Chapter 12
Theo
Ilooked up from my book and when I spotted Maelis and Caelan approaching and I could feel myself instantly transforming into something resembling a statue again.
I evened out my features, putting on the bored look on my face I had perfected over the years and lifted my hand in a perfunctory greeting.
“Thank you for joining me, wordsmith. Let’s get to work so you can rest soon,” I said. Caelan next to her gave me a small nod and was about to leave, when I stopped him.
“Caelan, please stay. Make yourself comfortable, this won’t take too long.”
Caelan stilled, his brows drawing together. He looked from Maelis to me, then back again, clearly uncertain what to make of the request. His mouth opened slightly, then closed again, the reply lost somewhere between confusion and awkward politeness.
“Of course, I’ll be right over here if you need me,” he replied finally.
I gave him a curt nod.
I couldn’t be alone with her. This wasn’t just practicality—I didn’t feel comfortable being near her, not after we had crossed the line in my office.
But if I were honest with myself, it was more than that.
Something about her stirred feelings I had no control over, emotions I didn’t want to acknowledge, that left me tense and disoriented.
My logic rebelled against it, but the truth simmered beneath my calm exterior.
She realized it too. I could see the embarrassment and shame washing over her face as she rocked slightly back on her heels.
“Auretheos, I am so—”
“Let’s get started, shall we?” I interrupted her. I could not talk to her about what happened at my office the other day. I hated that she felt guilty and ashamed, but it was easier to let her believe I was uncomfortable around her than to admit that I was to blame.
Sure, it had taken me by surprise when she’d laid her hand on mine.
What had happened after was my doing. I could have simply removed her hand from mine, this wasn’t the first time someone had touched me in a moment of vulnerability.
But I had been the one to reach out my magic to hers.
It had been me letting the heat from her body take over my senses.
It had been me smelling her, craving her touch, and hadn’t it been for Caelan, I might have done something foolish.
So Caelan had to stay. Not because I didn’t trust her not to touch me again, but because I needed a reminder of what was at stake if I failed.
Maelis nodded, but stayed right where she was. It was a clear message to me: I had to lead the way from now on.
Instead of walking towards the circular table in the center of the library, I strode towards a section of the library towards the end of the large room. I turned around when she didn’t follow straight away. “Are you coming, wordsmith?” I asked.
She looked over to Caelan who was watching the interaction with barely hidden curiosity. “Of course, lead the way,” she said.
Behind the last row of bookcases at the far end of the library, a huge wooden table flanked the wall.
There were papers stacked on top of it, neatly sorted into piles.
Each stack of books and scrolls had a label.
I had made sure to label the documents in the common tongue and had translated the documents too, so she could decipher what was written.
When her eyes fell upon the rows of books, she looked defeated. She had to be tired and sore from her sparring with Lydia. Why I had chosen this day of all days to sort through hundreds of books with her, I had no idea. I only knew I needed to see her and watch her interact with my world.
“All right, tell me what I need to do. Where do we start and what are we looking for?” she asked with a sigh.
I settled into the high-backed wing chair and adjusted the fall of my robes over my legs before leaning back, folding my arms across my chest. Her gaze followed the movement—lingering on my shoulders, then my arms—as the fabric drew taut across my biceps.
I felt the hitch in her breath before I saw it. Her pupils darkened, her throat worked as she swallowed.
Fates damn it, how was I supposed to stay away from this woman when she looked at me like that? The room went quiet.
When her eyes finally lifted to mine, I raised a brow in mild curiosity. Color crept into her cheeks as she realized she’d been caught.
“Are you not talking to me anymore?” she asked and tried, but failed, to keep her tone light and breezy.
“I plan on doing very little talking tonight, in fact,” I responded evenly.
Pointing to the stacks of books, I continued. “I want you to take a look at the documents I have collected and tell me what you see.”
She looked over at the books, then back at me, and back to the books again.
“You’re joking?” A small laugh escaped her.
“Why would I be joking about that?”
