Page 35 of Her Shadow so Dark and Lovely (A Curse of Fallen Stars #1)
Sila
The scriptorium is in a state of disarray.
I thought I had left it in a mess when I rescued Lorel, but I had nothing on the current chaos.
The shelves and desks are pushed out into the corridors, books and supplies scattered everywhere.
The Cupbearer is negotiating with a young woman.
She sits at the centre of it all, clutching the body of another.
Around her are the bodies of two other scribes, long dead before they were brought to the scriptorium, and three Lightkeepers, recently departed.
“Is that?—?”
“Yes,” sighs Mercias. “Noela.”
Mercias’ trainee Librarian. She’d only recently pledged herself to the Library’s Heart. It seems the Heart is being generous with her, if the black marks across the scriptorium courtyard are anything to go by.
“Is she clutching a scribe?”
“Yes.”
“Dawn King have mercy. Have we all taken leave of our senses?” I rub my temples. Think of my scribe tucked up safely in bed. So much for the rules, for us or the wretched Lightkeepers.
I follow Mercias into the central courtyard. The Head Librarian had summoned us, since we are currently in charge of the scriptorium, and it is not the first time Lightkeepers had been found here. Mercias crouches down next to Noela. Something tugs at my consciousness, and I frown down at them.
“Noela,” he says with a gentle growl. “Let the healer see to her while she’s still breathing.”
I make a huff of noise. So gentle . I turn away to confirm my suspicions— the dead scribes have been long dead. They have been placed here, but for what purpose? And how did Mercias’ trainee end up in the middle of them?
Mercias eventually comes to stand beside me as the Cupbearer is finally allowed to see the injured scribe in Noela’s arms.
“These are the other missing scribes,” he says.
“Other? You did not say.” Though it explains why they all look a week dead or more.
“Hmm, did I not? Possibly because the last time I saw you, you were taking one of the missing scribes into the Library’s Heart,” he hisses, low. There’s a sharp, painful tug at my heart.
“That was unrelated,” I tell him, scowling.
“And then you almost died on the way out,” he continues.
“That is possibly related,” I say, frowning down at the corpses. At least there will be more hands available to clear this mess up.
“I figured,” he says. “ Fuck , this is brazen. Even for them.”
“Court-sanctioned, perhaps?” I turn my attention to the Lightkeepers. What is left of them, in any case. There is necrotic tissue damage still eating at their skin. “Impressive.” I nudge one with my toe, glancing back at the trainee. “The Heart must have liked her.”
“Perhaps the Heart knows something we don’t,” suggests Mercias.
I suppose the Heart knows I intend to leave. It will need to do better than a trainee if it hopes to replace me.
“Yes,” I say softly. “It probably does.”
“I don’t understand though,” Mercias continues. “Every time there have been Lightkeepers so far, your scribe has been at the centre of them.”
Something like ice drops through my stomach. I look at him in alarm. Because he’s right. She has. There is a tugging sensation again, sharp and painful. Dark Lady have mercy on me.
“I’ve left her alone,” I say, my skin prickling. For the first time in a long time I feel nauseous. Properly vile. There should be nowhere safer than my rooms. They should not even know she is in them. The Heart’s bargain strains again, a sharp pain shooting through my chest.
But these were people who had delved into the Library, only stopping short of stepping into the Heart itself.
“Sila—” Mercias reaches out to me and I grab his arm, my long nails digging into his skin.
“I need to return to my rooms, now .”
Mercias makes a very pretty picture in his alarm. A bell begins to ring through the Library’s halls.
“ No ,” he says, surely thinking of his own lover.
I turn and I run and as soon as I am able to reasonably do so, I shift into the shadows. I slide through all the dark spaces back to my room, hoping I have not made a terrible mistake.