Page 41 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)
Thirty One
FRIENDSHIPS LIKE FLAMES
THE WHOLE WAY back to the castle, Sawyer fought the urge to incinerate the forest. Flora would hate her endlessly, but gods did she need a way to calm herself, and the fire bubbled in her blood with a relentless intensity that made her very skin itch.
Go into your father’s study, their way out will be there. The trip may also prove of other value.
Sawyer decided against offering her soul for the full explanation of Morna’s warning. The second one seemed more informative and more attainable. Still, was she truly contemplating listening to a Jinn? One of Loumallet’s children? The bloodthirsty demons who kill innocents and children?
Grant it, this particular one was nice, which truly added more to the confusion.
She and her Court had seen countless slaughters during their travels through Erriadin, significantly worse the past few months.
The Jinn were, beyond a reasonable doubt, evil vermin who sought only to feed on the weak and mess with minds, from the Lower, animalistic kinds to the Mind Slayers.
If they had kept to their island within the Helian Ocean exclusively, perhaps they could have coexisted.
At one point in time, it was said they did.
But the Jinn got bored, as most evil does.
Someone within your castle is lying.
Running a hand through her hair, Sawyer decided she would deal with that warning later.
By the time she rode back through the gates, it was nearly midnight.
Still, the courtyards were lively with Earth Caller students tending to the gardens, some also in their excavating gear, surely going into the tunnels for nighttime lessons.
If they were making their descent into the land, it likely meant Jeriyah had taken repose from holding his enchantments within the kingdom.
As High Scribe, it was the one duty the old fool couldn’t slack on.
Sawyer left Fey in her stall after some minutes of quiet mane brushing, a habit that served to placate them both. Students, servants, and officials all gave her small bows as she passed. Sawyer always wondered which of her birthrights they bowed to.
The chances of her making it to her father’s study unconfronted were slim. It was deep within the castle, behind labyrinths of hallways, doors, and eyes.
Sawyer stomped past the throne room, past the dark corner she knew would lead her into the first of the path of hallways, ultimately converging into the one that would lead to her father's study. She took a moment—just a moment—to think it through. Was this really what it had come to?
With a tight sigh and heat in her bones, she backtracked her steps and turned into the hallway.
Thankfully, the castle staff were preoccupied elsewhere.
Sawyer was met with no resistance as she rounded the final corner, the severe silence only adding to her unease.
She passed a few servants when she crossed into the next corridor, but they paid her little attention besides a disinterested glance.
After minutes of her moving through corners, cracks in walls, and avoiding guards, she reached the final turn, that single red-and-gold door looming alone at the end.
She had only been allowed near it a handful of times, and each of them left her plagued by nightmares. Her boots scraped lightly against the carpet as she stopped before it.
Reaching her hand to the doorknob, she sighed.
Not even Emberdon’s fire could calm the chill that ran through her.
For Cas.
For Sol.
For Erriadin, damn it.
She pushed on it with her shoulder, then let out a sigh of momentary relief as it didn’t budge.
It was locked.
The relief turned into horror as she realized who would likely have the keys.
It took Sawyer twenty minutes to find Samara. First, she tried the throne room, figuring the wench might be accompanying the King or kissing his ass.
The throne room, mercifully, was empty.
Next, Sawyer tried her room. The Semmena side of the castle was confusing, cold, and unwelcoming in several degrees. She moved through it quickly, knocking on the woman’s door three times, then made her way back into the light of the Yarrow side, both relieved and disappointed at her failure.
She turned the corner of the staircase to go to her rooms when she decided to try one final place.
The second library was used for many tasks.
The first consisted of mostly Scribe duties, the third for mostly reads of leisure.
She hadn't expected Alix to be in the second one but found herself pleasantly surprised as her friend greeted her with a radiant smile.
He wore beige robes and was exiting a main meeting room with a stack of books in his arms. He silently motioned her over to a table by the main entrance, surrounded by circular bookshelves.
He set the books down before pulling her into a hug. “I’m afraid I’ve gotten used to spending every waking minute with you all,” he whispered, planting a kiss on her cheek. “I miss you.”
