Page 92 of Gilded

Because knowledge was the only weapon she might hope to wield against the Erlking. The man who had taken her mother. Who left her father to die in the middle of nowhere. Who thought he could imprison Serilda and force her into servitude. The man who had killed so many mortals. Stolen so many children.

Maybe there was nothing she could do against him. In fact, she was rather certain there was nothing she could do against him.

But that would not stop her from trying.

He was a blight of evil on this world, and his reign had lasted for far too long.

But first—she would have to deal with another blight of evil.

Taking in a bracing breath, Serilda lifted her fist and knocked on the door.

Madam Sauer lived less than a mile from the schoolhouse, in a one-room cottage surrounded by the nicest garden in all Märchenfeld. Her herbs, flowers, and vegetables were the envy of the town, and when she wasn’t educating the children, she could usually be heard lecturing her neighbors on soil quality and companion plantings. Mostly unsolicited advice that, Serilda suspected, went largely ignored.

Serilda did not understand how someone with such a dismal personality could coax such life from the earth, but then, there were many things in this world that she did not understand.

She did not wait long before Madam Sauer yanked open the door, already wearing a scolding look.

“Serilda. What do you want?”

She attempted a withering smile. “Good day to you as well. I’m looking for that book that I added to the school’s collection a few weeks past. I could not find it at the schoolhouse. Might you know where it is?”

Madam Sauer’s gaze narrowed. “Indeed. I’ve been reading it.”

“I see. I’m so sorry to have to ask, but I’m afraid I need it back.”

The woman’s lip curled. “Youdidsteal it, didn’t you?”

Her jaw clenched. “No,” she said slowly. “It is not stolen. It was borrowed. And I now have the opportunity to return it.”

With a loud huff, Madam Sauer stepped back and threw open the door.

Thinking this might be an invitation, though it wasn’t entirely clear, Serilda took a hesitant step inside. She had never been in the schoolmistress’s house before, and it was not what she’d expected. It smelled strongly of lavender and fennel, with bundles of various herbs and flowers hung to dry by the hearth. Though Madam Sauer kept the schoolhouse tidy as a toadstool, the shelves and tables of her little home were littered with mortars and pestles, bundles of twine, dishes overflowing with pretty colored rocks and dried beans and pickled vegetables.

“I have the utmost respect for libraries,” said Madam Sauer, picking up the book off a small table beside a rocking chair. She spun back to face Serilda, brandishing the book like a mallet. “Sanctuaries of knowledge and wisdom that they are. It is most shameful, Miss Moller, most shameful indeed that one would dare to steal from a library, of all places.”

“I didn’t steal it!” said Serilda, puffing out her chest.

“Oh?” Madam Sauer opened the front cover and held it up so that Serilda could see the words written in dark brown ink in the corner of the first page.

Property of Professor Frieda Fairburg and the Adalheid Library

She snarled. “I didn’t steal it,” she said again. “Professor Fairburg gave it to me. It was a gift. She didn’t even ask that I return it, but I plan to anyway.” She held out a hand. “May I have it back, please?”

The witch pulled the book away from her reach. “Whatever were you doing in Adalheid, of all places? I thought you and your father had been traveling to Mondbrück all this time.”

“We have been traveling to Mondbrück,” she said through her teeth. “My father is in Mondbrück at this very minute.” The words only barely caught in her throat.

“Andyou?” said Madam Sauer, stepping closer while holding the book behind her back. She was shorter than Serilda, but her wrinkled glower made Serilda feel about as big as a mouse. “Where have you been returning from the day after the past two full moons? That is most peculiar behavior, Miss Moller, and one I cannot accept as a harmless coincidence.”

“You don’t have to accept anything,” said Serilda. “My book, please.”

Her insides were quivering, more from anger than anything else. But it was also disconcerting to know that the schoolmistress had been watching. Or perhaps she was repeating the gossip from town. Perhaps other townsfolk had noticed her comings and goings, always around the full moons, and the rumors were beginning to circulate.

“So that you can return it to Adalheid? Are you going there today? On the equinox of all days?”

Her words dripped with accusation, and Serilda didn’t even know what she was being accused of. “Do you want me to return it to the library or not?”

“I’m trying to warn you,” snapped the old woman. “Adalheid is a wicked place! Anyone with the slightest bit of common sense would do well to stay far away from it.”