“All princes and princesses must eat, my dear,” he replied. “Even the most honorable of them.”
As if in response, her own stomach growled.
“Well,” she said. “Ifyouare so interested in meats, then why are you here in the library rather than at the feast?”
He sighed and pressed his withered hands against the curling pages of the book spread out before him. “I suspect our reasons for being here are quite similar. Your sister is ill. We must find a cure immediately.”
Hope flickered in Eislyn’s troubled heart. “I am glad I am not the only one who sees the importance of finding a cure. Even Reyna has attended the feast.”
“Your sister has a good heart. You know that better than most,” Albin replied, giving her a steady look. “She believes the alliance with the Air Court will save these lands, which will in turn save our people. And there may be truth in that.”
Eislyn sighed and glanced at the towering stacks. Somewhere in the pages of an ancient manuscript, she hoped to find the answer to her one and only question. Could the Ruin be destroyed? It had not come from nothing. She had been searching her entire life for a cure, but a new fire had been lit beneath her feet these past weeks. Her sister’s life hung in the balance.
And nowhere in these many books had she ever found the answer.
Still, she would keep looking. It was the only thing she could do.
“If she believes in the alliance, then why doesn’t Reyna marry the prince herself?” Eislyn asked.
“Because she cannot, my dear,” Albin said. “She removed herself from the line of succession. Even if everyone around her considers her a princess, she isn’t one anymore. The Air Court will not accept anything but a true royal blessed by our god.”
“Father would return the title to her if she asked,” Eislyn said. “You know he would. He wishes for it every twin moon.”
“Aye.” Albin nodded. “But shemustask.”
With a frustrated sigh, Eislyn pushed up from the table and drifted toward the stacks that stretched along the curved walls. Over the years, this library had become her home far more than her chambers ever had. Set at the top of the tallest tower, the library’s glass ceilings provided a view of the constellations on nights when the sky wasn’t full of snow-thick clouds. The shelves were a jumble of multi-colored spines, books collected from all across the continent. At the very top of each stack, only accessible by a tall wooden ladder, curling scrolls were bunched together.
She wandered to the far left where they kept their many tomes of history, so many that they flowed from the shelves to form towering stacks on the floor. She gazed at the titles even though she knew every one. She had read all of these books. More than once. Eislyn did not quite know what she was looking for. Some kind of sign, a signal that would aim her in the right direction to find a cure.
The library door clicked open. Surprised, she whirled toward the sound and almost gasped out loud at the sight of Prince Thane’s muscular form filling up the doorway. He wore a new set of gold-dyed leather armor, clean and polished rather than the dirt-stained set he’d worn when arriving in Falias. With his sleek hair topped with that golden crown, he looked very much the part of a powerful prince. She hated him for it, even as she stared in amazement at the elaborate hawthorn tree tattoo etched onto his forehead.
The prince gazed around the room until his eyes landed on Eislyn. She swallowed hard and grabbed a random book off the nearest shelf, just so she had something to hold tight to her chest.
“Hello, Princess Eislyn.” He tipped his head forward in a slight bow, even if he did not need to do so. “I need to speak with you.”
“If you have come here to change my mind, then you will be sorely disappointed. You should return to the feast. The celebration is for you, after all.”
Thane ducked into the room, and the door slammed hard behind him. He glanced at Albin. “I would rather discuss this alone.”
Eislyn frowned. “Albin is my dear friend, and he knows everything in the world about me. I will not send him away based on your whims.”
“Princess.” Albin stood and gave a slight bow before turning toward the prince and doing the same. “Please excuse me. There is a task I must attend to for a moment. Eislyn, I will return momentarily.”
Eislyn frowned, her heartbeat flickering in her chest. She did not want to be left alone with Prince Thane. “Albin, please.”
“I will only be gone for a moment.”
The old male bustled past Thane, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the dimly-lit corridor beyond, leaving Eislyn alone with one of her greatest enemies. It was the very opposite of how she had longed to spend her evening. Her absence from the feast must have taken his notice. An unfortunate development.
Prince Thane gazed around the library. There was no appreciation in his expression. He had probably never read a single book in his wicked life. “I see you are a reader then.”
She clutched the book tighter to her chest. “How did you find me?”
A slight smile tugged at his curving lips. “Princesses cannot go anywhere without being seen.”
“Maybe not in your court, but we allow our females far more freedom than you are accustomed to,” she snapped. She could not help herself. She had come here to escape the prince, and he had followed her into her safe haven all the same.
“Yes, I see that,” he replied. “Your Reyna has the freedom to do as she pleases.”
