Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
-KADIAN-
“Would you stop that already?” Iona’s voice carried an edge I’d seldom heard from anyone. Her words, I was sure, could cut you, and at this point, I was shocked I hadn’t been torn into shreds.
“I can’t help it,” I muttered, “this thing is so itchy.” Whatever it was the robes were made of, the fabric made me want to tear it from my body.
It could have been the excessive sweat forming on my spine as an inferno swelled in the scribes’ quarters, a place that should have felt cool, or the fact that my anxiety was looking for a way to explode from my chest from having been down here too long.
I didn’t like enclosed spaces; I didn’t like the dark.
I was the most unlikely Court of Shadows member in the history of the court.
“Well, stop, you’re not going to have skin left by the looks of it.” Glancing down at my arm, the faint glow of the torches lining the walls highlighted how red my skin was turning.
“Do you not find it deliriously warm down here?” I whispered as I trailed behind Edrick. I knew he could hear us, but being the ever-considerate man he appeared to be, despite his sibling, he never once looked back.
“Kadian, for the love of the Gods, stop talking.”
Ready to unleash a response, I thought better of it as we turned a corner. A fellow scribe with pale hair breezed by us. Likely best not to say anything until this is over with.
The clanking of keys hitting against Edrick’s waist and the light tapping of our feet against the stone were the only sounds until we reached Addie’s door.
Edrick paused, looking behind us to ensure no one was coming before reaching for the key. The old wooden door groaned as he pushed it open. Hopefully this one doesn’t talk.
Each time Addie had visited Brida, she’d brought a hoard of trunks with her.
Books, papers, maps, and gifts. She was always generous, as much as she could have been.
Although her time was limited between jobs, whenever she had a spare moment, she ensured Brida had been taken care of.
The days following Addie’s visits, the Larrow household looked like a storm had swept through.
It was therefore unsurprising to me that when the door was finally open and we saw inside, that we were greeted with a mess.
“Gods, Edrick. How can you be with someone like this? There isn’t an inch of space available.”
As much as it pained me to agree, Iona wasn’t wrong.
There was not a surface to be seen in the room.
The bed, littered with clothes, real clothes, the ones that reflected Addie the person, not Addie the scribe, lay strewn across it.
Next to the pillow sat a pile of books, none of whose titles I immediately recognized after scrutinizing over them for a few minutes.
The floor was covered in papers, some stenciled, some drawings, others letters, possibly? It was difficult to determine in the low light. The walls, too, had papers pinned to them, lines drawn between them.
As I looked at Edrick, I couldn’t miss the clenching of his fists, the way his posture had changed.
He misses her. He loves her, and this is what her life has been reduced to, whether or not he realizes it.
Her lover and two others rifling through her things to ensure it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Gods, how did we get here?
Without thinking, I said, “I’m sure Addie will be back soon.” I extended my arm, placing my hand on his shoulder. With a curt nod and glance, Edrick kneeled down and began to explain.
“I think it’s pretty clear that Addie is a bit all over the place.” He gestured his arms around the room, “but there is a method to her madness. Everything blends into each other. There is a pattern here, we just need to find it before we move anything.”
“A pattern. In this? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Iona’s nose flared as if the smell of so many books offended her. No, it’s everything. Everything offends Iona.
“A method to her madness,” I repeated, recalling a memory where Brida had uttered those very same words about Addie. Brida would like Edrick, I don’t know why the two of them never met.
“Yes, so keep an eye out for words that you might see popping up on multiple papers or books, there is a theme almost always. I’ll eat my shoe if I’m wrong. Hopefully you’ll find whatever it is you need.”
“You’d never be able to find your shoe in here,” Iona muttered as she made her way over to the bed, being sure not to disturb any of the papers that lay scattered across the floor.
This is going to be a nightmare. At least in the library, I was on my own.
I was able to take my time to sound out words, to really work at what each thing might be saying, but here, I was under surveillance.
Monitored by the ever-penetrating gaze of the fiery redhead to my right.
Dragging my hand over my face, I sighed as I made my way over to the wall.
