Page 104 of Silver in the Bone

I shook my head, taking in a deep breath. “The library’s attic.”

“The—” He actually did a double take. “The guild library’s attic?”

I carefully put the shield back. “Librarian broke the rules and let us inside, even though we weren’t members ourselves.”

“I didn’t realize Librarian could break rules,” Emrys said, amazed.

“He hid us up in the attic, along with some of the lesser relics not on display, and let us come down at night to eat and play with the cats,” I said. “He’d bring us Immortalities and guides to read, and food and water until we were old enough to get it ourselves—though I’m still not sure where he got the food.”

“From everyone’s lockers. Nicodemus Lot and Astri Cullen had a four-year war break out between them because each was so sure the other was stealing their food stores,” Emrys said. “I thought it was the cats being tricky but ... apparently not.”

His brows lowered, as if trying to imagine Cabell and me up in the cramped crawl space. “Why didn’t you just go to one of the guild members?”

My top lip curled in disgust. “What makes you think we didn’t?”

That was the simple truth of it. Librarian didn’t have a human heart or mind, but even he somehow knew to protect and care for two vulnerable children.

“Anyway,” I said, “it was fine once we learned how to speak ancient Greek and we could actually talk to him. Well, I learned. Cabell had the One Vision.”

“It’s a good thing you had Cabell,” he said after a while. “You’re lucky.”

It had always surprised me that Endymion and Cerys Dye only had one child, but when all you needed was a son to continue the family name, there was no reason for more, I supposed.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I wouldn’t have survived without Cabell.”

That wasn’t exactly true, though. I wouldn’t have had a reason to survive without him. And if the curse stole him from me, it would take that piece of my heart, too.

“I’m sorry,” Emrys said. “About what happened. All that stuff I’ve said about Nash and you and your brother over the years ...”

“It’s fine,” I said, putting the conversation out of its misery. “Not like it’s your fault.”

A sound came from the hallway outside—skittering, rattling, almost like—

The roots are moving, I thought.

The quick clip of footsteps echoed down to us, slipping through the crack we’d left open between the chamber doors. I blew Ignatius out with a single breath, waving the smoke away and shoving him in my bag to smother it. The smell of it would give us away—

Emrys grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the armoire. The shelves inside had either been removed or collapsed long ago, leaving barely enough room for two people to stand after he pulled the doors shut behind us.

I switched off my flashlight and tapped his head lamp off just as the chamber’s heavy oak doors swung open.

My heart thundered in my ears, and I held my breath. My legs were tangled with Emrys’s longer ones, my body fitted against his side. The fabric of his tunic was soft against my cheek, and for several moments, all I heard was the galloping pace of his heart, faster than my own.

I hadn’t realized he had an arm around my shoulder until it shifted as he leaned forward, trying to see through the sliver of space between the doors. I hadn’t even realized I’d looped my arm around him for balance. My fingers were splayed against his waist, and the heat of his skin radiated through the thin linen, sending a bolt of warmth through my core.

The new arrival stepped inside, lifting the candle on its iron holder. Emrys was right—the dark hooded cloak was so oversized that it completely engulfed their face and form, making it impossible to see who they were. They turned toward the abandoned possessions, toward the armoire, and sniffed.

We froze, my fingers digging into the hard muscle beneath them. Emrys’s breath caught.

But the figure only turned back toward the wall opposite us. A pale hand reached for a cluster of three white stones I’d barely noticed before, pushing each twice in turn. The stones around them seemed to come alive, pulling back like scurrying mice to create an opening in the wall. As they shifted, they exhaled a cloud of mist into the chamber.

The figure stepped through the opening, and in the darkness of the armoire, Emrys’s eyes found mine.

“Tamsin.”

The inviting darkness breathed my name. It rose and fell in tandem with my own slow breathing. I stayed in that slow, honeyed pull of exhaustion until I felt the band of heat around my back give a gentle squeeze. My eyes shot open.

Emrys’s pale face hovered at the crack in the doors, and somehow, the fact that he wasn’t looking at me, wasn’t acknowledging that I’d dozed off on him, made it all the more humiliating.

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