Page 44 of Tower of Tempest
She slipped her hand from mine and stood. “My hair’s dry,” she said quickly, ducking her head so that her hair curtained her face. “I have to go.”
I’d hurt her somehow. “Wait, Poppy?—”
But I couldn’t even get the words out before she was crossing the room and closing the door behind her. I fell back onto the bed, staring up at the thin white film of the canopy. Thoughts whirled in my head of a kidnapped old woman, a mysterious king, and, most troublesome of all, a beautiful little bird that I couldn’t get out of my mind no matter how hard I tried.
I stared after the closed door, then swore and jumped to my feet. I threw open the door and raced down the hall. Poppy was nowhere to be seen. She was quick when she wanted to flee, I’d give her that.
I ran up the stairs, taking two at a time, and caught her right as she was inserting the key into the lock of her door.
“Poppy.”
She paused, slowly turning to stare at me. “What are you doing?”
“If I hurt you in some way, I’m sorry.”
She turned the key, and the door swung open, but neither of us broke each other’s stare. I lifted an arm and braced it overhead against the doorway, caging her with my body.
She swallowed thickly. “You didn’t. I’m fine.”
She didn’t seem fine. I leaned closer, smelling the sweet floral scent of her hair. Just a little farther and I could kiss her, finish what I’d refused to start just moments earlier.
Bloody waters, I needed to make up my mind when it came to her.
She cleared her throat and broke my stare, glancing around her room, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Shegasped, face losing all color, which jolted me back to reality. I followed her gaze, and my mouth dropped open.
Everything in her room had been moved, turned over, ransacked. My body went cold as she stumbled forward.
The covers had been thrown off the bed, the pillows everywhere, the wardrobe splayed open. Furniture overturned.
My hands curled into fists. “What in the bloody waters happened here?”
“Someone’s broken into my room.” Her voice shook with the words. “What could they have been looking for?”
“I don’t know.” I crouched down, studying what looked like a boot print. “But someone is after you, Poppy. And we need to figure out why.”
Chapter Nineteen
POPPY
We sat in the massive library of the sky court with its domed ceiling, this one not clear glass like most others in the sky court, but instead painted to look like a starry night sky twinkling above us. Bookshelves stacked on top of each other, stretching all the way to the high vaulted ceiling—no stairs anywhere. Instead long glass bridges hung overhead, crisscrossing, stretching between shelves. Sky elementals flew upward, landing on the bridges and walking to the shelves to pluck out books they wanted. Big platforms stood in other areas where bridges didn’t reach. A woman soared above me, landing on a platform and studying the books in front of her before reaching for the one she wanted.
Tables were scattered about on the ground floor, the chairs perfect for my wings, while Driscoll, Leoni, and Prince Lochlan squirmed, clearly uncomfortable with the skinny backs.
My wings twitched. They’d been doing that a lot lately, ever since we arrived here. I wanted to fly, stretch out my wings and see what they could do. But I didn’t trust I wouldn’t fall if I took the leap.
We’d had to ask one of the librarians to get books for us, and she’dstared at me with curious eyes that kept darting to my wings. I knew she wanted to ask why I didn’t just fly up and get the books myself, but thankfully she refrained.
So instead, she listened to our request and returned later with a stack of books teetering in her arms.
Those books sat in front of us now, looming and intimidating.
I ran a finger along the dusty spines. Prince Lochlan grabbed a book and flipped it open. He’d asked if it was okay to fill Leoni and Driscoll in on Gran’s identity, and I’d given him permission.
I hadn’t meant to pry yesterday in his room, hadn’t meant to ask him about his shadow getting taken, but something in his eyes had looked so pained when I’d brought it up that I couldn’t help but offer to be a listening ear if he’d needed it. It had been a surprise when he’d told me his story, but I appreciated it, and in return, I’d opened up as well. It had felt good. Up until he’d basically rejected me.
I cleared my throat. “So what are we even looking for?”
