But before she slunk into the aisles, Xenia turned back, gifted him one of her glorious, sunshine smiles and mouthedI am capable of achieving greatness.
He kept his face neutral, didn’t want Elodie—who was still staring up at him—to read anything across his face. But he sent the thought toward Xenia anyway.
With you, I am.
It was much harderthan Xenia had anticipated, trying to concentrate on all this boring historical literature knowing that just beyond these stacks, Cael was cooing sweet nothings into his fiancée’s ear.
She hadn’t checked on them.
Much.
Shewas the one who’d encouraged Cael to woo Elodie, after all. And she’d known without a shadow of doubt that Laetitius’s romantic words read in Cael’s deep, sultry voice could soften even the most hardened female.
But seeing the successful results of her scheming in the form of Elodie draped across Cael, cheeks flushed and eyes shining, had Xeniaseethingwith envy.
She’d thought she’d seen Cael’s dark gray gaze flick her way when she peeked out of the stacks, a tiny smirk curling his sculpted lips as she’d huffed and ran back to her own table.
She hadn’t gone to check on them again. But the image was burned behind her eyelids.
How long did it take for someone to steal a necklace from a distracted female anyway? Surely, Cael could have done it by now.
Or was heenjoyinghis time with Elodie? Xenia knew how powerful Laetitius’s words were. She’d read his poetry plenty of times, had swooned at the passion captured within the simple stanzas.
Maybe reading them aloud was causing Cael to feel the same. Maybe he was out there right now, staring down at Elodie’s graceful Fae features and thinking to himself that he’d like to marry her after all.
“You’re the one that caused this mess,” Xenia grumbled. “Stop being so silly andread.”
I am capable of achieving greatness, she thought to herself, taking a long, deep breath through her nose and pushing it back out through her mouth.I am capable of achieving greatness.
“All by myself and without the help of an uncultured beast with adorably floppy hair and the voice of a sinful god,” she muttered.
Then laughed at herself. She was being utterly,utterlyridiculous. SheknewCael. Knew him in a way that Elodie never would.
Unless…
Unless their plans failed.
It was that thought that allowed Xenia to push her jealousy aside and focus on the task in front of her.
She’d just finished reading through the last book in her current pile and hadn’t found anything useful, so she decided toperuse the shelves. She kept her gaze carefullyawayfrom the reading couches and the couple entangled there.
The library was well organized, topics arranged by floor. Fiction on the top, history, religion, and folklore on the second. The sciences—engineering, biology, chemistry, magical arts, and mathematics—made up the main floor stacks.
She’d already searched the history and folklore shelves. Maybe she could find something in the engineering and magical arts sections. The dragon was used to craft weapons, after all.
She strolled the silent aisles, examining titles. Many were written in Aramaelish—Xenia had a passing understanding of the language thanks to her studies at the Temple—but she was surprised to see many in the common tongue as well.
As she passed a section on battle strategy and fighting techniques, her heart squeezed. What was Cassandra enduring in Tartarus? Xenia cursed every corny joke she’d ever made about the prison back when Cass was performing robberies in Thalenn. Cassandra Fortin was the strongest, bravest person Xenia had ever known. She had faith that her friend would survive.
Xenia had always believed that when one was uncertain of a future outcome, it was best to assume the most positive one.
She held onto that hope as she left the section, and an awareness prickled at the back of her neck.
Someone was watching her.
She pivoted, but the aisle was empty. She gazed through a row of books into the next aisle, but it was similarly unoccupied.
She shrugged off the prickly sensation, continuing her review of the titles. When she came to the end of aisle, she turned and slammed into a hard body.
