Chapter 82
Chapter Eighty-Two
Faylinn
Isrun looked nothing like I remembered when I left years ago. The charm was still present, but it was different somehow—smaller, quieter.
Though maybe it was just me that changed, and Isrun and the people in it stayed the same.
Rohak and I walked hand in hand as we entered the little village, both of us silently observing and reflecting.
Houses and shops were rebuilt, the shining stone and wood missing its characteristic discoloring.
The cobblestones were wiped clean—all traces of the blood spilled here completely erased.
The bar at the end of the street where Rohak found the pieces of his Mage Taskforce was demolished, replaced with what looked like a bakery.
The main thoroughfare was less busy than I remembered, but people still flocked to the small carts with various foods and wares.
Part of me expected to be recognized on sight—anticipated a crowd of people who refused to let me wander any further without regaling them with tales of my time in Vespera.
What happened, though, was quite the opposite.
A few people recognized me—mostly those that I’d treated or healed—but most kept their distance.
I exchanged polite pleasantries and small talk with an elderly couple I’d made tonics for, but aside from a few mundane conversations, Rohak and I were left in peace.
“Disappointed?” he rumbled in my mind. My lips twitched with mirth even as I shook my head.
“To the contrary, General. You know how I despise crowds.”
He chuckled, a low rumbling thing, that set my blood on fire and heated my cheeks.
“Later,” he darkly promised with a squeeze of my hand.
Our feet took us to the Curious as if propelled by some unseen force. I expected memories-turned-nightmares to inundate my consciousness, but was surprised when only a whisper of pain ghosted across my heart when I spotted the place where Holt died inches from my fingers.
Curiously, the draw to the Librarian’s shop was more potent than anything else in Isrun.
I expected to come here to heal, or at least face my faults; I never anticipated anything else.
“Do you feel that?” I asked Rohak breathlessly.
“What?” he asked, but I barely heard him, stuck in the thrall of whatever magic surrounded the little shop.
My boots clicked over the stones as the morning sun warmed my face, beckoning me further into the shadows that seemed to surround only the Curious.
Like the inn, the windows were dark, but everything seemed relatively untouched.
No dust gathered on the windowpanes, no dirt marred the bright exterior.
A faint pulse of magic emanated from the steps, and I could barely discern the faint outlines of runes—thousands of them. It was easy, after my awakening in the catacombs of the Valley, to recognize the purpose of each.
I sank to my knees, the cold of the ground sinking through my thin pants, as I dug into my belt for my short dagger.
Some of these runes needed to be counteracted, others needed blood of intention.
My brows scrunched together as I made a careful, small slice in the heel of my left hand, the fingers of my right instantly dipping into the welling blood. As if propelled by some ancient knowledge, my hand deftly smudged various runes before inscribing others.
My mind quieted as I worked, entirely focused on the task at hand. I shuffled along the edge of the rune line, making quick cuts in my palm periodically as the blood dried faster than I anticipated.
Back aching and knees throbbing, I finally straightened to my full height with a groan as I tucked my dagger back into my belt. The sun had moved toward its zenith, betraying the hours I’d sat hunched, lost in my work. I blinked away grit and heaviness as I stretched further.
“Did you figure it out?” a deep, soothing voice sounded from behind me. I smiled softly, my body tingling with his nearness.
“Yes,” I whispered to Rohak as he drew even with me, taking my injured hand in his. His emerald eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun like the jewels they so closely resembled as he inspected the already-healing cuts.
Rohak grunted before pulling a bandage from inside my belt. I gaped as he deftly wrapped my hand, tying it off at the top so I still had use of my palm.
“Don’t act so surprised, my love,” he grunted, tucking the remainder of the bandage away in the exact spot he found it. “I’ve watched you for years now. I know what you need and where you keep things.”
I went up on tiptoes to press a light kiss to his stubbled jaw, my stomach swooping with the contact.
Rohak tucked me beneath his arm, pulling me tight to his side, as he examined the new lines of runes.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Now”—I took a deep breath, excitement pulsing through my veins—“now we can enter.”
“We couldn’t before?”
I shook my head, curls bouncing around my forehead and into my eyes. I blew them away, but they just came back to rest in the same spot once more.
“Wards designed for only a person with a certain knowledge to access,” I explained giddily, pointing at a few runes as I spoke.
“That one and that one were runes I only learned about once I accepted the visions in the Seeing Room. If I hadn’t gone to the Valley before, I never would have been able to dismantle his protections. ”
Rohak’s eyebrows rose appreciatively as he hummed again. “And you’re certain this is meant for you? Not some other Keeper?”
“They’re all dead, Rohak,” I deadpanned. My Bonded winced, remorse coursing through the Bond, but said nothing. “Yes,” I sighed. “It’s meant for me.”
“How can you be sure it’s not a trap?” His arm tightened around me, crushing me to his chest, where I could feel his heart beat heavily against his ribcage. I soothed my hand between his pecs, relieving the sudden tension in his muscles.
“He said something, once, the day he died,” I admitted softly. A light breeze picked up just then, rustling our hair as if the Keeper was listening. “That I’d come back here, to this shop. That there was a book meant for me inside there. But that he wouldn’t be here.”
Rohak grunted again, unconvinced.
“I was going to ask you to accompany me,” I admitted lightly, nudging my shoulder into his side.
Rohak turned his intense gaze to me. “I was going with you whether or not you asked,” he growled.
