Page 52 of Kiss the Filthiest King

He sounds so utterly exhausted, and no wonder. All of us have had a trying few days.

"I'm so sorry," I say, running my finger on the marks on her throat. "What I did to us?—"

"Don't." She shakes your head. "What you did saved my life. I am nothing other than grateful. This—whatever it is—we'll handle it. With iron shackles, if that's what it takes. But I think…" She frowns. "I think what we need is some knowledge here. This is beyond the normal realm of pissed. Why are they so angry at each other? Maybe we can…I don't know. Convince them to stop."

"You want to be a couch psychiatrist for two pissed off million-year-old gods who created this side of the universe?" Loch laughs, and drinks some more, forgoing the crystal glass to directly swig from the decanter.

"That's sadly not the worst idea I've heard," I retort after a moment. "The anger…it's personal. We should, at the very least, know what it's about."

Cheating, betrayal, that much is clear, but if it were that simple only one of them would be furious, right? The sheer amount of ire I've felt must have a source.

"Fine. Do some research. It's not like we have a corona—" He smiles humorlessly. "Wait. I can't say it. Because we do have a coronation to handle, witnessed by dozens of lords who would rather murder the lot of us than take a knee."

"With all of us watching out for Darina, now that Junis is gone, the only real threat to her is me," I retort, straightening up. "Whatever the issue is, we need to get to the bottom of it, and soon."

"Excellent." Loch bites down on his lip. "I'll wake everyone. The archives are likely the place to start."

* * *

The archives, unlike the queen's chamber, are in quite a state when we reach them. Dust and spiderwebs and even what looks like a bird’s nest over one of the cases.

It is more of a library than a simple archives, vast, each of the thousands of shelves filled with many ancient tomes, even some long since lost to time.

I'm unsurprised to find more modern books, too; there's likely a spell to obtain a copy of every book as soon as it gets published on Ilvaris.

Her spells should die with the high queen. But as she's still alive and well, hiding out in some corner to avoid being murdered by her children, it carried on collecting for her.

It takes a while to get around, between the darkness and the dust. Caenan lights several candelabras we hold to reach the shelves.

Memories swirl in my mind. I studied here, from age seven to the queen's war, when I took Darina to the ironside. There were fewer books a thousand years ago, but I remember how it was all organized. Fiction to the east, practical to the west, historical north, and myth in the south.

"Follow me."

I find what we're after with ease, though there are far too many books; far too many worlds and gods and stories.

Loch is strangely adept in domestic spells—though when one considers he lived alone in the untamed land, it's perhaps not that strange. With one wave, he clears up a large oak table and the entire section covering prehistorical myths.

"That's handy! You wouldn't believe how much time I spend vacuuming dust," Rachel says. "Why not do the whole library though?"

"Because," he retorts, slumping into the closest chair.

He's not quite slouching, but it's as close to it as he's ever gotten.

"I amtired."

Aren't we all.

But this is literally a matter of life or death. So we get reading.

24

A NEW DIRECTION

Darina

I groan as I stretch, my eyes prickling.

I don't even know how many books I've paged through. Hundreds, it feels like. I fell asleep at least twice.

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