Page 99 of A Dusk Of Stars

My frown growing deeper, I say, “Right.”

“Every bloodline has its own. Can a shifter speak in a vampire’s language, or a fae in a shifter’s?”

“Um, no.”

“The three don’t mix. Since it’s only shifters speaking shifter language, vampires speaking vampire and faes speaking fae…”

I nod, saying, “Why would a shifter need a word denoting shifting?”

“Or how could they say something that means vampire or fae?” Serra continues.

My heart sinks. “I see.”

“The only being that we know of that could use all three ritual languages is the Aurora,” Serra explains. “But the rest of us don’t speak that language, and we have nothing passed on from the Aurora herself.”

“Perfect,” I say with a bitter smile.

She presses her lips tight. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

I do something between a shake and a nod. “Are we done?” I ask, and in my mind, I’m already back at the Library, continuing the grueling work.

“Actually, we’re not,” Lorcan says with a smirk. “You’re all going to help sift information on the third piece’s possible locations.”

And he gestures at the piles of papers on the table in the far right corner of the room. “Should all be done in a jiffy.”

“Come on,” I say, “you’re not being serious. That’s all stuff we’ve already gone through.”

“Well, maybe we missed something.”

And I think it’s new information we should be chasing, but I choose to keep my mouth shut. “Fine,” I say as I get up to go grab the first stack, Alaric and Raven following suit.

Raven seems to already be diving into it, while Alaric throws me a sympathetic smile. I give one back, shaking my head to say it’s alright.

I guess I’ll spend the next gods know how many hoursrereading reports and articles on and from mostly Northern, Western and central Europe. As if that narrows it down by a lot. Warsaw, London, Oslo, Copenhagen, I could go on and on, listing the places we’ve sifted through already.

It’s just as I return to the table to start the work that I get a need to look over my shoulder. I spot Bane enter the room and everything else seems to disappear. There’s something different about him — a grumpy look on his face, disheveled hair, shirt that’s not buttoned all the way up.

“Oh, good of you to join us, Bane,” Lorcan grumbles. “Just in time for the real work. That must make you so happy.”

“Ecstatic,” Bane says flatly as he approaches the table.

I’m already reaching out my hand to take the coffee, when I realize he’s not holding one. It throws me off, but I quickly lower my hand.

“Morning everyone,” he says. We lock eyes as he walks around me to get to his chair. He seems to have come straight from bed, that’s what’s different about him. It makes this need explode inside me, to wake up next to him.

What snaps me out of it is watching him walk past his usual chair — the one next to mine — and taking the seat next to Alaric.

I watch him lean to ask my friend, “What’re we doing exactly?”

For a second, I just keep staring at him in this vague confusion.

Then he looks up at me and I quickly lower my eyes, the confusion in me only growing.

My mind wants to linger on it all, but I force myself to shift my focus onto the papers in front of me.

***

It’s tiresome work, what we’re doing. We’re all doing it in silence, everyone except for Bane and Alaric, who for some reason have been buddies ever since Kinwick. The two of them keep whispering stuff to each other, letting out little chuckles that burst every bubble of concentration I manage to envelop myself in.

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