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Rowan smirks at my response. Looking away, he addresses the rest of the house. “Zeke and I will be returning to the Wraithlands for the remainder of the Haze. The rest of you will remain here.”

Meaning we’re stuck with Nox and Lady Cirilla, who both give me a withering glare for being removed from their duties.

“Surely the guards can maintain an eye on her,” Lady Cirilla argues, continuing to shoot daggers with her eyes at me. “I am an asset to ensuring the safety of the creatures.”

“You’re not,” Rowan states.

Ouch. Lady Cirilla’s face turns beet red and a few people snicker.

“Everyone is dismissed,” he finishes. Several people immediately begin going back to their duties within the estate. Nox stomps off towards a fellow guard stationed in the corner of the room where he begins angrily gesturing with his hands.

Lady Cirilla tries to intercept Rowan as he moves through the room, coming directly towards Alyvia and I. He ignores her entirely as he comes to a stop in front of me.

“Seems you made your point clear to warn everyone of my intentions,” I sneer. “You’re being difficult.”

“It’s only fair since you’re fucking mental on your best day it seems,” Rowan casually says.

Alyvia coughs to hide her gasp. Clearly she’s never been around Rowan when he’s speaking freely.

His green gaze moves towards the freshly added tattoo on my cheek. It doesn’t move or shrink away from Rowan as he continues to monitor it. There’s an odd look on his face, like he’s not quite sure how to feel about the marking, “You didn’t say anything.”

“You were too busy accusing me of things, if you don’t recall. Something about only wanting to sleep with people if I remember right.”

Rowan hums. His fingers come up and brush along the lines of the snake’s back. “Take care of her,” he tells it, as if it’s a living being who will understand.

Then his hand moves, grasping the back of my nape in a tight grip as he roughly tugs me towards him. Rowan’s mouth claims mine in a bruising, punishing kiss. It’s over nearly as fast as it began before he steps back.

Lady Cirilla gasps in horror, but Rowan ignores her and everyone else as his eyes remain on me.

“For the love of Embers, stay in the fucking estate this time.” Rowan turns to Alyvia who is gawking at the both of us. “If she leaves, you go with her, understand?”

“Y-Yes, sir,” Alyvia stutters.

Seemingly satisfied, Rowan turns a blind eye to Lady Cirilla’s outburst of questions. He walks towards Zeke, who looks highly amused by the entire situation before they both leave the room.

Once they’re both gone, Alyvia turns her questioning gaze towards me. “Did Lord Rowan just kiss you? In a public setting?”

I sigh instead of responding.

“Well, this is going to be complicated.”

She has no idea. Choosing to view this as a minor hiccup, I direct Alyvia towards the side door and away from Lady Cirilla’s crazed ranting and the eyes of everyone left gawking in wake of Rowan’s departure. “Let’s go discuss things in private.”

Alyvia bobs her head while I push her shoulders out of the room. “Yes, and I want all the details this time, Keres Anderson,” she demands.

I look around the public library with scrutiny. This is far different from Rowan’s personal scholarly room. Here the books are neatly organized and separated with bulky bookshelves that would take four men to move. Scrolls are against a far wall along with some miscellaneous paintings of fallen heroes, or that’s what I believe considering they’re all dressed for battle. Perhaps these are the warriors who will forever be immortalized from the Province Wars.

There’s no one loitering around except for a woman sitting behind a large glass desk flipping through a magazine. Her hair is stiffly pinned to her head, a pink jumpsuit encasing her body, and her heels kicked off under her chair. She looks right at home, at ease in her space. As we walk past her, she doesn’t even glance up as she turns the page.

“Right over here,” Alyvia says, grabbing my forearm to direct me where she’s pointing at the far end of the wall where the books turn into scrolls.

Once we’re out of earshot, I frown at her and whisper, “How do you know where we need to go?”

“Most people who are criminals or connected to them, have it documented in their family history. The historians here keep detailed records of families and facts about individuals. We find a family who is known for doing illegal acts, we try to see what their price is to help you.” Alyvia gestures to my face. “Although that might just scare everyone into cooperating.”

“Wouldn’t this be illegal?”

“Technically no. It’s not illegal to look for someone part of a criminal family. The law is pretty firm; it’s only illegal when you solicit and receive services from a person.”