I grabbed one—it was a hardcover, and depicted on the front was an image of two Dragons fighting. It was entitled,Assassin’s Blood. I opened it.
Moments later, I was captivated. Not by the book, but rather by the way Talakai had obviously engrossed himself in it.
I reminded myself that it might not have been him, that he could have been given the book by someone who had loved it well. The pages were worn, and many had the corners folded over, with passages on those pages underlined in ink. Most ink was so faded—how long ago had it been marked?
Then on one page, I found a notation, carefully written along the top.
Integrity is the only thing that stands against chaos.
My heart thudded in my chest. If Talakai had written this, how could he be involved in kidnapping the twins?
Unless it hadn’t been him that wrote it. Or maybe it had been written a long time ago—the ink was faded.
I put the book aside and picked up another. And then another. They all had dog-eared pages. Every one. And many had notes in the margins. When I compared them, the writing looked identical.
Theyhadto be Talakai’s notes. I closed the last book and ran my hands over the cover. My fingers trembled.
The man who had written these things could never steal those children.
But life changed. And so did people. Or in this case, Dragons.
I sat up and eased my way out of bed. I picked up my boots and tiptoed out of the room.
Once out in the hall, I slipped on my footwear. I had a firm goal in mind, and I hoped it would give me the answers I needed. Of course, I had no idea if the library closed for the night. But considering how many students were Dires, I assumed it might also have odd hours.
It was open.
One other student sat at a table, with a book in front of him. I offered a smile as I hunted out the indexes. There was nothing high tech about this place. The books were indexed with cards. It took me a bit to figure it out, and when I did so, I discovered the difficulty of my quest.
“Wow. Talk about the dark ages.”
I’d sensed his arrival, so wasn’t surprised when Matt loomed over my shoulder.
I raised a brow at him. “How did you know where I was?”
He tapped his nose. “I could follow you anywhere, Angel. What are you up to?”
As I told him about the books, his gaze grew more troubled.
“Strewth.No way he would have left that stuff behind.”
“Yeah. I agree.”
He waved at the indexes. “So, what are you looking for?”
“Could he have changed from the guy who wrote those things?” I shrugged. “He had a price on his head—maybe that altered his perspective. But I thought if I dug up more on the Guild, I might understand him better.”
He met my gaze. “We aren’t going to like what we find.”
I swallowed. “I know. But I feel so helpless, waiting for this Jacques guy to dig something up. This, I can do.”
Matt reached out and ran his long fingers along my jaw. “It matters, doesn’t it?” he whispered. “I’m not sure why, but it does.”
I swallowed, wanting to lean into him, but I pulled away from him instead. “Yeah. It matters.”
He straightened and cracked his knuckles. “Okay. Let me at it.”
Forty minutes later, we deposited an assortment of books on a table and plunked ourselves down.
