Page 28 of The Fifth Heir

“Do you think they’ve left?” Rafe asked.

“No. I think Malcolm is deciding which wall to break through.”

Torren examined the sleeping chamber before walking back into the common room. He checked both windows, the hearth, and every visible doorway without touching anything unnecessarily.

Sebastian remained near the inscription identifying the Fifth Wing.

He read it again, then looked at me. “How could an entire section of the tower disappear from the plans?”

“It might never have appeared on them.”

“The tower plans are supposed to date from its original construction.”

“Copies of them do,” I said. “I’ve never seen an original.”

“You work in the Hall records.”

“The Hall and the academy maintain separate archives. I can request access, but I can’t walk into a sealed collection because I’m curious.”

Rafe entered the common room. “You might be able to now.”

I glanced at the plain keeper’s badge pinned to my robe. “I don’t think being accidentally struck by Choosing magic grants archive privileges.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “Being named an heir does.”

The word still felt wrong when directed at me.

I removed my work satchel and set it on the table beside the five cups.

Sebastian followed and surveyed the adjoining passages. “We should inventory the rooms before touching anything.”

Rafe picked up one of the cups.

Sebastian took it from him and returned it to its place.

Rafe’s eyebrows rose. “It’s a cup.”

“The wing has been sealed for centuries,” Sebastian said. “Some of these objects could be magically unstable.”

“So could the air. You’re still breathing.”

“Air is necessary.”

“So is drinking.”

“Not from an unknown enchanted vessel.”

“The Chalice of Rhyne removed the drinker’s tongue,” I said.

Rafe looked at the cup.

I allowed him three seconds before adding, “According to a children’s cautionary tale.”

Torren laughed from the doorway.

The sound changed his face more than I expected. The severe control he had maintained since the Choosing loosened, and for a moment he looked younger than the scar through his eyebrow suggested.

Rafe reclaimed the cup from the table without drinking from it. “I liked you better when you were hiding against the wall.”