Page 97 of Control's Undoing

Colum held his stare a moment longer, mouth parting…

Xavier waited, breathless.But Colum turned back to the door, opening it and stepping inside.

This was an interior room with no natural light, but recessed lighting along the top of the cabinets that lined the walls illuminated the space, and there was a system of track lighting in the ceiling above, several of the lights pointed at the large square worktable in the center of the space.

Colum paused once they were inside, hesitating and running a hand through his hair.

Giving him time, Xavier strolled around the room.Some of the cabinets had glass fronts, and as he passed, motion-activated lights clicked on, illuminated books, folios, and even a few scrolls.A beautiful Wedgewood vase was sitting in a shallow plexiglass tray on the worktable.As Xavier stopped beside it, he bent down to look at the white jasperware designs on the distinctive blue.The shape of the vase was almost that of an amphora with wide shoulders, but a neck so narrow it could only be used as a bud vase.

The track lights clicked on, making it much easier to see the reliefs.

Xavier studied it for a moment before straightening.Colum stood by the light switches.There was something about the way he stood there—a man in his element, in control of the space—that made it hard to breathe in the best possible way.

Then Colum ran his hand through his hair again, looking almost bashful, and tenderness swelled.

“Is this your favorite?”Xavier nodded at the Wedgewood vase.“It’s a trinity, isn’t it?”

“It is.”Colum’s face lit up with enthusiasm as he walked over.“Wait, no, it isn’t my favorite, but it is a trinity.How much do you know about Wedgewood?”

Xavier shrugged.“My mother has a few pieces.I know they’re insured for an ungodly amount, and there are strict instructions to never sell them.”

“Wedgewood made a special series.Queens ware is the most famous because the first pieces were made for Queen Charlotte.But Wedgewood made a very limited series for members of the Trinity Masters.According to the archive notes, there were originally thirty pieces, all with the same relief image of the trinity, but not all are vases.Sadly, we don’t know where they are, or if they survived.I know the fleet admiral doesn’t have them at Triskelion Castle, so I’m thinking they were given as gifts to the admirals.There have always been nine territories, so if three went to each territory, that would leave three for Triskelion Castle.My thinking is this is one of the ones given to the fleet admiral, and it got passed on to the archive for safety.”

Xavier smiled slightly, looking forward to Colum’s reaction to what he was about to say, but before he could, Colum stepped back, shrugging and turning away.

“Ah, but sure that wasn’t even what I meant to show you.I didn’t mean to talk that much about it.”

Xavier realized the moment had passed and followed Colum to one of the glass-front cabinets.Colum opened the doors and then carefully pulled out the glass shelf, which slid smoothly.

A small book with a worn leather cover was set on a wooden stand shaped like a V.Colum carefully opened the cover, turning a few of the thick pages.

Xavier leaned down, peering at the text.He could barely make out the handwritten words.The ink had faded, and the pages had darkened until there were only a few shades of difference between them.He looked harder, trying to make out what he was reading.

“It’s old English?”he guessed, when he realized he couldn’t read any of it.

“Irish,” Colum said.“It’s one of the oldest known texts written in Irish.It’s a book of Psalms—because sure what else could it be—but this book, and books like it, kept the language from dying.”

As a Frenchman, Xavier fiercely understood the desire to protect and preserve a language.

“My predecessor dated the book to the eleventh century, but I was able to get a more precise, earlier date.This was probably produced sometime between 905 and 920 CE.That puts it nearly a century older than theLiber Hymnorumthey have at Trinity, and yer man’s one down with the Franciscans.”

Colum’s accent and enthusiasm were making him almost unbearably cute.

“See here—wait, do you read Latin?”

“A bit,” Xavier answered.

“Well, see here.Some of it’s in Latin, yes, but most of it is in Irish.”Colum turned the page, and Xavier was able to pick out a few words as one side of the text was in Latin.“We think the eleventh centuryLiber Hymnorumwas probably written to try to preserve the Irish-Catholic church’s hymns and prayers due to the Norman invasion.”

Colum looked at him expectantly.

“I’m…sorry?On behalf of Normandy?”Xavier said slowly.

“No no no.”Colum made a disgruntled noise.“The British.Well, I guess they’d be French originally, of course.It’s why they’re called Normans.But what I’m saying is that the Normans started invading Ireland in 1169.You see?”

Xavier hadn’t been a bad student, but he felt like he was sitting for an exam he didn’t study for.“No…”

“If the one at Trinity was written in the eleventh century—sometime between 1001 and 1100, but the Normans didn’t invade until 1169, either the dating of the manuscript is wrong, or the reason for writing it is.But here’s what I think.I think whoever wrote the one at Trinity knew the Normans were coming.I think it was someone in Lenister, someone close to Diarmait mac Murchada.”

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