Page 56 of Thief of Silver and Souls

I’m not sure how to say any of that politely, though, so I settle for, “It seems like everyone here does.”

“Well, I’m not everyone.” Alek pivots back toward the shelves as if he’d rather not face my scrutiny. His hand rises to the middle of his chest, where his godlen brand must be. “I dedicated myself to Estera, of course. But I wanted to know that whatever I accomplished, I brought about through my own abilities and not because of a divine leg up.”

It’s true,Julita tells me.At least, that he doesn’t have a gift. We discussed all of our potential strengths when we first started meeting.

His commitment to relying on his own mortal abilities… is almost like my own. Other than the part where I do have a gift, just one I never asked for and that’s actually a curse.

I can’t help watching him for a little longer, taking in the staunch dedication that shows in every movement of his lean body.

Another question spills out of me. “What is it you’re hoping to accomplish?”

“At the moment, I’ll settle for preventing a second Great Retribution.”

The dismissal in his flat tone kills my curiosity. I yank my gaze to the next row of books.

Along that bookcase and on to the next, I skim the titles in search of anything to do with the history of several centuries past. Alek continues his own perusal without comment.

Then a book catches my eye with enough of a jolt for me to break the silence. “They’re not all in Silanian.”

Alek’s dry voice carries through the shelves from farther into the room. “No, most of us at the college know our Veldunian as well, and many have kept some fluency in Darium, if only for being able to access the records from when we were under the empire.”

“I expected that. Not folk tales in Woudish.” I flip through the pages and grin at the fanciful illustrations that decorate the pages between the curving script.

Alek appears at the end of the aisle I was wandering down. “You can recognize Woudish? What, were your parents immigrants from Woudland too?”

I chuckle. “No. I just—living on the streets, it pays to keep up with all the news you can. And a lot of the best news comes from merchants. There was a Woudish expatriate who did a fair bit of business with his former countrymen when they passed through the city, and I found a couple of old teaching volumes on the language among the cast-off texts I had access to. It meant I could listen in on more of his conversations.”

Alek is outright gaping at me now. “You taught yourself Woudish.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m exactly fluent. I can follow the gist of a conversation and fairly simple text. I wouldn’t attempt a legal treatise, but I’d imagine I could handle this.” I hold up the book of folk tales with a hopeful expression.

Alek stares at me for a moment longer. Then he shakes his head with a sputter of a laugh. “Go ahead and borrow that one too. Gods above. Other than me, I only know three students here who’ve bothered to pick that language up.”

“Different priorities.” I turn to the opposite shelves, resuming my real search. “I suppose it can’t be totally useless even to a noble, oryouwouldn’t have bothered learning it.”

“I like to know everything I can. Which I suppose is about the same as your reasons.”

Alek lingers at the end of the aisle for a few moments longer. For just an instant, his presence feels almost friendly.

Then his mouth twists into a smile that’s bittersweet. “Julita probably thinks we’re both absurd. She didn’t even like bothering with Veldunian. But then, she could hold anyone’s attention without even needing to speak, so she hardly needed it.”

The tenderness in his voice is so potent it sends a shiver through my nerves even though it’s got nothing to do with me. The guy really was over the moon for my ghostly passenger.

Not that he ever would have talked about a street rat like me that way regardless. It hardly matters.

But when Julita responds with a giggle of wry amusement, my hackles rise of their own accord.Some of us do know the most useful things can’t be found in books. He’s done his best, though.

I have to think she never talked to Alek in such a patronizing way when she was alive, or his feelings wouldn’t have remained quite so fond.

Anya might be a vapid priss, but I don’t think her assessment of Julita is totally wrong. My uninvited guest did have a habit of charming people simply to get what she wants.

I’d rather not think about to what extent that might include me. I’m on this quest for my own benefit now—for reasons she couldn’t even guess at.

I tuck the Woudish folk tales under my arm alongside the Traveling Diaries and continue the search. Alek moves on to the next aisle over.

My head is starting to spin with all the titles I’ve taken in when the scholar lets out an exclamation of triumph. “If the answer’s anywhere, it’ll be in here.”

As he lugs the thick volume he’s found over to one of the room’s small desks, I hustle to join him. He flips through the yellowed pages, sucking his full lower lip under his teeth in concentration.

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