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“Certainly not.”

I brushed my fingers across a city on a peninsula of land at the southwestern edge of the map. “Arcadium, where you went to university. Founded by Arcadius eight hundred years ago.”

“I’m surprised you remember that.” He exhaled a plume of smoke and rubbed his neck. “Arcadius. Warrior. Founder of the great university. Librarian. By the gods, how can the rest of us claim to have done anything at all, when compared with such a man?”

“Librarian?”

“Yes. He built a great library there. It’s gone now, though. A huge fire burned it and all its contents to the ground.”

“When did that happen?”

“More than two hundred years ago. The library had been neglected for decades, centuries, perhaps, and an unattended oil lamp brought it all down.” He gestured to the lamp burning on the table.

“Did anything survive?”

He shook his head. “An immeasurable loss.”

I bent over the parchment, taking in the names of all the cities on the western side of the continent. I swept my hand over the map. “How many of these places have you been to?”

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “All of them.”

“What’s beyond the edge of the map? Surely the world doesn’t just stop.”

“Of course not. It simply hasn’t been mapped yet.”

I took a deep breath. “I think I once mentioned to you that I never knew my mother, and that I have always wondered what happened to her.”

He nodded. A trail of smoke drifted from the corner of his mouth.

I looked again at the map. “I want to figure out where she might have gone. Assuming she’s not dead, where would a woman like her, a Corlivo woman, disappear to?”

He took the map from me and surveyed it thoughtfully. “Assuming a woman could escape from Corlivo—and keep in mind she’d have to have help—the most sensible thing to do would be to leave the Empire altogether. There are Imperial soldiers everywhere, and as we’ve seen, women from the mountain city attract attention.”

Leave the Empire. This possibility hadn’t even occurred to me. It was hopeless: a search for a drop of sand in the ocean. I pushed the map away in frustration. “I thought that by now I would have some idea of a trail to follow, but I’m no farther along than when I arrived here. I don’t even know where to start.”

I heard a click as he set his pipe down on the table, and then I felt his strong hands on my hips. He pulled me gently down onto his lap. After an initial hesitation, I let myself relax and settle back against his broad chest. His spicy scent, part pipe smoke and part something else I couldn’t name, seemed to surround me. My pulse quickened at the strange warmth of being so close to him.

“Perhaps you could wait a little longer.” His voice was soft near my ear.

I could feel the beat of his heart against my back. Wait a little longer. It was such an enticing idea. I could remain in his home, under his protection, safe and comfortable. But for all that, I might as well have stayed within Corlivo’s walls.

“You’ll leave on an expedition soon. I don’t want to stay locked away here by myself. I’m determined to search for my mother, even if it’s a fool’s errand, and I can’t go on indefinitely, living here in your debt. I must plan for what’s next and repay you for all you’ve done for me.”

“Please stop. You’re not in my debt.” He wrapped one strong arm around me, and with the other, he pulled the map toward us. “It seems we’re both determined to keep searching.”

“You’re still set on finding Arcadius’s lost cave city?” I asked.

He sighed, and I felt the contraction of his broad rib cage as he exhaled. “I want to do something I can be proud of, just once in my life, despite my—limitations. And to find Arcadius’s great legacy? That would be a real accomplishment. It’s something Jovinian would value.”

“You still care about his opinion, even after all he’s done?”

“What other target is there for my ambition? He’s the most powerful man in the world. Who else’s opinion is worth striving for?” The muscles in his arm tightened. “Stay with me a bit longer before you run off to see the world. Let me hold onto something beautiful for a little while, as a counterweight to all the rest.”

He bent his head and touched his lips to my collarbone. I felt his rough jaw against my cheek. His words tickled my ear. “I promise, I will help you find your path. Just give me a little more time.”

An unexpected longing bloomed inside me—for what, I hardly knew, but I was overwhelmed by the feeling. My pulse raced.

He cleared his throat and nudged me gently off his lap. “By the gods, I’m no better than the soldier you charmed this morning. Off you go, falcon. I have work to do, and you are far too much of a temptation for me this afternoon.”