Page 34

B RIONY ’ S PULSE WAS FLUTTERING , her muscles begging her to run.

Orion stepped into the kitchen, stalking toward her with his arms crossed. She stepped backward, curling herself into the corner. He looked her up and down, then leaned in to view the Journal page. Every movement seemed exaggerated, as if he was playing with her.

“Ah, yes. Sammy Meers,” he said, tapping the page. “I’ve been looking for him. Any idea where he might be, Miss Rosewood?”

He tilted his head at her, and Briony pressed back, hoping to become as small as possible.

“No,” she said softly, when she finally realized he was waiting for an answer.

Orion turned and strolled around the counter, dragging his fingers over the knife block. A ring with a dark gemstone caught the light.

“And what might you be doing out of your room at this hour?” he asked.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she lied.

“And you found some reading,” he said, lifting his eyes to her. He faced her. “I’ve been away on a mission for several days now, Miss Rosewood, so imagine my surprise to see how your circumstances have changed in that time.”

Briony wondered what mission it had been, but before she could think long on it, he continued.

“Was it my son or my wife that let you wander about my house unchecked?”

Her knees were weak under his gaze.

“Neither. An unlocked door presented itself.”

His lips curled in a condescending grin. “What luck for you.” He rolled his shoulders. “Back to your room, Miss Rosewood. We wouldn’t want you wandering through the estate boundary again without Toven there to rescue you.”

He stepped aside and gestured for her to lead the way.

Briony squeezed past him and rushed into the corridor, through the entry hall, and up the stairs.

She glanced down from the landing to see Orion Hearst following her slowly, like a predator ready to put on speed at the end.

She barricaded herself in her room, with panting breaths, putting the armchair between herself and the door.

The lock clicked.

Briony pressed her eyes shut, trying to calm herself. Her chest pounded while her mind buzzed with everything she’d just learned. Her gaze slid to the windows.

There were Eversun rebels out there. Even now they may be on their way for her. The Journal page she’d read earlier today said that Sammy was “attacking” a village on the northwest side of the Armitage Mountains. That was the mountain range hugging Hearst Hall.

Briony moved to her window, staring out.

There was a spark in her heart, catching fire.

She reached for her magic, and she wasn’t surprised when it didn’t respond.

Touching the collar around her neck, Briony knew she needed to get into the Hearst library.

The tattoo or the collar—either or both could be solved with the right book, she knew it.

She just needed one of the Hearsts to let her out again.

***

Briony stopped eating again. Only this time, she was hungry.

Every morning she salivated over the breakfast tray, every afternoon she hid in the bathroom from the lunch tray, and every evening she stared at the dinner tray until she was faint.

It only took three days this time before there was a knock on her door, but now it was Toven.

He opened the door as she stiffly got out of bed, glad she’d at least been bathing and changing out of her nightgown this time around.

His eyes raked over her and then cast to the lunch tray that had been calling her name for an hour.

He wore a navy shirt with a light-blue waistcoat, and the combination made her stomach tumble, causing her to wonder what kind of hunger she truly felt.

When he glared at her and slipped his hands into his trouser pockets, she leaned on the bedpost and matched his expression.

“Do you plan to wither away in here?” he asked.

“Well, there’s nothing else to do.”

Something sparked behind his eyes. He looked away from her and strolled farther into the bedroom, heading for the lunch tray near the window.

“You need to eat. You need to remain healthy as my heartspring.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I have to say, that’s not the most compelling argument for me. Does my magic have a different flavor when I’m weak, Toven? Does it not taste the same? Is that golden heartspring magic not as succulent?”

“Sounds like someone’s hungry,” he muttered, picking up a tart and popping it between his lips.

She watched his mouth move, his jaw chewing, his tongue swiping out for the sugar on his lips. She glanced away.

“So, what’s the plan, Rosewood?” he asked, plucking up a honeyed pastry next—her favorite, the sticky buns with sugar crystals on top. He bit into it and stared at her. “Are you waiting for someone to take you to the kitchen again so you can read the Journal page?”

Her eyes lifted from the pastry. She didn’t bother looking innocent.

He sauntered toward her with all the swagger she remembered from school before he’d become cold and unreadable. Her gaze moved between his chewing jaw and the second half of the pastry in his hand.

