Page 35 of Lore of the Wilds

With Asher gone, the days bled into each other. She spent every day in the dusty library, organizing tome after tome, shelf by shelf. She’d never felt so utterly alone. At the end of each day, she was so exhausted from hours filled with lifting heavy tomes, sweeping, and mopping each aisle, that she could scarcely keep her eyes open when she arrived in her room.

When she took breaks, she sat in a little nook she’d made for herself in the library. It was composed of a chair, a small table, and a rug she’d found in one of the many closets. She would curl up in one of the chairs, perusing a tome. Though Vinelake hadtold her not to read any of the books beyond what was necessary to discern where to put them in the library or to log them in the book that, by now, was filled with pages and pages of titles and descriptions, she knew that no one would be any the wiser if she flipped through them a bit.

After all, how was anyone to get into the library to know?

The more books she picked up, the more she learned. Though she was too wary of Steward Vinelake to read any from cover to cover, she left the library every day knowing more than when she’d walked in that morning.

Today, while taking a break for coffee, she’d chosen a short book on a small species of water sprites that lived in a collection of lakes in the west. They were fascinating. Their life cycles and habits were so different from her own. In another life, she imagined she could have been like the author of this tome, traveling from territory to territory and learning all there was to know about the people that inhabited them: their customs, religion, and diet.

Outside, the garden was covered in snow, which Lore could only glimpse through the windows. These days, she spent all day in the library, even taking her meals there, and only coming out to bathe and sleep.

Sometimes, Lore would climb up to the windows, cracking one open and leaving food out for the fox that lived in the west garden. She was so lonely in Asher’s absence that she was determined to make at least one friend here.

As the days passed and he still didn’t return, she couldn’t lie to herself any longer. She considered him a friend, and his absence was directly feeding into her loneliness.

The fox hadn’t let her pet it yet, always grabbing the food tentatively, eyes never leaving her own. As soon as it had a good grip on the food, it would race back down to its hedge in the garden. Its sienna-colored coat gleamed even in the shade of thecanopy made by the branches and leaves of the giant tree that stretched to the library windows.

The afternoon sun illuminated Lore’s favorite desk. Lore set down her quill and closed her eyes, letting the bright sunlight filter through her lids, warming her skin. She was almost done logging every book she’d set to for the day when a pounding sound came from the door. Lore—who had begun to feel like she was the only one to exist in the entire world while shut away in the library—startled, her hand flew out and knocked into her pot of ink. She almost didn’t grab the bottle before its contents spilled across the log book. It would have erased days of ledgers. Lore cursed and placed it back onto the desk with a sigh of relief, just as another knock rang through the library.

Was it Asher returned?

Lore fluffed out her curls and smoothed the cream-colored apron she’d begun wearing over her uniform. It had a gorgeous frill at the bottom and deep pockets for Lore’s supplies, but more conveniently, it covered the Wyndlin crest, which Lore despised. She hurried over to the door and swung it open, only for her excitement to flee from her body immediately.

“Oh, hello, Elra.”

“Gods, you are slow. I thought I was going to have to knock a third time. You’ve been summoned to the high steward’s office. Bring your log book.” Elra clutched her broom in such a tight grip, Lore thought she was planning on using it as a weapon against, well, she didn’t know what. Did Elra think Lore was hiding flesh-eating monsters inside the library and they were going to break free and devour her at any moment?

“I’ll just grab the log and be out in a moment.”

“Hurry. You’ve kept him waiting long enough, girl.”

Lore scratched her eyebrow with her middle finger.

Elra pretended not to notice the insult.

Lore closed the library door behind her and hurried to grab the log book. Was this about the sage and roses book? There was no way that it would be about that. Besides, she’d been writing in it for days and it had proved to be little more than a journal—even the smell had dissipated. Lore’s worries about whether or not to turn it in had long since stopped plaguing her.

Unless someone had gone into her room and found it? But no, her hiding place was a good one. She kept the journal stuck to the bottom of her wardrobe with putty she’d purchased at the market. Even if someone swept underneath it or managed to move the beastly thing, the book would remain out of sight. Besides, if they actually suspected Lore had smuggled out a magical book and was keeping it for her own use then it wouldn’t be a maidservant who came to fetch her, but a whole host of guards.

Elra was halfway down the hallway by the time Lore returned to the door with the log book. Lore swore before jogging to catch up with the maid. Who was fast.

No doubt counting every moment before she could be free of Lore’s presence...Well, same,Elra, same.But Lore had to take two strides for every one of hers and she was a little out of breath when they finally stopped outside the steward’s office. Elra knocked gently, her hands free after she deposited the broom into a closet Lore had never noticed before.

At her knock the door swung open from the inside and Lore was surprised to see Lord Syrelle on the other side of it. She hadn’t seen him since her first day at the castle, almost two months ago. Lore had to stop herself from retreating a step. His presence was just so...large. And it wasn’t because the lord physically towered over her, or because his broad shoulders strained at the seams in the arms of his black dress shirt. It was hismagic. The sheer power that emanated from within him was palpable.

And Lore noticed, because it was impossible not to, that his wings were not sprouting from his back today. The male couldquite literally magic away entire parts of his body. Lore wished more than anything she could ask where they went. Were they there, just glamoured away, or was his magic so powerful he could actually bring them out when it pleased him and... and squirrel them away when it didn’t?

But of course, Lorecouldn’task him.

Elra, on the other hand, had also been surprised at his presence and had folded herself into a curtsy so low, she was bent in half entirely, and yet still somehow managed to glance up at the lord through her, wow, quite long eyelashes. Lore almost let a laugh escape her lips. She honestly didn’t think Elra knewhowto smile and yet, here she was, acting the demure lady for Lord Syrelle.

Syrelle, on the other hand, hadn’t even noticed Elra.

“Please, come in.” He stepped backward to let Lore enter. “I hope you don’t mind being taken from your work without notice, but I thought you could use a break. I have refreshments.”

Indeed, he did. Set upon a table was a whole spread. A decanter filled with burgundy wine, elaborately decorated cakes, finger sandwiches. A small bowl filled with fruit.

“Is all this... for me?” Lore relaxed as much as she was able. If they knew about the journal, they wouldn’t be offering her finger sandwiches as a snack. More likely, her fingers would probablybethe snack for the horrible beast that, a few days before in typical Libb and Tarun fashion, the boys claimed lived beneath the castle. Libb had sworn they kept a dragon in the dungeons for when the prisoners became unruly. Though Tarun had been convinced it was not a dragon at all but a worm the size of a greenhouse. A worm with three heads that fought over which one would get to eat the prisoners’ toes. Lore shuddered at the thought. She was ninety percent sure they had been mistaken.

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