My heart pattered erratically at the timbre of his voice, the familiar warmth of arousal pulsing in my core.
How can he turn me on with just a protective growl?
“The feeling is mutual, my love,” he whispered into my hair, pulling me across the wards and up the steps.
It was as if the inside of the Curious was frozen in time. I recognized many of the items and books that dotted the overflowing shelves from my last visit.
A shiver worked its way down my spine as goosebumps erupted on my skin. Something about this place was hallowed, like it kept more secrets than any one building should be privy to.
Rohak’s hand tightened around my waist, and I made no move to dislodge it.
Clearly, he felt it, too.
Apart from the soft taps of our boots against the well-worn hardwood, the shop was silent as a tomb.
It was completely eerie and yet oddly reverent.
“Where is this thing you were supposed to have?” Rohak asked, fidgeting slightly with the collar of his black tunic.
He’d lost a gold bar from his right shoulder at one point in his haste to make it to Isrun, and the disheveled look was not one I expected to love so much on my normally tight-laced General.
“Does this place make you nervous?” I asked, slowly extracting myself from Rohak’s hold to explore the shop unobstructed. My fingers traced the edges of the shelves, never fully brushing objects but still close enough to feel their energy.
There was so much here—so much that was new or different. Maps of places I’d never seen, charts of stars I was certain didn’t exist in our night skies, books in languages I couldn’t decipher. All shoved haphazardly into shelves next to seemingly mundane objects like a broken pot and a tin mug.
It was strangely alluring.
“Faylinn, please. There’s something . . . not right about this place,” Rohak’s voice shook, and I turned in alarm, brow furrowed. I felt none of the malignant vibes he was apparently absorbing.
I opened my mouth, intending to tell him as much, but the obvious sweat on his brow that had dripped down to soak through his tunic and the skittishness of his eyes had me snapping it closed just as fast.
“Would you like to come with me? It’s just around this corner,” I said, holding out my hand for Rohak to take. Surprisingly, he shook his head with vehemence.
“No. I’m fairly certain the shop doesn’t even want me in here, but I’m allowed to stand here since I’m with you.”
A . . . sentient shop? The idea was laughable. More than likely, Rohak was simply nervous being around so many artifacts—or I hadn’t dismantled all the runes appropriately.
“Okay,” I said softly, turning away quickly. Retracing my steps to the golden book was like breathing; I shouldn’t have been able to remember each turn or where the book was hidden on the shelves, but it felt like knowledge I’d possessed my entire life.
A few short steps later, and I was upon the bookshelf, gently moving tomes and scrolls to find the golden book hidden at the very back. It shined with an otherworldly glow despite the fact that little light permeated the space.
“There you are,” I said softly, the overwhelming feeling of rightness washing through my soul as my skin made contact with its cover. I sighed happily, tucking it hard into my chest, before retracing my steps once more.
The desire to see slowly faded, my eyes no longer scanning the shelves in earnest, as I made my way back to Rohak.
“Is that it? Are you ready?” he asked rapidly.
I nodded and had no time to formulate a response before Rohak grabbed my elbow with a sweaty palm and ushered me outside.
The door to the Curious closed behind us with a bang louder than should have been possible.
Rohak took discreet gulping breaths as we descended the short staircase, wiping his palms on the pants of his tunic.
“Never ask me to go in there again,” he grumbled, running his hands through his hair and making it stick on end.
I chuckled at his relief as my attention was drawn to the lines of runes once more.
“No worries about that,” I mused quietly. “It appears that there was a ‘time’ and ‘person’ rune engraved in that line that I missed. Look, it’s changing.”
Rohak took a tentative step closer to me as he watched, wide-eyed in fascination, as the line of runes outside the Curious began to fade just as another set appeared.
The degree and intricacy of that type of Blood Magic far surpassed my infant knowledge; in all honesty, it was probably beyond that of my mother’s as well.
“That’s . . .” Rohak trailed off, unable to find the right words to describe what we’d witnessed.
“Impressive. And not something we are going to touch,” I said, backing away in reverence.
The pressure on my chest abated the further we fled, and Rohak’s expression lightened with each step.
“Absolutely bizarre,” he mumbled as we walked. I giggled slightly, my gaze stuck on the book in my arms.
“What is it?” he asked as we ground to an unexpected halt. My feet simply wouldn’t carry me further until I’d looked inside.
With trembling fingers, I pulled open the cover of the book to reveal . . . blank pages.
I frowned, thumbing through the entire book to reveal thousands of the same—blank page after blank page.
“What in Fate?” I exclaimed, paging through the book faster this time, in hopes that I’d missed something. A Concealment Rune, a Reveal Rune, something. But the book was woefully empty.
“Perhaps it’s a journal? Or a book you’re meant to complete?” Rohak suggested as I slammed the cover closed with a bit of a bite, perturbed and frustrated that all of that was simply for a journal.
“Better be a fucking magical journal,” I groused, much to Rohak’s amusement.
I tucked it beneath my arm before lacing my fingers with Rohak’s once more. He smiled down at me, love and contentment erasing all previous discomfort from his face.
“Now what?” I asked, swinging our hands between us as we walked.
“There’s one more place you need to visit, Faylinn,” Rohak said quietly. I felt his stare like a hot brand on the side of my face, but I pointedly ignored him.
“Faylinn,” Rohak grumped after a moment, and I sighed in defeat.
“Lead the way, Rohak.”