“Are you waiting for someone to forget to lock the door again?” he asked slowly, coming to stand in front of her. She had to tilt her head back to meet his eye.

“Well, if you’re offering,” she said.

His lips twitched. He brought the bun up between them, and she prepared to watch him finish it, to bite back a pained groan over how hungry she was. But then the sweet pastry was extended to her lips.

And her mouth opened before she could stop herself.

Briony’s eyes fluttered shut as Toven softly pushed the bun into her mouth, his thumb tugging on her bottom lip as he pulled away.

The sugar burst on her tongue, and her stomach was tight and loose all at the same time.

When her eyes opened, she realized she’d just let Toven Hearst feed her. During her hunger strike.

He stared down at her triumphantly, sucking the sticky honey off his thumb before stepping back. She swallowed thickly.

“Do you need me to hand-feed you at every meal? Or do you think you can manage now?”

Her cheeks burned and she straightened.

“If you want your heartspring healthy and happy, then I need more to do, Toven. More to read.” She breathed deep and said boldly, “I’d like access to the library.”

He laughed. And he was so handsome, it pained her.

“The library,” he repeated.

She stared at him, waiting for him to concede, knowing he wouldn’t.

“You can tell me what you’re eager to read, and I’ll bring it to you,” he said.

“No.”

He scoffed. “No? You don’t want me knowing what books you’re reading, Rosewood?”

“No. I first plan on looking up ‘How to maim and torture Toven Hearst,’ and I’d hate to tip you off to my methods.”

He sauntered forward. “You—a prisoner—wish to have unlimited access to one of the world’s most expansive libraries,” he said. She swallowed and kept his gaze. “And what do I get out of this bargain, Rosewood? You do plan to barter something, yes?”

Briony’s skin chilled, and her heart beat faster. There was nothing in his expression that led her to believe he was threatening her. Her pause, though, seemed to make him reevaluate his words. His playful expression dripped off his face.

“What do you want?” she asked quietly.

Toven blinked. Then he sneered at her with a laugh, stepping back and turning to the windows.

“My, my. What would the royal family say. Bargaining with your body so soon into our arrangement. And all it took was a honey bun—”

“I wasn’t offering my body,” she said quickly. She lifted her chin. “I just meant, what do you want? To know what Mallow found in my head? To know where Sammy Meers might be?”

Toven’s eyes flickered over her. He pursed his lips and looked down.

“Don’t show your hand when you’re bartering with information, Rosewood,” he said wryly. “What’s in your mind can be taken from you.”

Her brows drew together. By Mallow? Was that what he meant? Before she could ask, he sighed and nodded at her tray.

“Eat, then I’ll give you five minutes in the library,” he said.

Her breath caught. “Fifteen minutes.”

“Ten.”

“Deal.”

She moved to the lunch tray on shaking legs, hoping she wouldn’t faint in the handful of steps she took to the side table. Briony devoured half a sandwich and a few vegetables before grabbing another honey bun and patting her mouth with the cloth napkin. She took a sip of tea to wash it down.

“Ready,” she said, biting into the bun.

He tore his gaze from her mouth and walked out the door.

She followed him down the corridor and down the stairs, chewing thoughtfully. She had no idea what kind of books to look for. Magical brands, perhaps? Cross-reference tattoos and boundary lines?

Toven pushed open the double doors, and Briony stumbled at the sight again. She thought she’d imagined how large the library had been, but she hadn’t.

As she stepped inside, the smell of old books filled her senses. She wanted to zoom through the stacks and bleed the Hearst library dry of information. There was a long table for spreading out research on the right, and comfortable couches and chairs in the middle.

Toven moved to an oversize book in the left corner. “This is the catalog. You can ask for a subject or a specific title and the books will organize themselves, either by guiding you with a navigator light or bringing the books directly to you.”

Briony nodded but steered clear of it, not wanting any traces left of what she was researching. She climbed the six stairs to the upper landing and turned around a stack to find rows and rows of books. She gasped, loud in the quiet hum.

“Ten minutes,” Toven reminded her from near the door.

Briony moved to a section on magical protection, cracking open spines on boundary lines and estate magic. She was searching her fifth table of contents when a terrifying thought crossed her mind.

Her mind .

The images she saw … the things she read …

Mallow could see them all if she looked into Briony’s mind again.