Page 56 of Fate Unchained

“How did you read it?” Lilah asked. “How did you find a copy?”

Hazel raised a brow. “How have you read his work?”

They stared at each other a long moment, neither answering.

Then Hazel smiled slightly. “All right, I’ll go first. I broke into the restricted library in Herskala Academy when I was a student.” She got a pleased kind of expression on her face. “I think I’m the only student who’s ever figured out how to get in there. There were all sorts of books, some with forbidden spells, but for some reason, I was drawn to that one. I took it and read it.”

Lilah glanced away, debating about sharing her abilities with Hazel. Hazel was a magicwielder, and that meant she could be an enemy, even if she was helping them right now. Yet she was also confiding in Lilah, which was surprising … and nice. “I found the chronicles hidden in the Nihova Library. I’m the bibliosoph there.” If Hazel asked how they were hidden, she wouldn’t admit to her runic abilities.

Hazel’s eyes narrowed slightly, and it felt similar to when Baba Yaga had studied her. As if the other person were examining her mind as well. “Interesting,” was all Hazel said.

Perhaps it was best to steer Hazel away from Nihova, but on the other hand, Hazel was the only other person who’d ever read his work. Lilah really wanted to talk about what he’d written. “Did you think his book was … straightforward?” she asked.

Hazel’s eyes narrowed further. “It was all allegory. I mean, are we really supposed to believe that his quote about treading unheard to deal with your enemies was about weeding and landscaping his garden?”

Lilah agreed, but she kept her expression blank. Did she dare ask Hazel a question that verged into the magicwielder realm? “What do they say about Nihova at the Academy?”

“He’s dismissed as Herskala’s half brother who had no magic. Herskala was generous, and he gave his brother half the city, the part the humans live in, so they could rule together, but his brother turned against him, and Herskala ended up ruling all.” Hazel seemed to be watching Lilah carefully. “What do they say on the human side?”

“Much of the same. That Nihova should have been grateful instead of stirring up a revolt.” She pressed her lips together and looked away. “But I’m not sure he did.”

“His treatise on weeding may point otherwise.”

Lilah’s head snapped back around to look directly at Hazel. “Why would a human with no magic be any kind of threat?” The common history said Nihova attacked Herskala, and the ensuing battle ended in Nihova’s death. Afterward, Herskala ordered all traces of Nihova wiped from Coromesto and secretly ordered his entire bloodline wiped away, too.

Supposedly they’d all died. Supposedly.

“I was curious about that myself,” Hazel said.

Lilah nodded. She’d spent many long hours researching Nihova as part of her secret research, and so far, she hadn’t found much. For her, it wasn’t just researching the namesake of her library, she believed there was more to Nihova.

The vulk joined them again, and Zann walked up to Hazel. “You sticking around?”

Her lips thinned, and she nodded. “For a bit. I want Morana just as badly as you do. I’m going to talk to a few people and see if they can tell me anything useful.” She nodded at Lilah. “If I find anything out, I’ll find Lilah. Unless,” she lifted a brow, “you want to leave our connection open, and I come to you?”

Zann rubbed his chest. “Not necessary. And I’ll be busy hunting the leshak.” He jerked his chin at Finn. “Let’s go.” Zann hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering on Hazel as if he wanted to say something further, but he didn’t, he turned and loped off into the forest to join Finn.

“Where are they going?” Lilah asked.

“The vulk use the old sewers to move around the city, and that’s exactly the kind of place a leshak would hide,” Kyril said. “They’ll hunt for it down there until nightfall, then when it’s dark, we can search in the city itself. We have a rough idea of what the alley Boris was in looked like. We can start there.” He cursed. “I wish we had Juri here. Boris’s scent is faint, and he’d be the best at following it.”

Hazel crossed her arms. “Yeah, well, he’s currently working hard to impregnate my friend.”

Kyril choked. “What?”

Hazel shrugged. “I stopped by to see how the honeymoon was going, and they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. And Triska said she’s been feeling really strong urges. I don’t know anything about peltwalkers, and definitely not one like her, but I guessed maybe she was getting ready for baby-making mode.” Hazel frowned and looked away, but she seemed … wistful. “Triska was really hopeful.”

Lilah’s mouth opened. “Really?” What would it be like to be mated to a vulk? To have his children someday? Huh … little vulk babies, or maybe little lightwielder babies.

An odd flutter trembled in her chest.

Kyril growled low in his throat. “Why are we talking about this? We need to get into the city.” One minute he was a vulk, and the next, he was a man. A shirtless, shoeless one. He shook his arms out and frowned. “All right, we can go now.”

Hazel scoffed. “You’re going to walk around the city like that? You still look vulkish and like you’re ready to kill someone at any moment. Never mind you’re half-naked, and in case you hadn’t noticed, humans and magicwielders wear clothes.”

Lilah nodded. “I told you.”

Hazel sighed. She reached into the pocket of her red coat and drew out the crystal. She muttered a few words, and a shirt, followed by two shoes, dropped out of the air and to the ground.

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