Page 34 of The Empty Throne

Lysa smiled back. "That's the one." Hewandered over to the bookcases, dragging his fingers softly acrossthe spines. "Such a beautiful collection. I'm surprised it's justsitting here languishing. Some of these books are worthfortunes."

Kite shrugged. "His Majesty ordered the houseclosed and sealed. After this is over, and the weather is safer forsuch things, you're welcome to come and take what you want. I'llmake sure the promise is held by whoever becomes king orqueen."

That made Lysa stop, turn to stare at him,surprise and hope and wariness battling on his face. "Why would youdo that?"For mehung unspoken.

"Books may as well go to someone who wouldappreciate them, and I'm informed those marks beneath your eye meanyou are quite the scholar. As you said, they're languishing. If wehadn't been able to secure adequate firewood, I was going to orderthe books be used instead."

"You can't burn books! These are priceless!"Lysa said, not quite shouting, but near enough. "That! That shouldbe a crime! Knowledge should never be destroyed!"

"Well, lucky for you and the books, we foundfirewood aplenty out back," one of the guards said with alaugh.

Lysa rolled his eyes and dropped his handfrom where he'd reflexively touched the marks that Kite hadmentioned. Huffing, he turned back to the shelves and resumedexamining the books.

Leaving him to it, Kite turned his attentionto Hargden. "How's the weather?"

"Abysmal," Hargden said, mouth set in a grimline. "Even if we find this bloodstone, we may not be getting backout any time soon."

Kite sighed. "Well, not much we can do aboutthat. If we can find the bloodstone, we can save Lysa. Sobeki isholding the line at the palace. That will have to suffice."Hopefully Cohea or Oskia would arrive soon to help him. Oskia… ofall the fucking times for her to just take off with neither wordnor warning. He loved her dearly, but he was going to break herShatar-damned nose when he saw her again.

Not least of all because on top of all theother problems she was causing, she was hurting Sobeki by lettinghim down when they most needed her.

On the other hand, so was he. So were all ofthem. Cohea had been following orders, but he also had likely beenreckless as he so often was. Oskia was missing. Kite was here.Sobeki was in the palace alone, surrounded by schemers andbackstabbers.

He drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.Soon. Hopefully this quest wouldn't take long, and by the time theyfinished the weather would have eased enough to make travelpossible. "How are we on food?"

"Fine for now, should be good for a couple ofweeks yet. After that, we'll be hunting and foraging, unless thereare stores in the house that have somehow survived all these yearsof neglect."

"Send someone to find out."

Hargden nodded and moved off to see the ordercarried out, and Kite went to the section of bookcases nobody hadlooked over yet. He seemed to have gotten the most boring books:tax law, farming manuals, animal husbandry, and fishing guides.Given there was little to no arable land here, why would LordBittersea have needed to know how to farm? Then again, the Dead Seadidn't exactly provide anything but salt. A lucrative trade,especially in a place of nigh-eternal cold where preservation offood was so vital, but nothing like the income that had once comefrom fish, seals, kelp, and more.

He pulled the books down, one after theother, flipping through each one for… he didn't even know. A largeand ominous looking key. A convenient letter explaining everythingthey needed to know. A long-lost map that was in perfect conditionand showed exactly how to get to the bloodstone.

Pulling out a book of tax records from theprevious century, because that was definitely something of vitalimportance, Kite flipped through the pages same as he had all theothers—and stopped as a piece of paper fell out.

Retrieving it from the floor, Kite set thebook aside and unfolded the single sheet of paper. Frowned. Theletters were right, but the words were gibberish. "What in theworld is this?"

"You found something?" Lysa asked,practically running across the room to join him. He was entirelytoo pale, but seemed so excited that Kite held off telling him heneeded to sit and rest for a bit.

Instead he handed over the piece of paper andtried not to notice that Lysa was adorable when his brow furrowedin concentration, lips forming something like a pout.

After a few minutes, Lysa said, "It's writtenin cypher. I think… it's a list of crimes. Of the dead people. Thefamily, I mean."

"It'swhat." Around them, the rest ofthe group wandered close, abandoning their own tasks in favor oflistening raptly.

Lysa stared at them, then focused on thepaper again, cheeks faintly flushed, as though not used to so muchattention. Which made no sense. He was Fazekas's heir; attentionwas a part of his life. Clearing his throat, Lysa said, "LordBittersea: abuse, molestation of daughter, murder of daughter.Abuse of servants."

"Holy Shatar," Hargden muttered. "Is thattrue?"

"Catalyst," Lysa said softly, still staringat the paper. "There's always a catalyst. If his little sister wasthe one person he loved enough to ignore his dark urges, and helearned his father touched her that way, and then the father killedher… Yes, that would cause someone like Bittersea to snap. Heprobably killed the others as being party to the abuse, directly orindirectly."

"What does it say about the others?" Wishtaasked quietly.

Lysa drew a deep breath. "Lord Bestith, abuseand molestation of a child. Lord Goranki, knowledge of abuse andmolestation, abuse of servants. Chorin, abuse and rape of servants.Mother, knowledge of all, abuse of servants, neglect ofchildren.

"I'm sorry for nothing. Jethue Bittersea,Year 48 of King Wendeth, 928 CD."

Wishta shook her head. "I wouldn't haveexpected Lord Bittersea to leave any sort of account, let alone aconfession."

---