Page 64 of Crown of Darkness
I look at her at that, but from the expression on her face, she’s done sharing.
Indeed, her attention shifts to the wind. “Can you smell smoke?”
I’m about to shake my head when I catch a whiff of it. Far too strong to belong to a hearth fire. “Yes.”
There’s no sign of flames in the bailey. No hint of light flickering out in the night.
“Stay there,” she urges, tossing me her knife, and then she turns and strides along the battlements.
I pace for long minutes, breathing in the acrid scent. It’s getting stronger, and there’s no sign of Eris.
“Eris?” I call softly.
The fae might flee from her in fear, but that doesn’t mean she’s invulnerable.
And the smell of smoke is getting stronger. Something’s wrong.
Don’t get involved. She told you to stay here.
But a soft grunt echoes through the night, and then something clatters as if a sheet of metal hits the cobbles.
Or a sword.
What was that?
“Eris?”
I can almost imagine the tongue-lashing I’m going to receive if I disobey her and she’s fine, but there’s a tingle along my arms that doesn’t feel right. It feels like magic. It feels like a cool breath blowing over the back of my neck.
Rounding the tower, I stop in my tracks.
The library’s on fire.
“Fire!” I call, scurrying down the stairs toward the library tower. Ravenal’s guards have been following me and Eris around like flies buzzing over a corpse ever since we got here, and now is the one time they decide to go searching for the water closet? “Is there anyone there? Fire!”
Silence.
Where are the guards?
“Eris?” I yell.
There’s no sign of her.
A tiny figure darts across the courtyard, flapping her hands at the flames. “No, no, no, no, no!”
We both skid to a halt, but I can tell Imerys barely sees me. The wall of heat makes me lift a hand to protect my face. I can’t believe how quickly it’s going up. When I first saw it, flames were licking at the door and through the windows, but glass shatters as I watch, and a fireball blooms through the window.
“Fire!” she screams. “Halvor! Endarryon! Where are you?”
Imerys takes a step inside the building, and I grab her around the waist, hauling her back from the flames and the smoke.
A cough tears from my throat. “You’ll burn!”
“The books!”
“Books can be replaced.” She’s strong for such a lean woman. I slam her against the staircase, forcing her to look at me. “If you go in there, you’ll die!”
“You don’t understand!” Horror stretches her face. “My great-grandmother’s collection is the best in the world. All the remaining history from before the wars is shelved in that tower. It’s irreplaceable!”
