Page 103

"There are forty empty tables." I glance toward the nearly empty library.

"Most are uneven."

I press my lips together. He looks completely serious. Possibly. "You're impossible."

"So I've heard."

I pull the blue book toward me. No catalogue label marks the spine. "Where did you find this?" I ask. "Upper western archive."

I frown. "That level closes at ten."

"It does."

I wait. He waits back. "Were you permitted to be there?"

"No." At least he is honest.

"You broke into a restricted archive?" My eyes widden.

"The door was unlocked." His mouth shifts.

"Because you unlocked it?"

I look toward the nearest librarian. Rhyven does not. He has either calculated the distance between us and authority or simply does not care. Probably both. "What is it?" I ask.

"Field records."

"From when?"

He looks at the book. Arms crossed. "Before the Council standardized ward reporting."

I open the cover. The first page bears a handwritten title. INCIDENTS OF THE SILENT WAR. The words feel colder than the air. I look up. Rhyven's expression has lost its usual bored edge.

"Silent War?" I whisper.

"You didn't find it?"

"Only references."

He doesn't look surprised. "That's because most records were moved."

I look at him. "Why?"

"Officially?"

"Yes."

"They're considered unreliable."

I take time to process his answer. "And unofficially?"

His fingers tap once against the table. "I don't know."

The answer is so rare from him that I believe it immediately.

The first entry is dated more than a thousand years ago. The ink has faded, but preservation magic keeps the letters legible. Western defensive station failed to respond at third bell. No fracture found. No breach detected. Magic remained present but did not answer invocation. I read it twice. Then the second entry.

Rootkeepers stationed near Arel Wood report an inability to perceive the living network beneath healthy trees. No decay visible. Contact returned after thirty-seven breaths. My hands become cold. Nyra. Her fingers against the tree during the Trial. "It's alive. I can't feel it." The next entry— Siren observers reported a total absence of emotional presence within the affected boundary. No calm. No distress. No consciousness detectable. Cassian.