Page 94 of The Scribe (Irin Chronicles 1)

“Huh.”

“Though… there’s a lot of strange happenings lately,” he muttered, still searching for something online. “Like your Dr. Sadik.”

Ava burned just thinking about him. Bastard. She’d trusted him, and now she had no idea who the doctor was, or even if he was a doctor at all. Rhys was still trying to track him down. They worked in silence for several more minutes, but Ava could feel Rhys’s eyes keep coming back to her.

“What?”

“I’m curious about something.” Rhys handed her a book written in what looked like Farsi just as Malachi entered the room. Ava tried to push down her own annoyance at seeing him.

“I can’t read this,” she protested, looking through the book. “I can speak a little Farsi, but—”

“Just look at the pictures,” Rhys said. “See if you recognize anyone.”

Malachi walked toward her, but she shot him a look. She was irritated about the whole “mated-not-married” thing, and she wasn’t going to try to make him feel better. He could have at least warned her. And the fact that everyone around her was so damn happy only irked her more. Would it have killed him to keep her informed?

“If you want to punish him, you’re doing a bang-up job,” Rhys said when Malachi crossed the room to speak to Maxim about something. The two conferred for a moment before heading toward the library door, leaving her and Rhys alone. Ava turned to him.

“I’ll get over it eventually, but right now I’m pissed.”

“He didn’t mean to anger you. I’m sure of it.”

“But he didn’t exactly keep me informed, did he? Did Malachi tellyouwe were mated?”

Rhys’s mouth did a little gasping-fish thing. “Not in those words… exactly.”

“Really? When?”

He muttered something that sounded like “Captain Donkey.”

“What?”

He cleared his throat. “Cappadocia.”

“Oh really?” She glared at the door. “We were thereone nightafter we… you know.”

“I think the whole valley knew. Caves echo.” Rhys kept talking, even though her face reddened. “Honestly, love, the two of you had been dancing around each other for weeks. Stop being such a fussbudget.”

“A…a what?” She tried to hold in the laugh as Rhys blushed.

“Nothing.”

“Did you just call me a…afussbudget?” The snicker turned into a laugh.

“I… well, you are. Being very fussy about all this. You’re—”

“Showing your age, old man.” Ava couldn’t stop laughing.

“And you’re being annoyed for the sake of being annoyed.” At least Rhys was laughing, too. His eyes were lighter than they had been since the disastrous night she’d kissed him. “So just stop.” The laughter left his voice and Ava wiped the tears from her eyes. “You two have what most of us have only dreamed of for over two hundred years. A mate. A partner. We can all see it, even when you’re annoyed and he’s exasperated.”

She sighed. “I do exasperate him.”

“And he loves it. He loves you. And you’re clearly besotted with him.” Rhys grabbed her hand and squeezed it for a second. “So stop trying to be sensible about it. Grab love when you can. It doesn’t come around for everyone.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’ll try…” He shook his head and turned back to the computer screen. “You know what? Keep fighting the inevitable. It makes for very entertaining—”

“Oh my God,” she breathed out, staring at the face on the page. The vivid green eyes were rendered in black and white, but the shape was exactly as she remembered. The sketch looked old, maybe from the turn of the century or earlier. It was hard to tell. After all, that particular style of glasses was classic. “It’s him.”

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