Page 160 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
The anticipation evaporated just like the blood drops as the scroll lay before us, open andbare. There wasnothingwritten on the parchment.
Leesa and I gave twin sighs. Disappointment beat inside of me. “Maybe we need another spell for the words or symbols to show.”
If there were any to be found. It could’ve been a decoy or simply a piece of paper someone had thought to save before the entire Quorilith Clan dissipated.
“What are you talking about?” Goose stared at the parchment, mesmerized. “They’re here. The scroll is full of symbols. Or letters, I can’t really tell. But they’re here.”
With a frown, I stepped right beside him, but no matter how hard I looked or squinted my eyes, nothing appeared. “I can’t see anything.”
“Neither can I.” Leesa sniffed. “Maybe only the one who made the sacrifice can see it.”
“That means…” My gaze trailed to the other scrolls. “Whoever gives their blood is the only one who would have access to all of them.”
That complicated matters.
“I can give my blood again, Your Grace, no problem,” Goose said quickly. “But the ink is already fading on this one. What if I can’t bring it back?”
Dread gripped my heart. “Can you read it?”
Goose shook his head. “I don’t think I can make sense of the letters. I’ve seen some of the symbols in ancient texts before, but I need time and resources to decipher them. Hopefully.”
“Transcribe them. Fast.”
Goose nodded, already grabbing a nearby pen. “We should wait until I crack the code for the other scrolls.”
“You’re right.” I folded my arms, thoughts running. “Write down every single symbol and share them with Leesa. Until we crack the code, nobody else touches the other scrolls.”
I didn’t trust Quorilith magic. The symbols could vanish as soon as they appeared, perhaps never to be brought out to thesurface again. We couldn’t risk that. Not when we were so close. We needed a copy and a code before we moved on to the others.
“I want to know as soon as you decipher the first few words,” I said. “And look foranymention of mind-bending. Or mind reading. Or implanting thoughts and controlling emotions.”
Valuta’s voice tried to slither its way into my thoughts once again. I shook my head to cast it aside. Not now. Not when I knew we had the right scrolls and we were that much closer to finding out what in Xamor’s name was going on. Now I could leave Phoenix Peak tomorrow with the certainty that we had a lead.
Goose and Leesa frowned at me and cast a furtive glance between them, but nodded all the same.
At the fringes of my mind, I felt Zandyr’s presence growing.
I suppressed a quiver and turned, leaving Goose and Leesa to their glances and their smart ways. I trusted they could decode whatever heinous details had been hidden behind the death trap in the Archives.
“And don’t forget about that carriage,” I called from down the hallway, heart galloping.
Zandyr would be home soon, and I had to steel myself against the talk we were about to have.
Chapter
Fifty-One
EVIE
He came in on the evening breeze, just as the moon peeked from behind the trees in the distance. A shadow climbing into my room, just as I finished toweling my hair, back turned.
I’d spent too much time in the bath, trying to scrub away the memory of Valuta’s perfume and her words. Now I smelled like lavender and my erratic little heart fluttered as Zandyr drew closer.
His energy pulsed against me, enticing me, and I hadn’t even seen him yet. I didn’t know how I’d ever get used to this. This pull toward him that I couldn’t resist, as if everything was right in the world only when we were together, breathing the same air. When we weren’t, our minds tugged at connections between us, like they were trying to convince us to bridge whatever gap lay between.
Madness, that’s what it was. To want someone so fully, constantly, irrevocably.
“I can’t wait until I can come through the front door.” He chuckled lowly, voice racing up my spine and settling at the base of my skull, as if he gripped the soft, damp hairs there in a ghost of a touch.
