Page 49 of A Tower of Half-Truths
Though learning this left Mavery a bit dispirited, she laughed.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Of course you learned how to paint from abook.”
Alain looked around the room. Though they had returned most of the library books, hundreds upon hundreds of his own remained. Mavery had just barely started implementing her new cataloging system, so many of those books were pushed againstthe walls in unorganized stacks. At least they no longer posed a tripping hazard.
“I see your point,” he said. “Speaking of books, I still haven’t started peer reviewing any of the ones Kazamin gave me.”
Mavery stifled a groan. It seemed nothing would take this man’s mind off work.
“Are you sure you don’t need a break first?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep after I left yesterday?”
“Er…a bit, off and on. But I promise this project will be well worth the sacrifice.”
“Worth running yourself ragged, you mean.”
“I won’t have to for much longer. Just a few more days, and I’ll have this thing cracked.”
He reached for her shoulder, then glanced at his stained fingers and, seeming to think better of it, dropped his hand.
With each passing day, Alain’s face became a little more gaunt, his beard a little more unkempt, the dark circles around his eyes a little more pronounced. But he assured Mavery that she had nothing to worry about, that his mysterious project—which he only worked on when she wasn’t around—was inching ever closer to completion. And so, she pushed her concerns aside and focused on her own project.
On a bitterly cold Siddisday morning, Mavery arrived to find the door wide open. Alain was in the kitchen, balancing on a chair and securing a sapphire blue bundle of feygrass to one of the rafters.
“You went shopping without me?” Mavery demanded.
Alain yelped, clinging to the rafter with one hand. Once he’d stabilized himself, he grumbled, “I would have appreciated a warning knock—or a simple ‘good morning,’ for that matter.”
Mavery gave the doorframe a quick rap. “Good morning. I thought you said supply runs would be my job from now on.”
“I did, but in this instance, I only needed feygrass.”
“Still, I could’ve stopped by Enid’s shop on my way over, saved you the trouble.”
“Oh, I didn’t go to the Cracked Pestle. Now that I know of Enid’s Brass Dragon ties, I can’t in good conscience associate with a criminal, much less patronize her shop, can I?”
Mavery’s stomach lurched. She was thankful he was too preoccupied with tying a knot to notice her mouth hanging open.
He sighed. “Compared to Enid’s prices, the other apothecaries charge a small fortune. I suppose crimedoespay. Pity.” He gave the knot a final tug, then hopped down from the chair. “Are you feeling all right? You’re looking a little peaky.”
“I’m fine.” She glanced away. “Just a bit chilled from the walk over, is all.”
“Good thing I restocked on feygrass. If you need me to brew you a cup, just say the word. But, for now, out with you! The project’s not quite finished, but you’ve seen quite enough.” Alain shooed her into the sitting room, then closed the kitchen door behind them. “On a similar note, yesterday you said thatyouhad something to showme.”
Mavery’s stomach performed another leap. She’d completely forgotten about her plan to show him the catalog. She retrieved the book from her chair, and her knuckles paled as she gripped its leather cover. Like Alain’s project, this one was nowhere near ready; she had hundreds of books left to catalog, and her system would likely need some revising.
But a glint in Alain’s eyes, like that of a child anticipating an Yvernal gift, compelled her to hand over the book. When he turned to the key on the first page, she rushed to his side, then lingered over his shoulder as she quickly explained the shorthand she’d devised: a string of letters, numbers, and symbols representing each book’s author, publication date, subject matter, and location on Alain’s shelves.
“I wanted this to be more than a simple list of every book you own,” she said quickly. “With a single line of writing, you’ll know what each book is about, and where to find it.”
“May I?”
Mavery nodded. She chewed a hangnail while she watched himtest her system. He turned to a random page, picked a book from the list, then located it on the shelf. The process took him not even half a minute.
“This is your own invention?”
She nodded slowly.
