24. Chapter 24 #2
Roving through stacks, I ran my fingers along the countless beaten spines of the leather books. Some of them were so old that they were cracked and hardly holding the pages together.
I passed dozens of scholars, readers and Silent Servants of the library, all of them reverent and eyes downcast or noses pressed to the pages before them.
I found my way to one of the many balconies that had dotted the facade of the tower. The sun was beaming down from the sky as I walked onto the hanging terrace. Above me were streamers of green and mossy curtains from the balconies above.
Below me, the city sprawled in cream and magnolia stone, the sage-green roofs speckled across the landscape like oases dappled across desert sands.
“She can be quite beautiful, can’t she?”
The deep and charming voice behind me had me turning to see Eryk.
His ash brown hair looked lighter in the sunlight than it had at the garden party, and the same few strands of grey caught the light.
“A beautiful distraction,” I grumbled, more to myself than to Eryk.
“A distraction, my lady?” Eryk came to stand beside me on the edge of the balcony.
I sighed to myself and faced him. His broad shoulders were clad in a tunic that shifted between grey and navy, the fine fabric changing in the sun.
I tried to smile up at him, but my face was drawn. “I’m sorry. I just—I didn’t—This is not where I expected to be staying,” I said. “She is beautiful.” I had to rein in comments like that. Two moon cycles. That was it. And I couldn’t deny I would enjoy some parts of this place.
The city sparkled in the afternoon rays. From this balcony, the bay was shimmering, sailboats and ships bobbing on the sound beyond.
I felt Eryk’s gaze on me then, not on the city.
“Where did you expect to be, my lady?” Eryk’s eyes were tight as he examined my words.
The rush to explain, to tell him what I wanted, where I wanted to be, to go, rose up in me like water in a boiling pot. But I held my jaw tight.
“You can tell me,” he urged. His voice was so smooth, so soothing.
I pulled at the hem of my sleeves. “My family. I had hoped ...” I hesitated as I felt Eryk’s presence shift a little towards me. Could I tell him this? Why couldn’t I? “I had hoped to learn more about my family.”
“Oh?” Eryk’s interest was obvious, but I pinched my lips. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him that. Eryk believed I was a lady betrothed to a prince. And now one who didn’t even know who her family was?
“I’m sorry, my lady,” Eryk offered as soon as my silence became too great. There was a look of puzzlement across his face, but he quickly wiped it away. “I’ve travelled to many places in the Four Corners. Perhaps I can help?” He offered a wide and inviting smile that was impossible to ignore.
“You’re not from here?” I couldn’t help the interest I had in other places. It was ingrained in me.
“I wouldn’t say I have one home. Not anymore. But I’m drawn to beauty.” His gaze fell to me, and it didn’t move. I shifted under the pressure of being watched and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear tip.
And he watched the movement, every tiny part of it.
I dropped my hand. Heat rose from my neck to my cheeks at the attention he gave my gestures.
“Beauty is found when you look.” His eyes glinted as he looked directly at me still.
The heat had not abated under my skin.
“Where have you been?” I tried any question I could think of to shake the heat from my cheeks.
I had been nowhere, and no one I’d ever spoken to had been anywhere of interest, really.
This entire city was a vast world unto itself for me.
I couldn’t help but feel the wonder of her walls around me.
Whether I had intended to travel to Viverna or not, I couldn’t find a sliver inside of me that was angry at being here.
The circumstances were less than ideal, but I was out of Shadowfall.
I was on the coast. I was closer than I’d ever been to my family, to finding them.
I clutched my necklace absently.
“Some are more welcoming places than others in the Four Corners.” Eryk’s voice drew me from my thoughts.
“Some are far more beautiful than others too. Cloud Garden is of stunning magnificence with its towering blocks of gardens carved out of the highest peaks of the mountains. You nearly forget to leave it once the firmament embraces you. Though no one has been able to gain access to the city since the end of the war. The people there, they’re different.
” His eyes did not leave me as he finished speaking.
Silence pervaded the air between us.
“Perhaps …” He paused, looking at me. “Perhaps it might be easier to learn about your family than you think.” A knowing smile tugged at his lips.
I was taken aback at the comment, unsure what to do with it.
“Apologies for being so forthright in this, but you are not a common beauty.”
More heat flooded my cheeks and found the points of my ears.
“You are—” Eryk’s breath tumbled from him. “Something captivating.” The timbre of his voice dipped a little lower as his eyes took me in.