Page 37 of Crown of Briars
His thin, barbed tail curled behind him, and I noticed the jagged edges were long and sharp, slightly different from Azure’s shorter and wider barbs.
If Azure stood in this room with us, the Wraith King would look quite normal alongside her.Iwould be the odd one out.
The notion calmed my racing heart and helped me see Varius with new eyes.
He’s a dragon,I thought.Nothing more.
My grip on the jeweled dagger tightened, and a renewed sense of boldness took over me. I had ascertained that the Wraith King liked to be surprised, which was why I told him an excessively affectionate husband would have terrified me the most.
It wasn’t a lie. If someone like the Wraith Kinghadinsisted on remaining by my side, touching me constantly, and taking me to his bed every night, my circumstances would have been a lot more horrifying.
After bidding me good night, the king turned and strode from the room. My eyes bulged at the sight of his massive red wings tucked against his back. I hadn’t noticed them before. They weren’t quite as big as Tislora’s, but I imagined that, when they were open wide, they were just as long as his body height.
As soon as the door slammed shut from Varius’s departure, lanterns in the walls flared to life, as if his shadows had intentionally kept the room dim while he was here. The pearly white orbs I recognized from all over the castle burned to life against the wall, one by one, making my jaw drop as I took in the vast space.
It was a library. And it was ten times the size of the library I was accustomed to in the Earthen Court. The massive space stretched three levels high with a dome-shaped window on the ceiling that revealed the starry night sky. Spiral staircases were in each corner of the room, leading up to the next two levels of shelves. In front of the fireplace were the two wing-backed chairs I had noticed earlier.
AndStones, there were so many books! From floor to ceiling, the walls were covered in shelves of books. Now that I wasaware of it, the familiar smell of old parchment filled my nose. How had I not noticed it before? Azure would have commented on my weak human senses if she were here. Rows and rows of leather volumes and ancient tomes were stacked neatly along the shelves, with tiny labels underneath that were most likely in Agnarrish.
Already, I itched to run my hands along the books, to see what knowledge I could glean from them. Were theyallin Agnarrish? Were there some in other languages I had never heard of before?
Maybe there was something about the enchanted rose here.
I strode forward, determination fueling me as I squinted at the spines closest to me. Yes, they were certainly in Agnarrish. But they didn’t make any sense. One was a cookbook for cultural delicacies in the Shadow Court. And the one right beside it was an encyclopedia on winged fae.
Frowning, I glanced over the next few volumes.A History of Unseelie Warfare,The Traveler’s Comprehensive Guide to Foliage,andThe Family Tree of King Farabor IV.
This organization system made no sense. There was nothing in common between these volumes. Was there something I was missing?
I glanced at the guide to foliage again. “Maybe this has information about roses,” I muttered aloud, stretching my hand to remove it from the shelf.
Before I could, a faint rumbling sound echoed around me. I stilled, my heart racing as I whirled around, expecting to find an unseelie fae about to charge toward me.
But I was alone in the room.
The rumbling grew louder until the books on the shelves began to tremble. My hands flew outward to steady myself as I waited for the earthquake to rend the ground in two or for the walls to come crashing down.
A loudthumpnext to me elicited a shriek of alarm. I jerkedbackward, nearly colliding with the bookshelf as I tried to avoid whatever had landed in the center of the room. Pulse skittering, I looked around, only to find it was a book.
Abookhad seemingly fallen from the ceiling and landed in the center of the library.
I remained frozen for a full minute, waiting for the book to spring legs or grow fangs or dosomething. Clearly it was enchanted; otherwise, how had it magically appeared there? Was it safe? Would this book attack me if I drew nearer?
Another minute passed, and my curiosity got the better of me. Slowly, I approached the book, each step cautious and hesitant. The book didn’t move. I continued until I stood directly above it, my brow furrowing as I inspected the burgundy leather cover.
I crouched down, hands hovering close to the book, waiting for it to move. When it didn’t, I held my breath and grabbed it, my hands closing over the soft cover.
Nothing happened. It felt like… an ordinary book. It wasn’t warm or trembling or alive. I turned it over in my hands, marveling at how unexceptional it appeared. For all I knew, this book could have come from my own shelf back in the Earthen Court. I ran my fingers over the embossed title etched into the spine:How to Grow and Nurture Rosebushes.
My heart stuttered in my chest, and I looked around the room once more, searching for eavesdroppers. Had someone heard me talking about roses? With so many unseelie fae around, it wouldn’t have been hard to overhear my mutterings.
But the room still seemed eerily empty.
Even so, perhaps someone had some sort of invisibility magic I didn’t know about. It wouldn’t bethatfar-fetched.
Swallowing hard, I cradled the book to my chest, trying not to let my fear rule me. It wasn’t lost on me that an empty library frightened me more than the beastly appearance of the Wraith King.
But it was always the unknown that terrified me. Which was one of the reasons why, when the king had dispersed his shadows, he had seemedlessfrightening. Oftentimes, my imagination conjured the worst scenarios imaginable, so removing that unknown factor was almost a relief. I had pictured a four-headed beast with a scorpion tail and four sets of eyes, with fangs that dripped venom. So, naturally, the king’s true appearance had been a relief.
