Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
“Then keep trying to sell the aspiring heretic.” We arrive back at the Petrel, whose common room is already half filled. Nolan moves for the stairs, but I hold him back. “Stay. Act like you want to be here. Have a cup of wine. Have three. It might improve your mood.”
I expect a protest, but he sighs and takes a table in the corner, leaving me to fetch the recommended beverage. Hiram is behind the bar, which is empty save for one man quietly reading as he works his way through a bottle.
“Wine, please,” I say to Hiram, who goes to fetch it. My eyes wander as I wait. They’re drawn to the reading man’s book nearby, which lies open on the bar before him. A pair of names catch my attention: Tempestra-Innara. Serapia-Arne.
A book about the gods? I lean onto the bar to get a better vantage, continuing to scan the lines without looking like I’m looking…
And barely swallow a squeak of surprise.
I expected a historical text. Or a religious text.
Or one of those historical texts written by the scholar clerics that’s actually a religious text.
Instead, I find an intensely graphic description of two gods engaged in a sordid, sweaty, and very naked interlude.
The man is reading divinity porn.
I can’t look away, drawn into the absolute astonishment of it as Tempestra-Innara prepares to do something with two apples and a length of silk rope—
The man abruptly closes the book and slides it over. “Want to borrow it? I’ve already read it at least a dozen times.”
I straighten, damn near on fire with embarrassment. “Nope.” The word blurts out. “But thanks for the offer. I…”
An eyebrow crooks up. “Was just curious?”
“I’m… uh… surprised. Not exactly the sort of book I’m used to seeing.”
The man nods sagely. He’s neither young nor old, his dark hair peppered gray, and he exudes an air of comfort that tells me this isn’t his first visit to the Petrel. “You’re not from Cyprene.”
“No, I… we just recently arrived.”
“We?”
“My employer and I.”
“Do you enjoy books?” he says. “I have many more in my shop, old and new. Perhaps you’d find something else better suited to your tastes?”
“Who says this one wasn’t?” It’s a joke to cover my mortification, but I hadn’t even considered what I might find on Cyprene’s shelves—here, where no one locks up or destroys texts that don’t suit the Flame Goddess’s agenda.
There could be all sorts of books about the gods long wiped from the mainland.
Even something about the reliquaries. “But perhaps I can find time for a visit.”
“You’ll find my door open.” He holds out a hand. “Rion.”
I take it and shake. “Lys.”
“Welcome to Cyprene, Lys.” Rion releases me, then opens the book again. “I hope you enjoy your time here.”
He says it as Hiram returns with the wine, which I grab and retreat, feeling Rion’s smile follow me. It’s not unkind or mocking, but I’m still flush when I sit back down at the table and shove the bottle toward Nolan.
Furrows appear in his brow. “What’s the matter with you now?”
“I just discovered something very important about Cyprene.”
Nolan turns serious, leaning in. “Will it help us find the reliquary?”
“Not in the least.” A giggle escapes. “You’re not going to believe it, but they have dirty books about the gods here.”
“What?”
“See that man at the bar? He’s reading a book about the gods, y’know, together. About Tempestra-Innara and the Storm Goddess. Fucking.”
Nolan scowls like I have lost my damn mind. Then he sighs. “Dammit, Lys.”
“He even offered to lend it to me!”
“It’s heresy.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s pornography. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it.” His mouth flops open and then closes again. “Ah, I see you have. And it does tell us something important. He isn’t hiding it.”
Nolan frowns again and yanks a cup over. “We already knew the city was full of heretics.”
“But now we know their blasphemous interest extends beyond worship and attempted deicide. Who knows what else they might get away with here? There could be all sorts of things we aren’t even considering…” I stop. Think for a moment. “Don’t move.”
I’m up before he can stop me and back at the bar. Rion looks up as I approach.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your reading again, but would you like to join us for a drink?” I add quickly: “My employer would enjoy the company, new as he is to the island.”
Rion brightens. “I never say no to making a new acquaintance. Or a glass of wine.” He follows me back to the table. “Thank you for the kind invitation, sir. I hear you’ve newly arrived.”
“Yes.” Nolan replays the introduction with him, thankfully going along with my idea this time.
“Have you come to Cyprene on business?”
“Of a sort,” Nolan replies.
“Rion is a bookseller,” I interject. “He has a shop near here… and some interesting stock, apparently.”
Rion laughs. “Not all of it… at least, not in the way you mean. But I do carry a wide variety of writings.”
“Old and new,” I add.
Nolan catches on. “Ah, Lys recalls my interest in history. I will have to come browse sometime.”
“Oh yes, I’m sure I’d have a few items that would interest you greatly.” Rion takes a sip of wine. “How have you found the city so far?”
There’s no suspicion in the question. “It’s…” Nolan thinks. “Different.”
“A fair assessment for someone from the mainland. Some visitors find it quite jarring.” Rion gives Nolan a knowing expression. “Then again, very few come here without at least a little idea of what they are getting into.”
“A fair assessment as well.” Nolan leans back, relaxing somewhat. “I suppose I didn’t expect so many things that would be unwelcome on the mainland to be out in the open here. The salt baths, for example.”
“Oh? Did you pay a visit to one of them?”
“There’s more than one?” Nolan says lightly. “I didn’t realize.”
“Several, in fact,” says Rion. “Each run by a different sect. I don’t share their dogma, but the baths are a sure thing when these old bones begin to ache.”
Nolan’s gaze catches mine for an instant, interest flickering in it. Sects. Our failure at the salt baths today might mean nothing more than we haven’t visited the right heretics yet. See? I try to communicate silently, arching one eyebrow at him. We simply need to be patient, and better informed.
Of course, I’m as anxious as Nolan to find the reliquary.
But Cyprene… already, it seems like a place that creates possibilities instead of limiting them.
Such as making a living selling racy books.
Back at the Cloister, I never would have even considered that an option.
I want to ask more, about more, but I’m playing a role as much as Nolan is, and so I keep to myself, even after Rion excuses himself for the evening.
When he’s gone, Nolan tips his chin at me in the barest admission of approval and leans back in his chair, pensive.
I do the same, content with observing the comings and goings as night settles.
More folks wander in for a meal. A card game starts up in a corner.
At one point, a young woman begins singing unprompted, a slow tune that eventually turns so raunchy it makes Rion’s book seem as clean as a cleric’s text.
It’s so cozy—so normal—that I’m disappointed when Nolan stands, indicating it’s time to return to our rooms. I dutifully follow and deposit him at his suite, tempted to sneak back down alone. But my hand touches my jacket, feeling the hard resistance of the lacquer box.
And the Renderers’ book.
Right. I can’t let myself lose sight of our goal, no matter this city’s draw.
I was too afraid to take the text out on the ship, where privacy was scarce, but that’s not a problem anymore.
The Salt runes have piqued my curiosity; maybe Rion’s novel isn’t the only book that can tell me something interesting tonight.
I go to my room, lock the door, and begin to read, determined that, if there is any useful tidbit peppered among the ghastly formulas, I will find it.