Page 36 of The Empty Throne

"I'm fine. Wishta and Tal attended itrecently," Lysa broke in with a faint smile. "As to what I'll do… Ihave no idea. I've never had the freedom of choice before. Thanksto you, I do—or will. Another reason I shouldn't have yelled at youdownstairs."

Kite vastly preferred this man who wasn'tsnarly and prickly and angry at everyone, even if he completelyunderstood. This version was far too appealing for his peace ofmind, but he was an adult, at least in theory. He could behavehimself. "As I said, I took no offense. Shall we rejoin the othersbefore we start getting lectured about always wandering off?" Heoffered an arm reflexively, not realizing he'd done so until Lysacurled his fingers around it with a shy smile.

He could behave himself. He could. Hopefullythis Shatar-damned mission ended before he did something stupidanyway.

Eleven

Bittersea arrived at the Lindquist Estate inthe early evening, the only time a fisherman had been willing totake him, after the day's work was done.

As ever, the estate was imposing in itssolitude, the way it stubbornly stood against the sea ever tryingto drag it beneath the surf. It was a stately building, all clean,sharp lines at odds with the rocks and craigs of the island itself.There was little in the way of trees here, most of it scrub andgrass and beaches of eerily white sand.

The imposing entrance was a duel set ofstairs that led up to looming front doors made entirely of stainedglass. When the sun hit them during the day, the hallway beyondturned into a glowing rainbow that even Bittersea conceded wasbeautiful.

He let himself in, then closed and locked thedoor behind him. If someone really wanted to break in, one meredoor would not stop them, but better than simply leaving it open toinvite trouble.

Everything smelled faintly of dust, with alingering hint of the cleaning oils that would have been usedbefore everything was closed up. When all this was over, Lindquistwould send his servants ahead to open the house back up, with evenmore staff to buy whatever was necessary to stock it and whateverwhimsy took him. Not that Lindquist was much for whimsy.

As always, Bittersea began with gettingclean. He also did some laundry, since there'd been no time to staysomewhere long enough he could pay someone else to do it. When hisclothes were hung up to dry, he prepared some food from the limitedpantry and took it with him to the library.

Once he had a space cleared for his food, hesat behind Lindquist's desk, in a leather chair that smelled ofLindquist's rich, smoky cologne. He checked the contents of thedesk as he ate, but even the secret drawers contained nothing butnotes telling Bittersea to mind his own damned business. Laughing,Bittersea replaced them with his own notes, and then focused onfinishing his meal.

When he'd done so, he rose and explored therest of the library, removing dust sheets where necessary toexplore all of Lindquist's many nooks and crannies.

Unlike most libraries, say his worthlessfather's for example, this was aworkingpersonal library.The only useful items in his father's library were the tax records,and even then only if you were a particularly boring accountantbeing punished with an audit.

Lindquist's library, however, was filled withbooks he and others in the household actually used, including theservants. Everything from histories and personal accounts thatLindquist relied on, to novels and poetry to keep people trapped onan island from going insane. He even bound much of hiscorrespondence to refer back to if he needed it, and of course forhistorical purposes, because Lindquist was infuriatinglyresponsible that way.

When he'd searched everywhere else in thelibrary, he went to the last and most interesting of Lindquist'ssecret stashes. He hadn't expected to find anything here, but he'dwanted to clear it as a matter of thoroughness, to see if Lindquisthad left him anything to make his search easier.

Which of course he hadn't, amusing Bitterseamore than he'd ever admit.

Approaching the bookcase that held all thepersonal accounts, like journals, albums, and so forth, Bitterseapulled out a volume on useful herbs and flowers written by someLindquist ancestor and pressed the button that he'd found purely bychance one day when he'd been trapped here by storm and injury.

The injury had not kept him idle long, butthe storm had raged for days, and there was such significantflooding afterward that they'd been trapped for several days afterthat.

The catch released, and he swung the shelfout and up on soundless hinges, revealing an entire secret shelfbuilt into the wall. On it were seventeen books. Smirking,Bittersea fetched his bag and pulled three books from it.

Returning to the shelf, he slotted the threebrand new books into place.

Lindquist walked into the library, eyes onwhatever letter he was reading.

"I know your secret," Bittersea said.

Unlike most people, Lindquist didn't blusteror evade or otherwise attempt to lie. Instead he simply smiled,that tiny little quirk of a smile that made him look both littleboy and wise old man at the same time. "I have a lot of secrets,Bittersea. You're going to have to narrow it down before you startin on the blackmailing."

"Blackmail," Bittersea scoffed. "I wouldnever engage in anything so boring."

"Boring, yes, that is precisely how normalpeople describe blackmail." Lindquist set his letter on his inkblotter and then leaned against the desk, arms folding across hisbroad chest. "Which of my secrets have you discovered, then?"

Bittersea laughed, not missing the wayLindquist stared at his mouth before catching himself and lookingaway. "All of them here in your library, but I'm only talking aboutthis one." He pushed up the shelf he hadn't quite closed entirely,watching Lindquist's face.

It twitched ever so slightly, a crack inthat smooth, unaffected façade. Delightful.

Lindquist sighed and rose to his feet."That's the one you want to trouble me with?"

Bittersea stared as Lindquist drew into hisspace, something very few people were brave or stupid enough to do."Not what I would have guessed for you. Don't you have enoughpower?"

"Do I?" Lindquist asked softly, not reallylooking at Bittersea as he did so.

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