Page 9

I nside the Lapis mountain palace, a curved staircase of painted stone led up to the main library.

The storm, called up by the Dragonfire ritual, had drifted away.

Three arched windows spilled silvery moonlight across the ceiling and the nine dragon shapes burned into the rock high above Vahly’s head.

Tails and claws, long necks, teeth, fire, and twisting wings formed a pattern not unlike the one scored into the short sword Vahly kept at her belt.

These charred images lorded over a dizzying collection of scrolls housed on countless wooden shelves.

The first Lapis had carved each shelf with art showing the rare finds they loved—lapis lazuli lined with golden pyrite, cliff owl feathers, the gold coins earth kynd used to bring to them, and stag antlers with twelve and fourteen points.

The librarians had doused the oil lamps hanging from the ceiling and left, off to help move those dragons whose dens were on the lower levels into temporary living quarters. The library was empty.

Or so Vahly thought.

As she went around a stack of newer scrolls, footsteps interrupted the silence of the room.

A dragon appeared on the first level, head bent to a partially open scroll she was reading by moonlight. Vahly didn’t know this dragon well. Only that her name was Lys and she kept to herself.

Perhaps Lys would be so interested in her own research that she wouldn’t notice Vahly.

Moving quickly, Vahly squinted in the weak light. Nix had told her the secret entrance to the restricted area—where the Lapis may have stored information about the now extinct elves—hid near a collection of unlabeled scrolls.

Vahly slipped behind a rock wall of tightly wound scrolls. There didn't seem to be any labels in this area of the first floor. A violet wax seal closed each roll of parchment.

The first one Vahly picked up had a seal with the shape of a mountain.

She held the scroll up to the moonlight coming through the high windows and tried to see what information sat inside.

Lines crossed and circles twined around what might have been lettering.

One word showed clearly. Eneko. Ah. He was a noble dragon who lived in the far northeastern wing of the mountain palace, with lands extending alongside Maur’s.

This scroll held a map of territories and holdings of the nobility then.

The scroll scraped lightly on the shelf as Vahly slid it back into place.

She held her breath, waiting to see if Lys noticed the noise.

But no voice interrupted, so Vahly continued her search, moving past that series of shelves.

The wax seals served as labels so it wasn’t the place Nix had discussed with her.

Scouring the entire wall of shelves, Vahly read label after label. Dragonfire and Its Uses. The History of Our Matriarchs. Herbs A-C. Herbs D-F. And so on. She searched every shelf on the first floor, except those too close to Lys.

Vahly licked her dry lips, wishing libraries weren’t so opposed to having drinks around.

It was time to ascend the steps to the second tier.

Walking on the sides of her boots, heel to toe, she hurried along the iron railing. A square of moonlight illuminated her path.

Vahly ran a hand over the nearest scrolls, eyes scanning the labeled shelves for one that remained unmarked. This particular section of the second tier featured information on simplebeasts—hawks, eagles, rabbits, that sort of thing.

She crouched to look over the bottom row. But the dragons had labeled that one too.

Maybe the scribes had changed the set up since Nix heard the stories about the hidden room. Vahly went over what Nix had said.

Supposedly, the dragons who had designed the restricted area had attached a mechanism to a particular shelf, and when manipulated properly, said mechanism opened a small chamber that held writings on subjects the dragons weren’t too keen on.

Subjects like matriarchs who had sullied their dragon honor by taking mate after mate with no regard for bonding.

Stories about the Jades being the first dragons and how the Lapis truly evolved from them and not the other way around. And of course, elves.

The reason dragons hated elves was still a mystery to Vahly.

Yes, they were clever and arrogant. But so were dragons. Sure, the elves were secretive. Who cared?

Vahly’s best guess was that their magic made dragons sweat. It wasn’t a straightforward magic like dragonfire, the only magic dragons possessed.

Elven magic, the power of the air kynd, had blurred boundaries much like the power of the earth kynd—well, back when they’d still had earth magic.

But the humans had met with the dragons, had worked with them.

And the elves had kept to themselves. The elves’ blend of unpredictable power, exclusivity, and arrogance rubbed dragons—fire kynd—the wrong way.

Dragons had their own huge egos, and elves didn’t bother to stroke them as the dragons thought they should have.

