Chapter 26 Kasira
KASIRA
WITH HER ALLOTTED THREE MONTHS UNTIL VERA CALLED THE Conclave counting down, Kasira began planning.
There were a variety of ways she could convince Allaster to transgress the Library’s laws, from misusing its resources for personal gain to discriminating against individual nations, but she would start small and work her way up, beginning with the other mages.
Over the following weeks, she focused on widening her sphere of influence.
Things had changed for her around the Library after the council meeting, as if it had been the final blockade between her and the mages’ acceptance.
Those who had still been reticent were more friendly to her now, joining her and May in the main library as they discussed Kalish beasts or inviting her to play games of dice over glasses of mylak by the evening fire.
Which made it easy to begin siphoning their loyalty from Allaster.
They were already frustrated with how distant he had become since Mora’s death, and the more time Kasira spent with them, the more they spoke about it in front of her.
“It’s an O class mission, Car. What’s Allaster need to be here for?
” Fen asked, walking beside Carlia on their way back to the soulice door.
The three of them had helped relocate a mother Vynan that had given birth to two kits in an abandoned building in a Miravi port town, and Carlia had been muttering about Allaster half the day.
“That’s not the point.” Carlia’s hands fluttered to emphasize her words, the beaded bracelet she wore clattering with a sound like tumbling river stones.
Kasira recognized the material for it now, the makhet a liquid silver made solid.
All the Jacari mages wore a piece of it, fashioned into earrings or torcs or pendants.
“It’s all the other ones he’s refused and more beyond that!
When’s the last time you even spoke to him? ”
Fen shrugged one shoulder. “He’s never been the social sort.”
Kasira glanced over at the two, and they both quieted. She only smiled, a friendly face and receptive ear. “It’s all right. I’m not sure why he’s been so reclusive, but if there are things I can help with, will you let me know?”
After that, she heard more from other mages whose annoyances with Allaster’s absence were growing, and she placated each of them.
Before long, people were coming to her directly.
She approved Fen’s endangered species breeding program, gave Warrin permission to take on more shifts in the infirmary, helped May schedule a viewing of a vylor mine for her research.
With each decision, she siphoned responsibility from Allaster and May both, divvying up beast care and responsibilities and assigning missions, though a great many of the latter she took on herself.
She visited the Jacari deserts and the southern seas of Riviair.
She saw great burrowing Bairna, mole-like creatures with spotted fur that made their homes in Jacari mylak vineyards; red-scaled Lyna lizards as big as her arm that liked to nest in Riviairen hothouses; and iridescent-winged Dorian Birds, whose excrement had a habit of burning through Ayadese tile roofs.
And with every mission, the mages came to trust her more and more.
Only Kasira seemed to see Allaster with any regularity, their time together spent at dawn training sessions, during which they worked to increase Kasira’s stamina with magic and to expand her control of her other abilities: summoning items, communicating with beasts, and tracking people inside the Library.
For the most part, the magic did as she commanded, but on occasion, it seemed to stutter or pull back before giving way to her renewed efforts.
When she wasn’t with Allaster or May, she was with Gievra, feeding him or talking to him, trying to coax him outside the enclosure.
But the Alkatir refused to emerge from the safety of his pen, and their meetings inevitably ended with Kasira lying in the grass outside his gate.
It was during one such afternoon that she sensed something in the magic that sent a spike of alarm through her.
With a snap of her fingers, she reappeared in the main library, very nearly tripping over a large, furry body.
“Iylis!” she exclaimed when she had steadied herself.
The snow leopard set down the notebook he’d been carrying in his mouth, which she recognized as his coin collection. There was no one else nearby, and yet Kasira held her breath as he said, “Lady Eirlana. Is something the matter?”
She softened at the sound of her false name. “You’ve been gone for weeks.”
He tilted his head. “I have no idea what you mean.” Then he picked up his notebook and retreated to the hearth, a cup of tea floating in his wake.
Kasira watched him go, torn between concern and relief, before remembering that she shouldn’t feel either. Granted, it made sense in her evolution of Eirlana’s character that she would be worried for Iylis now, but the problem was those emotions were real—and they weren’t the only ones.
