Page 142 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

A quick glance up and Alora had to suppress her amusement.

Aiden lay on the floorboards outside Garrik’s bedchamber and dangled an arm and leg under the railing, over the edge.

Thalon said, “Tunnels. The castle has its share that we and Ezander easily explored undetected as older faelings. Perhaps there are archives or a trove we never found? Some sort of vault?”

“If anyone would know about those, I’m willing to wager on Silas.” Alora suppressed an uneasy shudder, turned, and spoketo Jade. “You and the spymaster seemed to be … somewhat civil at the training course earlier.” Meaning Silas didn’t leave the mountain with his throat slit by one of Jade’s blades. Anything short of that was a mercy from the stars. “Maybe you can get close to him?”

Garrik interrupted flatly, “Do not waste your time on Silas. As for tunnels, tonight when the castle sleeps, I can search them. If nothing has changed, patrols should be minimal.” He twisted upward to Aiden and advised, “I have use of another particular set of your skills.”

Aiden rotated his face toward them. A devious grin surfaced.

“Another skill?” Alora questioned. Other than his impressive knowledge of captaining a ship,stealing, and bedroom activities, Aiden hadn’t shown many skills in camp that she knew of. But at this point, with Aiden, not much surprised her.

That grin went wholly wicked as he stood and leapt over the railing. Landing with a grunt, he hummed and sauntered to a door leading to Garrik’s study. “Remember how I’m bloody brilliant at acquiring things that aren’t mine?” He turned the lock on the other side and shut the door. In three heartbeats, Aiden had that locked door wide open.

Alora gaped as his back flattened on the wall beside it.

Arms crossed, Aiden cocked his head and winked, impressed with himself as he said, “Never met a lock I can’t pick, love.”

Garrik relaxed in the chair and widened his legs. “You will come with me tonight, then.”

Noticeable shock lifted around the room. Thalon smirked. “You’re not goingalone?” That was a hint of toying in his tone.

Garrik merely scoffed his disapproval, shot him a warning glare, and ignored the baiting grins. “It may be good in the meantime to search Kadamar’s library. If Ladomyr is as foolish as he looks, then perhaps he has hidden the whereabouts in texts and histories. Anyone care to volunteer?”

Alora grinned with feline delight. “I may know someone.”

An hour later, Alora flipped open a book in the upper levels of Kadamar’s esteemed library. Thoughlibrarymay have been too simple a word for the grandeur. More like a palace created solely for the reverence toward books.

Appearing carved from an enchanted forest, Alora tried not to gawk at the gold-stained oak stacks and railings. At the goldenladders glimmering from faelight orbs mindlessly floating like blazebugs.

Twenty levels extended below her. Above, a mural of what she interpreted as what the Stars Eternal looked like was painted. White clouds and sunlight and more gold. Marble pillars and ornate whitestone buildings of splendor. It morphed into a star-gilded night sky that was just as exquisite.

Greedily inhaling the aged vanillian wood, Alora lifted the skirt of her court-expected attire—a form-fitting navy dress with swooping chains of diamonds on her low-cut back—and strode to another stack to search.

There had to be every book in history collected there.

Something silver ducked to her right, slipping behind the stack at the outer edge of her level. Alora tore her gaze from Eldacar four stories down and across the grand library, who was dragging his palm along books as he strolled. To her left, wooden tables with stacks of parchments waited for the scribes who wereconvenientlyconvinced by Garrik that the library was closing midday.

Alora turned the corner and ambled through the middle of the stacks of Kadamar’s archives when she saw him.

Garrik flipped through a leather-bound tome as he leaned against a golden pillar that made his gray hair shimmer like a sunrise. Heated silver met sapphire for a moment. He tracked her movement, the fabric of her skirt swaying every step, the gleam of the gemstones in her crown of braids against the sunlit windows. How she tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

Then his eyes were on her lips, and she knew what he would find there. The tint of red she’d applied after dressing.

“You know… You’d learn a lot more if your eyes were on that book instead of me.”

The hollow thud stole her attention when he closed it. She fixated on the corded muscles of his forearm when he shelvedthe book. “Near impossible,” Garrik said, smirking as he pushed from the stack and stepped forward. “Why look at anything else when you are here?”

Alora didn’t fight the urge. She threw everything into the mighty eye roll before she gestured to the book he’d shelved. “Anything?”

His face fell, jaw tight. “Nothing yet.” Garrik studied the bookshelves. “Though I must admit, I was somewhat distracted. My mother loved this library. Being that she created pocket worlds, she loved reading stories of others. I suspect it is where she drew inspiration in designing them.”

“How did this library get stories from other realms or know that they exist?”

“Apart from Aiden’s ship?” True. Aiden and Jade were evidence enough that there were other realms out there. Though it was a foolish question, Garrik still indulged her tenderly. “Text keepers were enslaved by Magnelis to record stories. Those who were cursed with magic to collect and write tales that entered their minds as if the stars had given them knowledge of other realms. It is how Ladomyr knows so much about Jade’s customs and orchestrated the Cullings and Hunt.”

She had a terrible feeling that she didn’t want to know anything about the Hunt or the Cullings by the way Garrik’s mouth tightened. But like a fool, she couldn’t still her growing curiosity and asked, “What are they?”

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