“Is the old man really so possessive of you?” Sawyer eyed the room he had emerged from. She could vaguely see Jeriyah within it, sitting with his hands clasped before him.
Alix sighed. “I’m one of the only other scribes who knows the Enchantments. He is needing more breaks than usual.”
“Dark Magic is outlawed.” Sawyer braced her hands on her hips. “Just because that one spell benefits my father doesn’t mean it should be the exception.”
“It’s barely Dark Magic, Sawyer,” Alix said. “It hardly uses any.”
Sawyer rolled her eyes. “If it comes from Loumallet, it's Dark Magic.”
The enchantments the High Scribes were still allowed to practice were only used to keep things and people out of places they shouldn’t be, like the Jinn Den or sometimes reinforcements for the wall.
Of course, allowed by the mighty King.
“I’m looking for the noble bitch,” Sawyer said, looking away from the High Scribe. “Any idea where she is?”
Alix chuckled. “You should show her some respect—she's quite good at her role.”
“Sure.”
With a shake of his head, he motioned to the second floor, to the mezzanine that loomed over them. “She was up there earlier. I have not seen her depart.”
Sawyer patted his arm. “Great. If I don’t come back in fifteen minutes, either I killed her and fled, or she managed to best me. The latter is unlikely, though.”
“I’ll be sure to keep a close look out.” He gave her a small wink and pulled open one of his books as Sawyer climbed the thin staircase to her left.
The second floor didn’t have many bookshelves, unlike the level below. It mostly consisted of sitting spaces and orbs of firelight. It didn’t take long for her to spot Samara over a table by the center of the room, holding a softly lit lantern over what looked like maps of Erriadin and the South.
She didn’t look up before saying, “I’m busy, Semmena.”
“Please don’t start this off wrong by calling me that.” Sawyer flopped into an armchair nearby. “I’ve already had a shitty day.”
The Semmena Advisor peered at her through lowered brows. “It’s a privilege to share his Majesty’s name.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sawyer waved a hand in dismissal. “Let’s talk about him as little as possible.”
Samara continued her close surveillance of the maps, moving to the other side of the table.
With a flick of her wrist, Sawyer brought the chandelier above them to life, the candles concealed within crystal orbs providing a clear view of the maps. She had learned not to be in dark rooms with Shadow Guiders.
Samara only sighed. “What do you want?”
“I need the keys to my father’s study.”
“Go cause chaos somewhere else, Sawyerlyn,” Samara said, extinguishing the lantern she held as it became useless. “I wish no part of your schemes. I am busy.”
Sawyer scoffed. “You used to love scheming.”
“And then we grew up. Get over it.”
Sawyer and Samara had been friends at one point, perhaps just as close as she was now with Nina. She was closer to Sawyer’s age, both being five years Cas’s junior. Their mothers had gotten pregnant at nearly the same time, ironically, and gave birth mere weeks from each other.
When Sawyer arrived in Rimemere at thirteen, Samara and Cas had been her only escape from her father.
Nina had been ushered away to distant family in Romalia after her mother’s death, then returned to Rimemere when it was time for them to join the Wielding academy.
Samara graduated into the Semmena Court and grew to hate the friendship Sawyer and Cas built, blaming Sawyer for Cas’s desire to continue his devotion to the Yarrows instead of joining his sister, despite Irene being responsible for their father’s demise.
It all became too complicated to heal.
“Regardless,” Sawyer said, clearing her throat. “I am not scheming. I left something important in there.”
“Like what?”
“A notebook. With notes.”
“You didn’t study in the academy, yet you expect me to believe you want to do so now?’
Sawyer sighed, her patience wavering. She jumped to her feet and walked to the table. Samara’s violet eyes watched her every movement.
Sawyer studied the maps, tapping her fingertips along the wooden edge. “You’re trying to ally with northern territories.”
After a few moments of hesitation, Samara Guided Shadows over her plans. “I don’t have the keys. I’m afraid you are wasting your time.”
Irritation made Sawyer incredibly tired. “Who has them?”
A small smirk bloomed on the Shadow Guider’s lips. “Who do you think?”
Sawyer looked at her for a long time before turning on her heel. “Start with the Driodell territory if you want allies. You can at least bribe them with Earth Callers.”