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“I came to speak with a friend and introduce him to my wife,” Vale replied. “Princess Neve.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that congratulations are in order.” The vishku curtsied. “A pleasure, Princess Neve. And who are you here to see?”

“Lärling Duran Urgi.”

The vishku’s face fell. “Ah. I see.”

“Is he here?” Vale pressed, which only made the vishku’s frown lines deepen.

“He is. Though, I wonder if now is a good time.”

“For us, it is,” Vale replied. “Is he busy?”

“He is being disciplined.”

I swallowed. That didn’t bode well, considering we were about to ask Vale’s friend to break the law for us.

“I’d rather not reward him with a visit from the prince,” the vishku continued. “So?—”

“I’mdyingto meet him,” I interrupted, hoping topush on through. “And we won’t be able to get away from the palace for a very long time. Not with the Courting Festival going on.” I gave the vishku a winning smile, and her shoulders softened as her resolve crumbled.

“Only a quick visit.” Vishku Sindri waved us through the double doors.

We stepped out of the biting cold and wind. The foyer was void of anything save for a few spherical faelights to illuminate the space and mark the closed doors leading deeper into the House of Wisdom. It was spotless, but smelled like parchment and old home, as if no matter how much one scrubbed, they’d never quite rid the building of every speck of dirt.

Vishku Sindri rubbed her hands together. “It’s wicked out there today.”

“The cold is setting in early,” Vale replied. “I cannot imagine how cold it will be around Winter Solstice.”

“One of our vishkus trained in following weather patterns claims that the end of this turn will be one of the worst in a long while. They say it will seep into the next turn.”

“Hopefully, the wind will be calm, though. It adds to the bite.” I rubbed my arms beneath my fur-lined cloak.

Before arriving in this kingdom, I’d rarely been cold, but the Kingdom of Winter was a different beast entirely. I could still tolerate quite a lot, but the gales flying off the Shivering Sea pushed me over the edge into discomfort.

“Indeed,” Sindri said. “There will be a hearth blazing where you’re going. You may warm yourselfthere, Princess Neve. Your Clawsguards, however, will have to stay in the foyer.”

Vale didn’t press for the Clawsguards to follow, not that the vishku waited to see if he would. No, the moment she’d laid down the boundary, Sindri motioned for us to follow her through a door on the right. Vale told his guards to remain, and we trailed her through the door, then down an unadorned, windowless, gray corridor lit with faelights that hovered near the ceiling, casting an eerie glow upon the stone. Like in the foyer, each door we passed was closed, cut off from the rest of the world.

Why in all the nine kingdoms would a place brimming with knowledge be so plain? So boring? The only reason I could fathom was that austerity did not distract the apprentices and scholars from their studies. Still, how dismal it would be to live in such a place.

We passed at least twelve doors before the vishku halted before a door that looked like all the others.

“Here we are.” She opened it and a fresh scent of soap wafted out as we stepped into a vast space littered with wood tables. On the far wall, windows opened into what must be an interior courtyard and multiple hearths burned on each side wall.

Sindri scanned the area, eyebrows pinching together. After no one appeared, she raised her hands and clapped. “Lärling Duran! Where are you?”

At the far side of the room, a strawberry-blond head popped up between two long tables. “Vishku Sindri! I didn’t hear you enter!” His cheeks turned red, making his short beard look blonder.

“What are you doing?” the vishku barked, inferring guilt as I had.

“Scrubbing the floors, as you requested,” Duran replied as Sindri barreled forth, Vale and me behind her.

Duran popped back down, out of sight. I swore I heard faint cursing and the ruffling of pages before he rose again, patting his long white tunic down as if trying to be presentable.

“Lärling Duran!” Sindri admonished. “Were you reading?”

The dwarf’s face fell, and I smothered a laugh. Vale shot me an amused glance.