Page 108 of Crown of Earth and Sky

“Hush,” I chastened Parys, sliding between the two tall bookshelves. “Do you want the entire library to know I am here?”

Parys chuckled. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no one here.”

I glanced around the row, finding it as empty as Parys said. “There must be someone here, somewhere. This place is massive.”

“Figuratively, there’s no one. Practically,” Parys waved his hand dismissively. “There are perhaps five of us who regularly haunt the library.”

I shook my head, still disbelieving. “There are a thousand courtiers here in the palace. Five of them are in the library?”

Parys’ smile was wry. “Depressing, isn’t it?”

Depressing, but perhaps not as surprising as I’d initially thought. Elementals loved to gossip and connive, not broaden their minds.

I raised an eyebrow and looked down the row again. Books lined the shelves, two stories tall, complete with ladders to reach the tomes stored up high. Not a single book was out of place—other than the small stack on the floor, next to a goblet of wine and a half-eaten slice of cake.

“Who cares for this place?” I said, edging around Parys and closer to his little cocoon on the floor.

“The librarians. They’re surly old goats, the pair of them, so mind you don’t do any magic in here. They say it’s dangerous for the books,” Parys said, not bothering to bow or scrape before settling himself back into the cozy nook he’d created for himself on the carpeted floor.

No danger of that.

Parys held out a hand, and I accepted, folding myself down onto the ground beside him. He leaned back against the shelves behind him, not seeming to worry about the books he pressed up against. If he could be that cavalier, then I could too. I mirrored his stance. Then I reached for his cake.

He tried to swipe it away from me, but I was faster. I’d learned to be. Speed had kept me alive more than once.

I shoved a bite into my mouth, savoring the decadent chocolate and rich buttery frosting. I even let a low moan escape my lips.

“Do you have a reason for coming here? Other than stealing my cake,” Parys complained.

I chewed that delicious cake thoroughly, took another bite for good measure.

But I was concerned Parys might try to stab me with the fork if I finished it off entirely. And I had a purpose.

I set it aside, begrudgingly. Parys didn’t hesitate, grabbing the plate and shoveling the remnants into his mouth before I could change my mind.

Smart male.

“I need you to research the rifts.”

Parys was not mid-swallow, so he did not choke. But he did let his mouth hang open comically, masticated chocolate cake filling the otherwise gaping hole.

“That’s gross.” I reached out and tapped his chin upward.

He finished chewing with agonizing slowness. Swallowed with the same, then reached for his wine goblet and drained it. Only then did he speak, and even then it sounded strangled.

“The rifts? To the human realm?”

I picked up his goblet of wine, frowning to find that it was, indeed, totally empty. “Yes. Everything you can find about them. Where they are located in the elemental and terrestrial kingdoms. How they work, who can pass through them, what sort of protections there are, how they are formed.” I set back down the wine, attempting casualness. “If they can be hidden.”

There was no cake or wine left, so Parys stared at me, warm brown eyes wide.

I stared right back.

Parys finally broke the tension, glancing over my shoulders, then up at the towering walls of books around us. “It could take weeks. I can ask the librarians, though they’ll give me hell—”

“No,” I said sharply. “You cannot ask anybody, or mention this to anyone. And we don’t have weeks.”

He frowned.

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