Page 100 of Between Wrath and Mercy

We stuck close to the side of the buildings as the streets were crowded, full of horses and carriages, and countless people walking. The smell of the city was not one I was prepared for. Even the quarter we were in, supposedly the nicest in the city proper, smelled worse than the most wretched slums of Mira. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the sheer number of people and the bodies that pressed against you, no matter which way you turned, or lack of a sufficient waste system, but it was not a pleasant scent. I knew King Soren didn’t much care for the problems of his poorest people—who all seemed to congregate in the cities, the cost of land too high with no guarantee of their ability to work it. I made a note to ask Rainier about it, sure he would want to do something about the smell and the overcrowding if he spent any meaningful time in the city. I felt my nose scrunch as I tried to keep the worst of it at bay.

Mairin led us up the street a bit before we attempted to cross it, weaving through people who all seemed to be hurrying to their next destination. I was bumped into no less than six times during the brief walk. The building she took me to had no windows and just one nondescript door. The walls themselves were made of dark marble, and there were bronze inlays throughout. It was a luxurious building, but from the outside, I couldn't tell what it was. She pushed us through the doors, and I immediately understood the lack of windows.

Books. There were books in every spot of the giant octagonal room going from the floor to the open ceiling several stories above where we stood. Ladders on tracks allowed access to shelf after shelf, stocked full. There were small walkways you could access from the ladders, leading to even more shelving, each one covered in countless tomes. The small skylight in the center of the ceiling was the only light source in the room, other than the low lamplight, likely to preserve the pages themselves.

“Great Divine. I’ve never seen so many books in one place.”

“This is one of the first places I went to on land. I heard of it from my sisters,” she whispered as we walked, not breaking the spell of silence in the room. My heart ached a bit when she mentioned her family. I couldn’t imagine a world where my sister was alive but I couldn’t see her whenever I wanted. Mairin could go anywhere in the world, anywhere at all, except for her home. And the way she spoke of it, I knew she thought of it often.

“Elora is going to be in heaven here.” I browsed for a while before noticing a corridor in the back, leading to even more books. I found a beautiful, gilded copy of one of my favorite books, a story about an iniquitous king with a golden touch and the woman who put a stop to his black-hearted ways. I pulled it off the shelf, gently turning the pages to look at the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, when I heard a cough and turned to my left, making eye contact with a man only a bit taller than me. He had onyx hair and eyes that tilted up a bit at the corners, with a pair of spectacles almost too small to be useful resting on his nose.

“Are you Lady Highclere?” The man squeaked out the words, barely audible even with all the quiet around us.

“Yes, I am. And you are?” I gently slid the book back onto the shelf, curious.

“I am Reminy. I work here. The Crown Prince came in an hour ago and told me to watch for you.” I smiled, realizing Rainier must have stopped here after rifting us before he went to handle the business he needed to attend to. The business he wouldn’t speak to me about, for some reason. “I have been told to put whatever books you’d like on his account. Did you want this one? A beautiful edition, is it not?” Reminy took the book back off the shelf and walked over to a counter I’d failed to notice, right near the corridor that led into the other room.

“Oh, I shouldn’t. I already have this book; I just thought this edition was beautiful.” I followed him to the counter as he wrote down the title in his ledger before handing it back.

“I was told to insist.” He gave me a shy smile, and I decided to acquiesce in this, knowing Rainier likely harassed him about it.

“Thank you, Reminy. I appreciate it.” I took the book from him and smiled. “I expect you’ll see more of me here and likely my daughter as well.”

“I look forward to it.” His smile was warm, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the way his cheeks pinked.

Mairin walked up then, her arms full of books that she put down on the counter in front of Reminy. “She’ll take these, too.” She huffed and grinned at me. Reminy was already writing everything down. I decided not to stop him, but I gave her an annoyed look.

“What? I’ve gifted you with incredibly valuable information; the least I should get is some books out of it.” She shrugged, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

When Reminy was all done and her books loaded into a canvas tote, Mairin dragged me out of the bookshop, as ifIwas the one who made us late. We ran back down the street to the fountain Rainier had rifted us to when we first arrived in the city. I saw Lavenia standing, leaning over Dewalt, who sat on the fountain’s edge. As we made our way, I realized she had a cloth pressed against his lip. I rushed over and pulled the fabric away to see his mouth swollen and bleeding, a tooth resting in his outstretched hand.

“Put that back in and hold it where it goes. What happened?” I turned to Lavenia for an explanation, and she shook her head. Dewalt put the tooth back in, and I held my hand over his mouth, healing the split lip and willing his gums to grasp back onto the tooth. I hoped it happened recently enough that the tooth would grip.

I felt Rainier’s presence at my back, and I glanced over my shoulder. He was holding a piece of raw meat on his eye, and I did a double-take.

“What happened?” I was exasperated as I finished healing Dewalt and turned back to Rainier, gently peeling the meat away to see his eye rapidly swelling shut. I pushed him down next to Dewalt and repeated my question for the third time.

“Keeva happened.” Dewalt leaned over to speak, and Rainier grinned up at me.

Apparently,KeevapunchingRainierand throwing a vase at Dewalt was a better reaction than they were anticipating. Properly healed and rifted back to Rainier’s home, we found ourselves sitting on the massive sofa, waiting for the two of them to explain.

“Did you know that was what they were doing?” I posed my question to Lavenia, who quickly shook her head, taking on the same exasperated expression I wore.

“I told you I was going to end things with Keeva the minute I was back in Astana, Em. I got sidetracked for a moment by a beautiful woman in my garden, but it was still my top priority. I wanted to speak to her before the guard arrived.” I could have punched myself when I felt my stomach twist after he called me beautiful. It was pathetic, and I felt like a schoolgirl pining after a boy. He had to do it on purpose to distract me.

“And you thought you should bring Dewalt to help end a betrothal to the woman?” Lavenia glared at her brother, arms crossed.

“He wanted a witness.” Dewalt shrugged. “I don’t blame him; the woman is insane.”

“The same woman who supposedly will want to kill me? Wonderful. Why did you want to tell her before the guard arrived?”

Rainier looked at me with a bored expression on his face, willing me to understand something painfully obvious.

“I trust my guard. What I do not trust is them to control their tongues. Word will spread about you, and I wanted to tell Keeva before she heard anything untoward.”

“She took it well, it seems.” Mairin’s face lit up in a mischievous grin, clearly amused by the whole situation.

“For Keeva? Undoubtedly." Rainier nodded, missing Mairin's sarcasm. "She was a bit put out because she’d already done her task from the Myriad.”

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