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She quickly shook her hands dry and placed them in her pockets. “I think that every time I use a spell, more ink from the book stains my fingers,” she started to explain.

He stopped her from saying more. “If the price for your power is ink-stained fingers, then I’ll worship this ink. Power is beautiful and, Lore, you’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he whispered for her ears only. He gently pulled her hands from her pockets and kissed each fingertip in turn.

Her core warmed at each feather-light kiss.

Lore dropped her hands to her side. “My power only works at night, and dawn is coming.”

***

They traveled for another two days, sleeping for brief stretches and switching lookouts.

Finally, after a luminous, dusky sky dawned on the fourth day, they made it to the Wyndlin Castle grounds just as vendors were setting up for market day.

Lore used a headscarf to cover her ears and Grey had tied her green ribbon across his forehead to cover his own.

They walked through the gates, purses heavy with coin Lore had glamoured from stones in the river, and acted like they were just a group of friends looking for a food stall.

Once they made it past the guards, the group split up. Lore had a plan and Asher knew the grounds.

Between the two of them, they would get in, no matter what.

Chapter29

Lore cursed when her feet hit the marble floor of the library. She landed funny and her ankle smarted. She quickly moved to the side so Grey could drop in behind her.

They both sighed with relief when he tumbled through the open window and climbed down the shelf without vaporizing into dust or turning to stone.

They had discussed both very real possibilities—just because he was human didn’t mean he could get through the wards. Lore didn’t trust anything Chief Steward Vinelake had said, and she wanted Grey to know that.

But he was human, and he’d made it.

Lore and Grey went straight to one of the supply closets in the library, though Grey could hardly focus; he was so enamored with the library. Pride crept through the moth wings in Lore’s stomach, settling in with all her nervous energy.

The place had really begun to look beautiful. She had put in work here, and it showed.

Lore smiled when she opened the closet, which was exactly how she had left it.

As she’d remembered, the library had not only been filled with books and scrolls—there were entire closets filled with extrasupplies and relics, rusted and long forgotten. But she suspected some of the weapons she’d come across were spelled, because when she pulled one of the swords from the scabbard, it still gleamed like it had been polished that morning.

And when she gently pressed her thumb against the edge to test it, it sliced through her skin like a hot knife through butter.

“I can’t believe there are really uniforms in here,” Grey said, holding a guard’s tunic to his chest. It was too big and faded with age, but it was the smallest size they could find.

“I know. They aren’t current, but the symbol and color hasn’t changed over the years, it seems. I think we can move through the castle without suspicion as long as we don’t run into any guards.”

They changed quickly, Lore tightening a sword belt along her hips. The short sword hung at her side, light as a feather. From its balance alone, she knew it must be worth a fortune. She had barely been able to lift Asher’s military-issued swords. A piece of cloth from one of the tunics wrapped around the elaborate sword hilt obscured the fox head with ruby eyes carved into the handle. The sword would draw more attention than a faded uniform.

Grey attached a bow and arrows to his back. He’d been hunting for his family since he was a kid, and he was an incredible shot. He strapped another short sword to his own hips. His was of a similar design to Lore’s but had an owl head on the end, surrounded by flowers instead of vines.

They grabbed three more uniforms and some more weapons, then climbed back up the shelf to the window.

The fox Lore used to feed was waiting on the roof at the top, and the morning sun glinted off its sienna-colored fur. It was waiting as if she’d never left.

“I don’t have any treats for you today. I’m sorry.”

The fox sat back on its haunches, tilting its head. It watched them with its otherworldly eyes, unmoving.

Lore kneeled next to Grey on the ledge and peered over to the ground. Almost everyone was at the market, but while they’d been in the library, two guards had moved to the smaller garden outside the library windows.