“Because there are at least 50 books here, not to count the hundreds of stacked papers and scrolls. You want me to go through all of these?” she asked incredulously.
“Exactly. Obviously not everything is going to get done tonight, but I need us to have the same information so we can begin unraveling the prophecy,” I said, picking up imaginary lint from my robes.
“So what exactly are you going to do?” she shot back.
I leaned back in my chair and planted my arms on the arm rests. “I am going to be watching you and answer any and all questions you might have.”
Her facial expression was glorious, something between disbelief and anger. Her left eye was twitching and her hands were balled into fists at her sides.
“Didn’t you take notes when working on the material?” she asked, running her fingers over the stacks of books.
It was difficult not to smile. She was clever.
“I did.”
“Well… wouldn’t it make more sense for me to look at your notes first? It would save us a lot of time,” she argued.
I shook my head. “No. My notes are mine, it would not do us any good to have you go through them at this stage. I might have missed crucial details, plus the notes are naturally subjective. I need your fresh eyes on the facts.”
She sighed. “Of all the entities the Fates could have paired me up with, it had to be an anal freak with a penchant for dusty old books, didn’t it?”
Ouch.
With an exaggerated huff, she turned around to study the neatly piled books. I had placed a chair by the table and had provided pencils and papers en masse.
There were six different stacks of books, three folders with assorted papers and roundabout ten to fifteen paper scrolls, plus various maps.
Each of the piles was labeled, such as “Prophecy,” “Geography,” “World events,” “Communication,” and so on, there was even a pile called “Wordsmiths.” I pretended to read my book, but kept watching her through my lashes.
“Who categorized these books?” she asked.
“I did.” I muttered, pretending to be totally engrossed in the book.
“Can I rearrange the piles?” she asked.
That made me look up. “You could, but why would you?”
She shrugged. “It’s not a bad system, but I think I work differently than you do.”
I closed my book with a loud thump. “Just because you work differently than me, does not mean you work more efficiently than me. I have planned this exact setup for weeks and believe me, this is the quickest way to get an idea of where we stand.”
Ooh no, she wasn’t having it. Her lips slipped into a straight line and a defiant look took over her features.
This tiny human wanted to challenge me. From a scientific point of view, there was no reason to deny her request. It would have irked me with anyone else, to have someone question my methods, but with her…
it enraptured me. I could see her brilliant mind working behind her turquoise eyes and it made me curious to know what she would find.
But I wasn’t going to give in this easily, it wasn’t in my nature.
She snapped her fingers in the air and pulled me out of my musings.
“Correct me, if I am wrong, but didn’t you say you wanted me to look at these with fresh eyes? So I could give you my thoughts on this? Seems to me that by making me go through the evidence on your terms is not helping me with forming my own opinions on the material, is it?”
The traitorous pull of a smile was forming on my lips. I clenched my jaw to hide it and put on my most annoyed face.
“This has nothing to do with me wanting to dictate my ways. This setup isn’t a personal preference of mine.
It’s objectively the most efficient way to gather information.
We are on a tight schedule, and I have spent a significant amount of time compiling the information and making it as accessible for you as possible,” I ground out.
Something in her demeanor shifted. It was a million tiny changes, the way she held her shoulders, the tilt of her head, but it was unmistakable.
“Does it upset you when someone questions your logic?” She tried to keep a straight face but failed. Her eyes crinkled at the corners; she was up to no good.
When Caelan had told me about his first encounter with her, I had been worried that she’d be too meek and docile for this world. But whenever she was around me, she seemed to have no problem speaking her mind.
I got up from my chair and walked over to her with slow but deliberate steps.
“No. Progress is born of resistance. If no one ever questioned what they were taught, we’d still be living in the dark. Science isn’t sacred. It’s flawed. It evolves. And it has to be challenged to mean anything.”
I stopped in front of her, far enough away that there was no risk of us accidentally touching, but close enough to test my own resolve. I could smell her and feel her body heat. She smelled of oranges and hibiscus flowers.
She nodded absentmindedly.
“So… how old are these books? How careful do I need to be?”