Page 121 of Hidden Kingdoms

“I want answers,” I spat before he was out of sight.

Paused at the curtain, Bastian’s head turned slightly my way. Not enough to meet my gaze, but he nodded once before slipping out of sight.

Kaius leaned forward and pressed a kiss against my hair. “I’ll find you,” he murmured before following his friend out the door.

45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

ELODIE

Ashort while later, I was standing in a circular chamber. A staircase ran along walls that spiralled higher than I could make out. I looked back down before I could give myself vertigo while wondering what in the gods I was doing here.

Alouette had helped me to put Kaius’ ruined jumper on. Rolling the sleeves as Healer Kale pressed a cup of cold liquid into my hands, telling me to ‘drink up’ before instructing me to continue feeding my magik into my wounds, and to find him in a couple of days. I downed the cup which must have had something a little special in it, because it woke me up and eased my aching muscles enough that when I was then practically pushed out of the healer's space, it didn’t hurt too bad.

Who am I kidding, it hurts like fuck.

That’s how I’d found myself here, alone, staring at the hundreds of frames crammed on the walls, all different sizes, all different colours. There were tiny black ones containing photographs of what looked like a multitude of different birds, to huge ornate golden frames that held beautifully painted pictures of people who all looked vaguely bored. There were paintingsof flowers, and posters of what I thought were movies. A huge photo of two people hugging that could easily have been life size.

Where the hell did they get a printer that big?

Between the random mess of frames, stones had been removed from the wall, and the space they left crammed with books. There was no rhyme or reason, and the more I looked, the more confused I became. Empty bird cages hung on hooks around the room, all their doors open.

Thick patterned rugs blanketed the floor, and a collection of mismatched armchairs were arranged in a circle around a small, empty, and also circular, table. A workbench ran around half the room, curved to the shape of the walls and containing a whole load of... stuff.

It was a jumbled collection of items I couldn’t even begin to name. Lumps of twisted metal holding jewels the size of my fist, delicate stringed instruments that I was sure I’d never seen before. Heaps of scrolls that looked suspiciously like skin that I decided to steer well clear of. The air smelt faintly like burnt herbs, and I wondered if there was incense burning somewhere.

A low fire crackled in the fireplace built into a hollow in the brickwork. Stepping closer, I noticed that within the fireplace, more stone had been removed, and more books had been stuffed inside.

Who in the gods keeps their books inside a fireplace?

I moved forward for a better look, wondering whether I should try and get them out, when a whoosh of magik settled in the room.

“They like it in there.” A voice spoke from way too close, and I yelped as I spun around, putting myself much closer to the fire than I would have liked, my back niggling uncomfortably at the sudden jolt.

“What?” I stammered at the man smiling down at me, the thick white beard that neatly covered his jaw twitching as he did.

“The books.” He gestured towards the fire with the pipe clutched in his hand. “They enjoy the heat.”

That explains the smell, but where the fuck did he come from?

“The books… enjoy the heat.”

“Mhm,” he hummed, dark eyes twinkling before stepping back, allowing me to move from the fire.

He was a tall man, with loose black trousers and matching top hanging from his thin frame, and a velvet, dark-purple smoking jacket was belted at his waist. Raising his pipe to his lips, he took a pull before breathing out the smoke which curled in the air around his white hair, and he said nothing as it whirled through the space longer than it should have.

“I was told to come here,” I explained, feeling awkward that I had invaded his space.

“I know.” He inclined his head to me.

“That you could help with my magik.”

“I know.”

“Right,” I mumbled, unsure of where to go next with this conversation.

“I know a great many things. Now come sit and tell me of the things that I don’t know.” He gestured to the gathering of chairs behind him and made his way over to an overstuffed, floral one.

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