Page 91 of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

“I’m sure he thinks that too,” Yute said. “But I doubt he’s correct.”

A babble of conversation followed in their wake, a growing wave that chased them to the great entrance arch and washed down the steps after them. Livira greeted the cold night air with relief. The stars, scattered in forgotten glory, demanded her attention as if she had no more pressing concerns. She dragged her gaze down to the rank of royal guards still standing before the gates.

“Is the king going to have us killed?”

Yute shook his head. “I very much doubt it. But anyone else who might have been thinking along those lines would view this as the perfect time to do it themselves and win his unofficial favour.”

“Meelan!” Livira belatedly remembered her classmate. “We’ve left him behind!”

“Better that he makes his own way back tomorrow. It will do him good to spend the night with his family.”

“His rich family.” Livira still couldn’t believe that her nemesis’s assistant, Serra Leetar, was Meelan’s... Sirrar Meelan’s sister. Another secret she’d failed to mine out of her classmates. What next? Carlotte would turn out to be King Oanold’s secret love child?

“None of us choose our families,” Yute said, still calm but with more feeling than Livira could remember him using on any subject before.

“Yute!” The voice rang out behind them, sharp as a hammer striking stone.

They turned to see Lord Algar at the bottom of the palace steps, poised and elegant as if he hadn’t had to scramble from his seat and chase them across the great hall. Behind him, Serra Leetar was still hastening down the stair, robes flapping.

“Algar.” Yute inclined his head.

“You can still stop this,” Algar said. “Great gods, man, you must know what you’re doing, what’s at stake here.”

Serra Leetar arrived at his side, flustered, her perfect hair no longer quite so perfect. Algar spared her an annoyed glance. For her part, Leetar cast about as if looking for someone she expected to see, presumably having missed the fact that her brother was still inside the palace.

Yute watched the narrow lord as the man stalked closer, torchlight catching on the crimson of his eyepatch.

“The greater good cannot be served by demonizing a species, Algar, let alone a race of man. And if the greater good was never truly your goal, then consider that in this instance the same also applies to profit.”

“This really is your last chance, librarian.” Algar looked away at the illuminated buildings bordering the square. “If you walk away from this then what follows will be on your own head.”

Yute turned and led the way past the guards. Livira shot a helpless look at Leetar, who widened her eyes in what might be warning. Before either of them could speak, Algar aimed his singular stare at Livira once more, and under that scrutiny she turned and left the palace grounds. Malar joined them on the other side of the gates.

“You’re leaving early,” Malar observed.

“I believe we may have displeased the king,” Yute replied dryly. “Be on your guard.”

Malar looked as if he had something hot to say, but instead offered a curt nod and led the way.

“You displeased the king,” Livira said. “I didn’t even know why I was there.”

“You displeased him by existing,” Yute said.

They crossed the square in silence. The crowds had thinned, probably because most of them were in the king’s hall. Livira watched anyone who came near, sharply aware of Malar’s warnings concerning the danger when an attack can come from any angle.

“What was that about?” Livira’s question only waited long enough to reach the edge of the square. Their path now lay around the back of the lesser palace gardens to where the mountain rose so steeply that stairs were required. “Why provoke him?”

“You didn’t want to be a librarian?” Yute enquired mildly.

“All that in there wasn’t about what I wanted.”

“You deserve the rank. Master Logaris has his opinions, but his assessment is based on how much he’s taught you. He doesn’t have a proper understanding of quite how much you’ve taught yourself over the last few years. I doubt that any of us do, but at least I know that it’s a lot.”

“You were making a point and using me to do it.” Livira didn’t let herself be sidetracked with praise.

“You see, Malar,” Yute said. “I told you she was tenacious.”

“Brothel-crabs are tenacious,” Malar grunted.

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