Page 94 of A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

A small, almost imperceptible twitch danced at the corner of Kage’s eye—an involuntary tell that most would miss. ‘Anything else?’

‘About the prophecy and the curse. And maybe you could find some tomes about the Great War.’

This time, Kage hesitated. His fingers stilled, his shoulders tensing the barest fraction. His gaze slid away from the book, fixing itself on Mal with quiet scrutiny. ‘You’ve read about these things back home.’

‘Andyet,thisis not our home. They surely must have information we do not.’ She did not miss the way Kai flinched at the wordhome.She ignored the way her own chest tightened around it. This was home now. Whether she wanted it to be or not. And in a few short weeks, everyone else would return to their own lands, their own castles, their own lives—forgetting the wyverian princess who had tethered herself to a drakonian prince to save them all.

‘I’ve already been to the Library of Flames.’ Kage’s voice was flat, unreadable. ‘Their scriveners hardly allow someone to breathe without them frowning about it. I doubt they will let me take whatever they have without permission from the king himself.’

Kai smirked. ‘You could ask your husband—the Fire Prick.’ There was something sharp in his tone, something that made Mal glance at him.

‘No, he will start asking questions.’ Though, in truth, she doubted he would. Ash hardly spoke to her as it was. But she didn’t want him watching her movements too closely, didn’t want him suspecting her intentions. ‘If they won’t give them to you, we will just have to steal them.’ Her attention slid to Kai. The naughtiest of the three.

He groaned. ‘Sister, I adore you. Truly I do. But I will not steal old dusty books for you. You are married to the Fire Prick and stealing from his kingdom—sounds incredibly tempting—is not advisable when we are trying to unite lands that hate each other.’

‘It is not stealing, it is borrowing.’

‘No, it is precisely stealing,’ Kage corrected. ‘You are taking something without permission. That is the definition ofstealing.’

Mal sneered. ‘But I will be handing it back.Thatis the definition of borrowing. Look it up.’ Kage grabbed a dictionary, flipping it open. Before he could speak, Mal snatched it from his grasp and smacked his arm with it. ‘Enough with you, brother. Are you going to help me or not?’

Kage resumed his reading. ‘Are you in imminent danger?’

‘If I say no… Will that change your answer?’

‘Most probably.’

‘Then yes, I am in terrible danger, brother.’

Kage’s crow cawed aggressively, as if in protest. Mal threw a piece of bread at it, but it passed through its shadowy form.

‘My shadow seems to believe you are lying, Mal.’ His voice was light, almost playful—but laced with something more dangerous.

‘That bird knows nothing.’ She glanced at the creature sideways. ‘Who knows, perhaps it will have to be replaced.’ The crow ruffled its wings, perturbed, though there was no true threat—one could not kill what was already dead.

‘Stop torturing Spirox,’ Kage said.

‘It is not I who tortures the damn thing.’ She turned her attention down to her long nails. ‘So will you help me or not?’

‘I do not see how. You said so yourself—someone must steal those documents. And I am a great many things, but I am not a thief. Besides, they’ve seen me visit the library countless times. If something goes missing, I’ll be the first they suspect.’

Mal pouted, tilting her head to one side. ‘If I find someone able to steal the books, will you accompany them? So they know what to steal? We can also blame them if it goes wrong.’

‘I will think about it, sister.’ Kage sighed, standing. ‘You frighten me sometimes.’

Mal beamed at Kai across the table. ‘That’s a yes.’

‘It is a maybe.’

She waved a dismissive hand. ‘And where are you running off to?’

Kage gave themboth a tired look. ‘I am retiring to my own room to find some peace and quiet so I may read. I have read the same paragraph five times.’

‘Brother, stay and drink with us,’ Kai said, lifting a goblet of wine.

Kage sighed, exasperated, and Mal laughed. It was how they always were—bickering, teasing, filling the silence with words because silence meant acknowledging things too painful to say aloud.

‘I do not drink wine,’ Kage said. ‘As I have mentioned dozens of times.’

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