Page 135 of Fate and Flame
“I’m not asking you to do it again. But you said it has a brother. Do you know where?”
“Some say it’s hidden in someone’s home, right in plain sight, and others swear it was melted down and forged into something new. I’ve no idea the truth of it. I’ve never seen it myself.”
“No matter. You’re sure that’s all you know of it?”
“I’m sure.”
I left him to continue his work and made my way back to the castle. Fen was easy to find. He barely left his study anymore. I knocked quietly on the door and let myself in. “Thought you might like a hand.”
“It’s boring work,” he said, circles under his eyes from his own lack of sleep.
“I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“The far wall hasn’t been touched. I’ve been going through the oldest books looking for anything that talks about an artifact with immense power. Now we know it’s a chalice, that should help. If we can figure out what it is, then maybe we can check the archives and see where it was last.”
“And if it isn’t in the books, Fen? What then?”
“It’s not logical to start digging through the desert. Autus’ males would have never found it that way. There has to be more to it. Something we hadn’t specifically asked or that fae was not told.”
“I’ll get started, then.” I walked to the back of the room and ran my finger down the textured spines of several books until I found one I thought looked promising. I sat on the floor, pressed my back against the bookshelf, and skimmed the pages for anything that might be helpful. There was nothing, of course. I sat the book onto the floor beside me, stood, and repeated the same process. Several times I looked up to see the king wringing his hands, rubbing his eyes, and flipping frantically through worn pages.
There was a library here, but he’d had the staff swapping out books as he completed them, preferring the privacy and comfort of his own study. But the space was filling fast, the staff unable to keep up.
Loti brought us dinner and didn’t say a word as we nodded our thanks and continued searching. My pile of books began to grow. Fen had nearly buried himself in his.
“Have you checked for books on the naga?” I asked, stretching. “If the Weaver is to be believed, perhaps they had an archive list we could look through.”
“Try that bottom shelf there.” He pointed, but his voice sounded like boots on gravel. “There are several books on the fae of the southern kingdom in the corner.”
I stood, shuffled my pile to the side, and sat back down in the corner. The words ran together on the pages, but still, we searched. Fen nodded off and several times I cleared my throat just to wake him. I was used to research. I’d done it most of my life. I’d written hundreds of medical journals, but even I would be strained after searching for as long as he had.
“Shall we come back to it tomorrow?” I asked.
He looked out of the small window and smiled sadly. “I think it already is tomorrow. Let’s call it a night, Temir. We’re worthless running on the amount of sleep we’ve gotten.”
“Tomorrow’s a big day.” I stretched my hands above my head. “All of your forces will be gathered at the border.”
“Indeed it is,” he agreed.
I walked the quiet halls back to my room, sent Nadra my love down the bond, fell face first into the bed, and slept like a rock until morning. My eyes were still tired when I woke, but I quickly dressed and made my way down to breakfast.
It was only Fen, Inok, and me today. We ate quickly and went back to the study immediately afterward. Inok didn’t join us. He’d left for the stables to meet with the soldiers gathering at the borders. Fen would only be researching until his cetani arrived.
“Are you certain you don’t want to come to see the numbers?” he asked again as I sat on the chair across from him and dropped a stack of books on the floor.
“I’m not sure how much help I’d be there, but if I’m here, at least we’re still searching.”
“You’re a good male,” he said. “Ara’s not even concerned with the threat. She’s confident he will never find all the pieces. I just can’t have that same outlook. I have to protect her.”
I thought of Nadra and the imprint on her hand. “I understand that more than you know.”
It wasn’t long before one of the castle staff came to announce that the king’s cetani had arrived. He thanked me again for working and then was gone. Pulled in a thousand directions. We hadn’t even discussed Ara’s absence. I’d seen her face when that fae told us what Autus had done. She was absolutely destroyed by it. More than I was. But I wasn’t born to protect those fae. I hadn’t failed them all. She thought she had. I could see it in her eyes before she stumbled out of that torture room.
I continued searching books for several more hours, finding nothing helpful. There were a lot of new things I’d learned, but nothing about ancient magic, chalices or binding magic.
“Temir?” Nadra called, yanking me from the book in my lap.
I scrambled out of the door and met her in the hallway. “You’re fine?”
