Page 14 of Rules of Stone
There is no Osprey.
Of course there is, I spent my childhood there.
The ache in my head turns to painful pounding with each beat of my heart.
I was traveling in the forest.
No, on the main road of course. Like a proper lady.
No.
“Are you quite all right?” asks a male voice a few feet away. Blinking up, I find a man in dark olive robes rising from behind the library’s main desk. In his late fifties, the librarian has a well-tutored voice, light brown hair peppered with gray, and thick glasses. Leaning on a cane to assist his stiff left leg, he makes his way toward my table, his eyes examining me with uncomfortable intensity as he touches my shoulder. “You appear pale, my lady. And new.”
I shift away and the man’s hand drops from my shoulder, the loss of contact burning my flesh in reminder of my males’ absence.Stars,I’m like a stray dog desperate for touch. “I’m well. Just a bit overwhelmed.” I stand, starting for the door. “Excuse me.”
My mind swims again.I can’t leave—I need to study, lest the Academy sends me back to Lord Zake in disgrace.No.
“Wait.” The man takes a step toward me. “My name is Gavriel. I’m the Academy’s librarian. What is your name?”
“Lady Leralynn of Osprey,” I mutter.
Gavriel sighs, running his hand through his hair the same way that…that someone I once knew did when anxious. “I believe you need to take the veil off for a spell.”
“Your pardon?” I ask over the pounding in my skull. My hands touch my face, finding only skin. “What veil?”
Gavriel curses and limps around me, his cane making an efficienttick tick tickagainst the marble floor. Stopping behind me, he brushes the back of my neck, a small click of a lock sounding before I can pull away.
The pounding in my head stops at once, my thoughts clearing as I feel the amulet slipping down into my hand, the intricately carved runes on its wooden face as cold as ice.
“There we are.” Gavriel limps quickly to the library door, sliding the latch closed. “Feeling better?”
12
Lera
“Who are you?” My voice skitters off the rounded library walls.
“Gavriel,” he repeats simply, inclining his head to me as he pulls a chair out for himself and sits, massaging his knee. “Currently the librarian at Great Falls.”
“And at other times?” I press.
“A cardinal of the Sentinel Guild, keeping watch over the mortal realm.”
I sink slowly into my chair, my hand clutching the veil amulet.Stars.With everything that’s happened, I’d forgotten to remove it as Autumn instructed—with near disastrous results. Now, without the magical artifact hanging around my neck, the headache and confusion are easing quickly—though even that little helps comprehend Gavriel’s presence. I focus on his ears, expecting my gaze to slip away as it does with the males, but find no problem looking at him.
“I am human,” Gavriel confirms. “And you are fae.”
I swallow. “But the veil amulet had no effect on you.”
“It had full effect, or I’d have found you earlier.”
“But—”
“I’ve been expecting you, Leralynn. And I had to trust my deductions over what my own eyes and mind insisted I was seeing. As I’ve been trained to do.” Gavriel pulls a pendant from beneath his robes, showing it off as if the symbol of pen and shield should mean something to me. Seeing that it doesn’t, he sighs and tucks the disk away. “Perhaps I should start at the beginning. After the ancients separated the mortal lands from Lunos, the humans feared that with our limited life span, the truth would morph and wither. The Sentinel Guild guards the history, studies the present, and stands watch should the divide ever be breached—for good or ill.”
“Bystands watchyou mean—” I say.
Gavriel nods. “We keep the knowledge alive.”
