Page 42 of Crown of Darkness
“What makes you think I wish for a moment of her time?”
The fact that I don’t even need to say Eris’s name.
“You want her attention,” I point out, “or you wouldn’t keep stealing into her rooms.”
His eyes narrow. “I’ll… consider it. Tell her I don’t have a hundred horses, but… maybe I won’t need them.” He tugs the book from the shelf behind me—the one I was looking at—and examines the cover. “You have an interest in old myth.”
“I like history.”
“Crowns too, by the sound of it.”
Clearly, he’s been watching and listening ever since I entered the shop. “Unfortunately for my interests, they don’t seem to have what I want here—”
“Nobody will have what you’re looking for.” An enigmatic smile crosses his face. “After the wars, the Seelie queens decided the information you’re searching for is too dangerous to be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. They tore through their kingdoms and burned every book that might hold details of the Old Ones, and the relics used against them.”
He reallyhasbeen watching me.
My heart sinks.
Why would they do such a thing?
“All except one queen.” His voice drops as he realizes he’s caught my attention. “Lucidia of Ravenal collected books as though they were weapons. She gathered every treatise on myth that could be found within her kingdom and claimed to have burned them, but rumor suggests the old bitch kept them for herself. Her library at Ravenspire is closed to all but the royal family, and some say the reason for that is because she didn’t want the other kingdoms to know what she held.”
“Some say?”
“There’s not a single locked door on this entire continent that is able to hold me out.” He replaces the book on the shelf beside my head. “They won’t let you in, but let me assure you…. There’s only one place where you may find what you’re looking for, and that’s within the library at Ravenspire.” He winks. “And now I think I’ve been more than generous with my information.”
The shop door slams open, and I jerk my head in that direction, but it’s only a scowling hob, carrying too many parcels in his arms.
“Thank—"
When I glance back, the assassin prince is gone.
“You,” I say softly.
* * *
I placethe Sorrow rose on the middle of the council table.
Eris was leaning back in repose, but now she slams forward, all four feet of her chair hitting the ground. “That motherfucker.” Her dark eyes narrow on me. “Where did you get that from?”
Thiago prowls around the table. “I needed to talk to the Prince of Shadows—"
“You,what?” Eris stabs her knife through the rose. “You went to see him? When? How many guards did you take?”
“Just one,” Finn says, raising his hand.
A demonic light comes to life in her eyes. “What did he say?”
I tell them everything.
The Gray Guild. The storm coming. Ravenal. My mother’s plot.
But it’s the comment about one hundred horses that draws the most interest.
“My, my,” Thalia says, trying to hide her smile. “Someone’s confident.”
“I’m going to tear that sneaky little bastard apart with my bare hands,” Eris growls. She wrenches her knife out of the table, and shoves to her feet.
