That knowledge dampened my enjoyment.
A grand staircase led to the second floor, which was an open balcony. Because of courseeveryonein the library should admire the craftsmanship of the mural. I would have to see it every minute I spent here, wouldn’t I?
Dozens of bookcases lined the walls and formed neat rows to the left and right of me. How did the librarians keep track of everything? What if a careless patron mis-shelved a book? It could be lost for decades, one among millions.
Though it looked like there was a small army of librarians to prevent such a mistake. I counted three among the books, selecting things from the shelves and chatting with patrons over the contents. Another six manned the huge front desk. They were clearly needed, since a long line of patrons had formed, each holding a stack of books.
I blinked in surprise at the crowd.Where did all these people come from?
One patron carried so many books that he had to use both hands and his chin to support everything. Even then, his stack tilted as he stepped forward. His arms tightened and his chin shifted, knocking his round glasses askew.
Fitz really needed to get his glasses resized.
It took me a second to remember that he was the reason I’d come here. I stepped forward to help him, happy to have an excuse for a ‘chance’ meeting.
The book stack wobbled precariously to the left and Fitz followed it, trying to steady the pile. Then it wobbled to the right, and he crossed his legs in his hurry to correct his posture, until he thoroughly twisted himself up.
The pile tipped forward and cascaded toward the floor.
I threw out a hand to catch them.
Time stopped.
It was a hiccup, an impulse. The books weren’t that important—they would survive the fall—but Fitz’s wide-eyed panic as they crashed toward the floor made me react without thinking.
I snatched two books out of the air before I realized it would benefit me more if theydidfall.
Time started again.
Books pelted me across the shoulders and head hard enough that I dropped the ones I’d caught.
“Oh my gods,” Fitz gasped, staring at me in horror. “I amsosorry.”
My own glasses were askew now, hanging off only one ear. He reached forward to fix them for me. One of the books had damaged them so that they now sat in a slight angle. He grimaced and said, “I’ll pay to fix them.”
“It’s alright,” I demurred. They were cheap fakes anyway. I started to bend down to pick up a book from the floor, then remembered I was wearing a skirt, and crouched instead.
When he saw me crouch to help clean up his mess, he made a strangled noise in his throat and dropped to the floor as well. “No, no, I can clean it up,” he assured me, scooping the books into a disorganized pile.
I’d only managed to pick up one book, but it was enough to start a conversation. “The Modern Knight’s Guide to Quests,” I read aloud. “Are you going on a quest soon?”
“What?” he stared at me blankly for a moment, then finally looked at the book I held. “Oh! Yes. Maybe. I think. I hope to, at least.” He tried to gather all the books up again, already forgetting his previous failure.
“Let me,” I said, taking a stack.
This time, he accepted my help, and we split the books between us. He insisted on carrying two-thirds of them and I didn’t argue with him. A single book was enough to keep us in conversation for a little while longer.
“What kind of quest are you going on?” I asked. Some of my hair had fallen loose from my barrette so I tucked it back behind my ear to keep it out of the way.
“I don’t know yet,” he replied, a soft flush coloring his cheeks under his faint stubble. “Something dangerous, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Probably deadly, even.”
My eyes strained from the desire to roll them. I widened them instead and nodded along with his inane comments. He’d seemed more intelligent last time—too smart for his own good. He was the one who had discovered how to break the curse on the Grimnight Forest. What he’d failed to learn was that curses tended to fight back. His incomplete knowledge had partially led to Trey’s almost death.
It would have been so easy to blame him. I sat with the thought for a moment, waiting for the anger to come. It never did. I knew it wasn’t really Fitz’s fault. He hadn’t intentionally omitted the information, and he’d almost died to the curse’s protections as well.