What did the parchment at the wedding look like?
I focused on the creases in the papers, the color, were some older than others?
Leaning in, none looked new. Addie had been holding books under the paper, it obscured it at that point, but when she’d handed it to Alvar, it had been…
aged. The parchment was more yellowed. Nothing like the new parchment Illerium had given us during our many lectures in which he had instructed us on some mundane task.
Is there more parchment like that here? Perhaps it was part of a journal, a specific book?
My mind trailed to Illerium’s lectures. “Let us review the Court of Reflection.” He talked about their traits, what the court was known for, perhaps it was then that I would have learned Thalius was the head of the court.
I’d been too distracted to listen. The way Lil’s hair glistened in the light of the sun, or the way her eyes looked, was how I imagined the water at the edge of the world to look.
Like they held the depths of Eldara’s secrets, each mystery just waiting to be uncovered and discovered…
“Snap out of it,” Iona said over her shoulder, somehow knowing that my mind had drifted.
How does she do that?
One of the papers placed in the center of the wall was an illustration of a hand.
Is that? Leaning in closer, I attempted to study it in detail.
Curves and swirls embedded in a hand. “Edrick,” I said, calling him over.
“Is it possible that this is the mark that appeared on Prince… Rai when he was made the heir?” The paper was hung upside down.
Iona was right—nothing in the room was organized.
Edrick rose from his position and made his way towards me. I stepped back, allowing him the space to attempt to see, the room was growing darker somehow.
“Yes,” Edrick said with a faint smile, as if recalling something Addie had spoken to him about this very subject. “This is the mark. It has historically been referred to as The Mark of Telavandir, the first king chosen by the Primals.”
“What else do you know about it?”
“Not much. While my area of study is history, I have focused more on inter-court relations and their history, not factoring in the monarchy. There have been monarchs for millennia, they have seldom had a say in the running of the courts.”
“I see,” I muttered. That will soon be changing.
“But, it seems Addie may have been on to something.” Edrick lifted his gaze and pointed to a spot on a page that may have contained a T. It was too dim to see.
“I don’t see anything,” Iona said as she turned to face us, “other than an unexplainable mess. How does anyone get work done like this?”
Edrick smiled, “Addie used this more as a workspace, and well…”
“Her living quarters were with you,” I said, thinking back to that singular, small cot. Probably wasn’t getting much work done in there.
Edrick nodded. “I don’t think there is much of anything we can glean here, but you can take what you need, so long as it’s returned before Addie gets back. She has a knack for noticing when something is out of place.”
I looked at Iona, biting my tongue. You are going to have to just grin and bear this. Grin, and bear this. Well, maybe just bear this.
Not wanting to put my foot in my mouth any further than I previously had, I gave a slight tilt of my head in acknowledgement. Despite not saying anything, Iona scoffed regardless.
“Iona, you take these,” Edrick said as he made his way over to the bed, continuing to talk her through something.
Focusing on the image on the wall, the words replayed themselves in my mind: The Mark of Telavandir.
Reaching for the papers, I took them down one at a time, ensuring none tore in the process.
I searched around the room and miraculously found a folder to slip them all in.
“Remind me what it is that Brida needs?” Edrick picked up the papers. “We can narrow our search that way.”
“Uhm,” was the only sound that made its way from my mouth. How do I say “I’m hoping to find information that would explain why the weddings were called off, where my best friend was taken, and why the woman you love was murdered”?
Fuck.
“Edrick, don’t worry yourself with mundane court business. Kadian and I will take these and make sure what isn’t needed gets back to you and Addie. We wouldn’t want her to be without her things.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, a gentle reminder she was there for him.
“I think that’s a good place to start,” Edrick said, even though the look on his face told me he was having the same thought as me. Something about this feels wrong, but you don’t know what or why that is. Guilt flooded my veins.
“Alright, let’s get going. We have to make our way back to the House of Shadows.” Iona managed to find a bag to shove several of the books into. “I can come meet with Edrick tomorrow to get the rest, if that works for you.” She looked at Edrick, who agreed.