Chapter 56
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Briar
I bounced on my toes and practically skipped down the stairs ahead of Knox. I kept turning back to make sure he was coming while we descended the steps. When he looked at me, I couldn’t tell if he was amused or annoyed, and I didn’t care if it meant getting to see the library.
“How many books do you have?” I asked excitedly.
“I’m not sure.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to read them all?”
“If you have a few hundred years.”
I laughed as I bounced up and down while clapping my hands. “I can’t wait!”
For the first time since seeing him again, there was a twinkle in his eyes. It faded quickly, but while it shouldn’t, it gave me some hope that maybe he wasn’t as far gone as I’d come to believe.
That’s a treacherous way to think.
And it was. He’d made it repeatedly clear that the man I loved was dead—however, a tiny bubble of hope formed in my chest.
Maybe, if I could fully convince him that I hadn’t revealed our secrets to my mother, he could forgive me and love me again.
But can you love him as he is now?
That question stole some of my joy. I didn’t know the answer to it. Knox showed some signs of kindness, but it wasn’t his default mode, like it was with Seth. This man was so different than the one I’d yearned for; was it possible to love him?
I didn’t know, and trying to find the answer might prove lethal to my heart.
I’d never expected Seth to be the same man he was before entering the harem, but I also hadn’t anticipated this big of a change.
I couldn’t have known that not only had he endured the degradation of the harem, but he’d also had his animal twisted into something else and told that his mate betrayed him.
Then, when he finally escaped, it was to discover his entire kingdom was nothing but rosebushes, gray sky, and sorrow.
Who wouldn’t be changed by all that? It would have destroyed me.
When he frowned at me, I smiled before dancing down the rest of the stairs. I was faking it now and suspected he knew it.
“This way,” he said.
He strode behind the stairs, pushing the ivy out of the way as he went. When he held it back for me, I ducked under the plant that rustled back into place when he released it.
We strode down a hall lined with lanterns hanging from silver hooks. I could lift one of the lanterns and take it with me, but I didn’t touch them as we passed numerous closed doors. I didn’t ask about the closed rooms; I only cared about one.
This was the darkest section of the castle I’d been in. I hadn’t expected it after all the windows and airiness of the rest of the castle. The wooden walls and scarlet carpet felt almost claustrophobic.
Knox stepped over a rosebush in the middle of the hall, but my legs weren’t long enough to do so. I skirted around the drooping plant with scattered petals beneath it.
Unable to resist wanting to care for the dying plant, I brushed my fingers across its blackening petals.
A wave of sorrow hit me, but so did a pulse of power that sucked my breath away.
Before my Needing, as an unbound sorceress, my abilities were charged by nature, but this was far more forceful than I’d experienced.
I’d also never felt sadness from touching a plant, and while it sounded insane, I was sure it was the rose’s distress I’d experienced.
Tingles raced up and down my arm before spreading out through the rest of my body. The hair on my nape rose as my skin came alive, and my throat went dry.
“Briar?”
I jerked my hand away from the rose to discover Knox at the end of the hall, standing outside a set of closed double doors. I tried to form words, but my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” And that was the truth. While this was entirely new, it was far from wrong. “I’m coming.”
Trying not to lose that surge of power, I closed my hand and hurried toward him. Was the extra power I’d received from the rosebush because it was once a shifter?
Going through the Needing made all sorceresses and sorcerers stronger, but they gained strength from the moon or the sun, depending on which side they chose. Did they also experience more power from nature afterward?
No one had said anything like that to me, and from what I’d seen, the night casters turned their worship to the moon. They lived beneath its rays, absorbed as much of it as they could, and bound themselves to its god and goddess. I assumed the day casters were the same.
“What were you doing?” Knox asked.
“That rosebush is dying.”
“The sprites are doing their best.”
“I know.” When he looked at my fisted hand, I opened it and flexed my fingers. “It’s… it’s very strong.”
“The dying rosebush is strong?”
“Yes. I don’t understand it either. As an unbound sorceress, before my Needing, I drew most of my power from nature.”
“I remember.”
I’d told him this many years ago, but I was amazed he remembered it. “I think that either because the rose was once a shifter, or because I’m still unbound, it feels a lot stronger than I would have expected.”
“Do you think you’re still drawing most of your power from nature?”
“I’m not sure, but I must be if I’m not bound to one of the gods… maybe. I don’t know,” I finished on a mutter.
I looked past him to the closed wooden doors. A large tree with far-reaching branches was carved into them to create an impressive structure with numerous limbs and thousands of leaves.
I was still gawking at the door when he grasped one of the wooden handles. “Welcome to the library.”
When he pulled the door open, I couldn’t stop myself from rushing inside before coming to an awkward, lurching halt. I gasped as my hand flew to my throat. The sound was so loud that it rebounded around the vast room and bounced off the thousands of books filling the towering shelves.
My head tipped back as I tried to take it all in, but the more I saw, the more there was to see. It was amazing!
And that word didn’t do it justice. It was the most spectacular, breathtaking, stupendous room I’d ever seen. It contained more books than I’d ever dreamed of seeing in my lifetime, never mind having access to read them.
There were no windows, but light filtered in from the hole in the center of the domed roof. And one of the tallest trees I’d ever seen grew through that roof. Its branches spread across the opening, blocking much of it, but patches of gray sky poked through the tree’s unfurling leaves.
More branches spread throughout the room, creating a magical forest. Swings hung from a few of those limbs; they didn’t move, but I could easily imagine swaying back and forth on one with a book in my lap.
A ladder leaned against the trunk, providing access to the branches where someone could sit and read against the tree.
The large hole in the center of the wooden floor allowed plenty of room for the tree’s massive trunk and roots.
A border of golden bricks rimmed the hole.
Etched into the bricks were books with different titles, as well as the words, To Read is to Breathe.
I circled the tree and discovered the words “Tree of Knowledge” on the other side.
“My… oh… it’s… it’s… spectacular,” I breathed. “The tree of knowledge.”
“It’s sister, the tree of unity, is in the grand entry.”
“Oh, of course,” I whispered.
I turned in a circle as I tried to take it all in. “How do you keep rain from getting onto the books?” I asked.
“There’s glass over the dome.”
“There is?”
I saw no sign of the glass; it was spotless. The sprites must fly up there every day and scrub it while they nourished the tree. While the tree wasn’t as leafed out as it should be, it was healthy.
On the way here, all I’d cared about seeing was the books. Now, I itched to touch that tree as much as I longed to run my fingers over the countless spines filling this room.
Between the earthy aroma of the dirt, the fresh scent of the tree, and the rich, musky odor of the books, I was sure this was what heaven smelled like. This was a dream come true.
When I got closer to the tree, I trailed my fingers across a low-hanging limb. A thrill of power shot through me; I closed my eyes, absorbing the strength of this beautiful creation.
I couldn’t believe how much power thrummed through it. A current of energy ran from the tree, through my fingertips, and straight into my soul, where it nourished a part of me that I hadn’t realized was thirsting for more. It helped make me whole.
Closing my eyes, I trailed my fingers down the branch as I moved closer to the trunk. I savored this feeling of strength and rightness until my toes bumped into the golden bricks.
Opening my eyes, I lowered my hand and stepped over the bricks. I approached the tree and rested my palms against its trunk. When I did so, my heart lurched as all the hair on my arms and nape stood on end. The power crackled like electricity, but it wasn’t painful; it was exhilarating.
Only Seth had made me feel this alive before, but that sensation was completely different than this one. Being with him had been pure joy and bliss.
This was pure power.