Page 23 of Empire of Dark

One that sat curled up on the royal blue velvet couch tucked by a reticulated window with repeating quatrefoils on the top that had been retrofitted to open and close. Both sides of the window were ajar, letting the breeze of the summer air into the cavernous space. This library had to hold every ancient tome known to man.

It wasn’t quite as extensive as the library at the Academy, but it held its own.

The girl sat with her head down, her feet tucked under her and her elbow balancing on the arm of the sofa. She propped up her forehead with her fingers dug deep into the thick of her dark hair, her concentration on the open book in her lap.

I moved into the library and the moment my soft-soled shoes thudded onto the wooden floorboards, her head snapped up, her face panicked.

My hand flew up to calm her. “Hi, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ve only been here two weeks, but I haven’t seen you here at the castle before and I was curious who you were so I came in to meet you.”

“No. Please, no.” Pushing the book off her lap, the girl jumped to her feet as it dropped to the couch. “I wasn’t supposed to be in here. He said I wasn’t supposed to meet you. I need to leave.”

“No, wait.” I stepped in front of her, blocking her path to the doorway. She wasn’t much shorter than me, maybe half-a-head, and her dark hair was thick on her head, her bangs hiding her eyes from me. She was maybe fifteen or sixteen with probably a little more growing to do.

But this was what I did. At the Academy, I was always the one taking the shy, nervous students under my wing. Helping them to fly. And I was good at it.

“Please, just give me one moment as it’s so nice to see another face around these empty rooms.” I gave her my brightest smile. “Who said I wasn’t supposed to meet you?”

“My father.”

“Oh, well it is fine. I am fine with it. Who is your father? Is he one of the guards that has this place surrounded? I will speak with him to let him know that I pushed my presence onto you.” I was sure I could talk to Damen or find her father on my own and let him know it was okay that she talked to me. It would relieve some of the boredom of this place.

She shook her head, the thick of her bangs brushing across her eyebrows.

“No?”

“No,” her voice faltered into a whisper. “You don’t understand. Damen is my father.”

My head snapped back, my breath frozen in my throat.

Her father?

What the hell?

Triaten hadn’t mentioned anything about Damen having a daughter in this place. Not that he had mentioned a lot.

I blinked, my mind furiously running through what I knew. What IthoughtI knew. But it made sense. Kind of. Damen had me here to breed with me, for heaven’s sake. Of course he had a daughter. Hell, he probably had hundreds of children running amok in the world.

But this one. This one had to be special if she was in this place.

“He is?” I smiled wider, my head cocking to the side. “Well, it’s nice to meet you anyway. What’s your name?”

“Venetia.”

A genuine smile came to my lips. “That’s a beautiful name. It’s mysterious with a hint of darkness to it.”

The tiniest of grins came to her face.

I took it as a win.

I pointed to the book with the leather binding she’d been reading. “What were you reading? Anything good? I’ve been having a hard time finding anything modern in this library.”

She looked over her shoulder to the book. “I don’t really know how to read. I look at the books, thinking if I look at them long enough, the letters will make sense. They never do.”

“Oh, what language is it in?”

Her shoulders lifted and her cheeks blushed, red creeping upward to cross her forehead under her thick bangs. “I’m not sure.” She glanced at me as panic returned to her amber brown eyes. Eyes I could now easily recognize as a match to Damen’s.

Her look darted past me, looking to escape.

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