Page 99 of Valkyrie Unknown

“Not with your own life?”

“My life belongs to fate.” Her tone grew firm.

She was focused and driven and that was admirable. I did hope Lugh’s trials didn’t kill her.

One might think this was a lot of fanfare to get into a giant building with books, but the tomes here were said to contain all of history, including information about powerful magics if one knew how to look.

Those who could read the books typically weren’t going to learn means of destruction they weren’t already capable of, but there were a lot of immortals out there who didn’t want knowledge like this to exist. Keeping them from destroying the books was a goal I agreed with wholeheartedly.

The librarian looked us over one more time, then gave a terse nod. A door appeared in the wall behind him and to the right side of his desk, and he returned to staring at his book.

Azzie strode toward the door, and we followed.

“Is that?—”

I brushed Zeke’s hand and shook my head, silencing him. I jerked my head toward a sign behind the librarian that readNo Talking in the Lobby when the Door is Open. We could talk once we were inside and in the appropriate room. Just because I’d never been here before didn’t mean I hadn’t memorized the rules in the hopes that one day…

We walked through the heavy wooden door, and it swung shut silently behind us. The door remained, but on the other side it would no longer be visible.

I had to stop and take in the sight in front of me. The walls grew up hundreds of meters, with narrow walkways circling the structure every few meters all the way up. The center was open, but there were additional bookshelves there, stretching out and up.

Was I hard right now? Absolutely. Few things in this world turned me on more.

Azzie shot me a questioning glance.

I gestured forward.After you.We could talk in here, but it felt irreverent to shatter the silence outside of a designated study space.

She led us through the stacks that seemed to grow in number as we strolled. Before we came, she told us she’d been through every book she could find about the prophecies, and so had Davyn. He felt like she’d tapped the resource and that was another reason he hadn’t joined us. She wanted to see what stood out to Zeke and me.

I didn’t blame her for wanting to come back. Now that I’d been allowed admittance, I could get in again on my own as long as I didn’t break the rules. An open invitation I’d be using frequently. There was so much to learn here.

We picked an empty room to set up in that held a simple round table in the middle, and a few chairs. It was the least spectacular thing in the building, but we weren’t here for the furniture.

Then we melted into the stacks again, in the section labeledMyths and Legends. These weren’t actual myths, rather they were the histories behind what most people considered mythical legend.

I trailed my fingers along book spines, never making contact. Leather and canvas and string bound volumes tempted me, but I was looking for one that called my name.

A tingle raced through me, like a spark from walking across a carpet in socks then touching a light switch, but pleasant, and I paused. The title was pressed in fading gold letters, and written in an early version of Anglicized Gaelic. It roughly saidTHE KNIGHT OF LIGHT. Beneath it in a smaller print, were words that made me wince in their spelling and saidand others.

It wasn’t the grandest title. It was a book about Lugh, and that wasn’t a past we needed to delve into today.

Zeke stepped next to me, and before I could figure out what he was looking at, he grabbed the book.

I didn’t stop him, because that would look suspicious. He added it to another he held, making a stack.

There were dozens of other books that made me thinktraining possibilities, but I was happy to let Lugh drive that for Azzie behind the scenes.

When we rejoined her in the room, she looked at my lack of books and raised an eyebrow. “Nothing out there caught your eye?”

“You said yourself that you and Davyn have been through it all.” I made myself comfortable in a chair. “However, yes, there are hundreds—more likely thousands—of books out there I want to read, and none of them will have the content for which you search. I’ll save them for the days when I’m not here on your behalf.”

Zeke set his books on the table between us. “I have no idea what they say, but like my art, they sparked something inside me.”

Azzie grinned at that, and the two took their own seats. She grabbed the one with Norse runes on the cover. “We’ve been through this one a dozen times.” She nudged it in my direction. “I don’t suppose you’d see anything new?” Her question was hopeful rather than condescending.

I shook my head. “I guarantee that Davyn’s donsk tunga is better than mine. If he’s read the book, he’s given you everything.” That was the truth. I was certain the only thing Davyn held back from Azzie was how intensely he wanted to pin her to a mattress and rail her. Though, he hid that from himself too, so it wasn’t lying to her.

Zeke slid me the other one. “And this?”

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