be useful. There was a text on the nature of curses and their cures. She plopped it into her bag.
When Erinna looked up from her search, Kane was a step closer, still watching.
“What are you not telling me?” She was starting to understand what his faces meant.
He sucked in a breath and contemplated his next words. “About the other part of the deal.”
Erinna gripped one of the heavier volumes, ready to use it as a makeshift weapon. He was talking about her father’s list. The items Kenneth wanted Kane to collect.
“Get to the point.”
He eyed her open bag. “I need to see that lineage book.”
“Why?”
He let out a sigh, and Erinna rounded on him. “What did he ask for?” She hated this piecemeal exchange of information.
“Your father bound me in contract to burn all the information I could find about your mother and her heritage. None of this can leave the library, and I technically can’t give any of them to you. Other than the one you already found.”
Kane was right, Erinna did not have time to process it. With a dry tongue, she responded. “You said the deal would work. You said you had a way around this.” She was supposed to get answers. Erinna closed her eyes and fought against a wave of emotion.
“I do have a way around it, I think.”
Erinna didn’t stop herself—she closed the distance, grabbed his collar in her fists, and pulled him close enough to hear her wrath. “Kane Atwater. All the information, all at once. What. Is. The. Plan?”
Kane was taken aback, his eyes widened in shock—something he seldom was. Erinna was tired of playing games,and for the first time, it felt like she had finally gotten through to him.
“Take time to read through that lineage book, and then I need to burn it. After that, we can go through the rest.”
“We?”
