So very lost.
Chapter 30
Sybilla
Dusk darkened the bedchamber. I hadn’t seen Krait all day. Begrudgingly, I’d taken the day off from training, but his absence had done nothing to clear my mind. Krait and Ryn were right about my needing rest—I felt weighed down by bricks and had been unable to get out of bed until well into the afternoon.
After the announcement of our engagement, the maids had removed the cot. I stared at the two leather chairs, now returned to their spot in the cot’s place.
I’d agreed to let Krait sleep in the bed rather than on the floor. With pillows between us.
It hadn’t mattered. He refused to enter the room while I was awake. The only evidence of him this morning had been a rumpled pillow.
It was for my own good.
I’d been mentally undressing the King of the Sahlms since having arrived here. Part of me wanted to get the inevitable overwith. We’d eventually fall into our marriage bed, and I wanted to be headed back to Luz with an heir on the way sooner rather than later.
That was what I wanted, wasn’t it?
A lump grew in my throat at the thought, unable to imagine a child growing inside of me, unable to picture myself holding a swaddled babe in my arms. Stuck between an ache for that future, and my anxiety toward it, I was glad for the time alone.
I needed to get out of the bedchamber, so I decided to spend my evening scouring the tomes in Krait’shole.Still in my robe and slippers, I carried on down the hall and into the cool, dim library.
I’d never been bookish, but something about putting together pieces of a puzzle appealed to me.
There were three envoys.
Killing them could delay Caym’s path of destruction…
Not an option.
Not if Emmerick was one of them.
Trailing a finger over the leather and canvas spines, I sighed. I spent time leafing through texts. The floor became littered with dusty tomes.
I could read a bit of Phynnic, but most of the books were in Brennac and therefore useless to me. One Phynnic volume caught my attention. I stepped up on the library ladder and reached for the dust-saturated green linen cover.
Stepping down to sit on the chaise, I opened the volume in my lap. As soon as I did, the pages began flipping themselves. I gasped and raised my hands away from the book.
The pages came to a halt as though something was guiding my reading to a specific section.
The Sethe Curse
To curse any soul to wakeless sleep. When cast, one must premeditate a length of time for the cursed to rest. The cursedmust be awakened before their time expires, or they will remain forever asleep.
Glancing around, I wondered what magical interference had just occurred, but sensed no threat here.
My mind reeled with the possibilities. What if we could trap Caym with this curse? My chest clenched. That might mean subjecting Emmerick to the same fate.
The bell tower above rang eight times.
I hugged the text to my chest and carried it back to the bedchamber.
Entering the empty room, I ground my teeth as I kicked off my leather slippers. The cool, multi-colored terrazzo tile against my swollen feet was a relief.
Why was I disappointed Krait wasn’t waiting here?
I hid the tome beneath my side of the bed.