Yes, Vahly thought, perhaps that along with the fear of their power was the reason any scrolls that mentioned them in earnest were held in the hidden, restricted chamber.

Labels with full titles and subject lined the entire bottom row of shelves.

Vahly stood and put her hands on her hips. “Where else to look…” she muttered.

Lys appeared.

Vahly jumped.

“What are you doing?” Lys tucked her own scroll under her arm.

Vahly’s heart skittered inside her ribs. “Research. On … stag beetles. I think my kynd once ate them and—”

“Ugh.” The dragon held up a hand. “Enough. Fine. Do as you like. Put that candle out when you go, all right?” Lys jerked her head toward the one flickering lantern in the main room.

“Will do.”

“Thanks. Oh, and Vahly, welcome to the clan.” Lys still looked slightly disgusted at the stag beetle idea, but her smile was genuine.

Guilt tried to breathe down Vahly’s neck, but she shook it off.

The moment Lys left the library, Vahly took up her search, this time going to the end of the shelving.

The structure was partially cut from the mountain itself, with wooden planks set into the spaces.

Thousands of clawed fingertips, used gently and gracefully, had worn smooth the place where wood met stone.

Vahly’s own unclawed hands grazed the surface, top to bottom.

Next, she brushed a palm under the triangular slice of wood tucked into the corner between two shelving areas. The surface had served as a place to write or read as needed, complete with inkpot and quill. No luck.

A shuffling sounded from the corridor downstairs, outside the doorway to the main floor of the library. A head appeared. Lys again.

“Maybe I can help you finish up, Vahly?” she called, her voice grating and too loud in the library’s quiet atmosphere.

“No. No, I’m just fine.” Vahly grabbed a random scroll and waved it in the air. “I found one on the nutrients of a stag beetle’s innards. Finally.” She blew out a dramatic breath. “Really interesting stuff right here. In fact, I have an extra beetle here in my pocket. Want to taste?”

Lys grimaced. “Uh, no. I’m quite full. Don’t stay all night, okay? Draes will have my tail if I leave that lantern lit.” She glanced over her wings as if the dragon himself might be on his way to the library.

“Understood.”

With Lys gone, Vahly put her hands on her hips and looked over the whole area. She’d searched the entirety of the section, down to the underside of the tables.

Where could this legendary restricted section be hiding?

Shaking her head, she noticed the moonlight catching on a spot between the last two shelves.

Hurrying over, she bent to examine the knee-level space between wood and stone.

She hadn’t even realized this shelf was actually two shelves.

The sides fit together so neatly. All except this one space.

The scrolls beside it were labeled, but the ink was far darker than the labels around it.

Nix had said the shelf near the secret entrance was unlabeled.

But this label was new. Perhaps someone had realized the scrolls were not categorized and fixed the problem.

Or there was a dragon who specifically didn’t want this room found.

Vahly wiggled her first finger into the space. The stone tore at her nail bed as she pushed her finger further in. The way her day had gone so far, she’d be all stumps by sunset.

Something cold, and possibly metallic, hit the end of her finger.

Voices trickled from the corridor and into the library. Lys and Draes.

Sweating, Vahly pushed harder. Her skin ripped. The pain of the deep scrape burned like fire, and she blinked watery eyes.

She had to hurry. If she were caught doing this, breaking into this restricted area, she would be flogged in front of the entire clan.

Brought low. It was the punishment for any Lapis who broke a rule.

The dragons normally flogged a dragon’s wings with a leather strap, sometimes grounding them for a day or more.

With Vahly, they would most likely strip her vest and shirt off and come within inches of accidentally killing her.

Well, this little slug wasn’t saying hello to a strap anytime soon.

Shuddering, she gave the metal knob one more poke.

The floor under her feet moved.

She leaped backward as a half circle opened up.

A spiral staircase led into the wall, then dropped behind and below the shelving of the second tier.

The steps ended on the same ground as the first floor, but the walls kept the whole thing from view.

Completely tucked away inside the walls of the library, the hidden chamber released the scent of dust.

Vahly wasted no time rushing back to the first floor to blow out the lantern. Then, she hurried back up the stairs to the second tier, walked onto the spiral steps, closed the secret door behind her, and pattered down, into the darkness.