So I put on my coat and went to the clock tower.
The tower door opened before I touched it.
Kieran stood on the other side.
“You opened the door before I knocked,” I said. “Almost like you were waiting for me.”
I meant it as a joke.
Kieran didn’t take it as one.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” he said.
He stepped back and I went in.
The stairwell was narrow enough that my shoulder brushed stone when I turned. Above us, the roof door was propped open with the same carved wedge as before. Wind came down the stairs in thin, clean gusts.
Kieran saw the brooch in my hand, and his boyish smile turned into a frown.
“Quill gave you that?”
His gaze went to the silver wren.
“Verita,” he said, softer now.
“My mother’s.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
“Selene?”
My fingers closed harder around the brooch.
“You knew her name?”
“I found it once,” he said. “In one of the books Aldric let me sign out. I wasn’t sure but…” He dropped off.
The brooch looked too small in my hand for the amount of history everyone else had put inside it.
“Did everyone know she was here but me?”
Kieran took a breath.
“Enough people knew to make it unforgivable that you didn’t.”
I should have turned around. I should have gone back toRoom 114, put the brooch in the drawer, and slept badly in a room that at least belonged to me by assignment.
Instead, I climbed and Kieran followed behind me.
On the roof, the wind hit hard enough to make my eyes water before I could blame my own emotions for it. The roofs of Zenith spread below us, black slate and narrow walks and lit windows where a few people were still awake.
Kieran shut the roof door to keep the stairwell from swallowing our voices.
“You can tell me to leave if you want to be alone,” he said.
“It’s your tower.”
“Not tonight.”