She genuinely enjoyed playing cards with Fen and Carlia and teaching May about Kalish beasts; she sought the thrill and challenge of a beast mission the way she once sought a con; and when she settled beside Allaster among a stack of books in the evenings, she forgot, if only for a little while, that it was all a lie.
She was getting comfortable here, and there was nothing more dangerous for a con artist than losing themselves to the person they were pretending to be.
Spotting Allaster reading at his podium, she joined him. “Did you see Iylis?”
“I did,” he replied without looking up.
“And?”
“And what do you think I’m researching?” Allaster half shut the book to reveal the title in gold script: Amorlin: The Founding.
“I’ve read this before though, and I don’t remember any mention of Iylis.
It talks of the spirits that tend to the Library and refers vaguely to a lead figure that’s likely him, but mostly it’s about Amorlin’s establishment.
It doesn’t even talk about how the first Librarian originally connected with the Library’s magic. ”
“That makes sense, doesn’t it?” Kasira asked. “You said no one but the Librarian and their Assistant were meant to know that, so I assume it’s not recorded in public texts.”
“It’s not, but this is from my private collection.” Allaster let the book close with a decisive thud. “But this wouldn’t be the first piece of historical information regarding the Library I’ve been unable to find anything about.”
Kasira couldn’t help but smile at the way his brow furrowed in vexation, as though there were nothing more maddening to him than a fact left undiscovered.
He pursued knowledge like air, and it had a way of stoking her own curiosity.
“Let me see it.” She stepped closer, Allaster’s arm brushing hers when he failed to move quickly enough.
She pretended not to notice as he hovered beside her while she turned one page then the next, inspecting the binding.
“There.” She pointed to the inner crease where one page had three extra tiny holes. “This page was resewn into the bundle, and the whole thing reglued into the binding. Someone re-bound this book, likely after removing pages.”
His frown deepened. “How did you know to look for that?”
“I told you: I like stories.” So much so that she had stolen pages from her favorite books and taken them with her, rereading them until the papers became too travel-worn to keep.
Of course, that couldn’t be Eirlana’s explanation.
“When my parents’ money started drying up, I would reread the same old books over and over again until they needed to be repaired. ”
Allaster softened at that, just like she knew he would.
“I don’t like this. Someone went through a lot of trouble to erase information about the Library, and I …
” He trailed off, his eyes narrowing at something behind her.
She followed his gaze to where the sword hung on the wall, its wrapping still fluttering in an invisible breeze.
“What in the Saints’ names …” he muttered, striding toward it.
Kasira hesitated. She had deliberately let the topic of the sword drop upon realizing Allaster couldn’t see it, not wanting to draw his attention to something that knew her real name. If he touched it, if it spoke to him the same way it did her—
With a snap of her fingers, she beat him to the wall and grabbed it by the hilt.
KASIRA!
She dropped it, gasping at the magic that lanced through her.
The point struck the ground, the length of the blade teetering.
Allaster seized it by the handle before she could react, and Kasira went very, very still.
Every instinct told her to run, but Allaster only stared at it with the wide-eyed fascination of one who had found a sword on a wall he’d always known to be empty.
“Did you hear that?” she asked tentatively.
He turned the blade to inspect the tree symbol stamped into the pommel. “Hear what?”
Tucking away her relief, she let satisfaction settle in its place. “Told you it was there.”
“The Library hid it from me.” His attention returned to her at last, his gaze searching. “But not you.”
He offered it to her by the hilt, and Kasira took it reluctantly. This time the blade was mercifully silent, but she could still feel that undercurrent of power in it, the same one that had lured her here that night.
“What is it?” she inquired. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I don’t know.” Allaster leaned around the bookcase shielding them from view from the rest of the main library and called, “Iylis?”
A moment later, the leopard trotted over. When he spotted the sword, he ground to a halt, his tail flaring straight up. “Where did you find that?” He hissed like a cat warning away a foe.
“On the wall.” Kasira pointed at the space the sword had occupied. “You know it?”