Page 35

Thirty-Four

Lira gaped at Iris. “Is there any other secret you want to confess or is this the last one?”

“It’s absolutely the last one. I would have told you earlier, but you were so upset when you learned about your gran being a mage. I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

Lira ran a hand through her hair. She guessed a mage possessing a spell book wasn’t such a stretch, except for one detail. “But spell books were outlawed.’

“They were.”

Iris was much too calm for Lira’s liking. Then again, none of this was new information to her . She’d known about her gran and the spell book for… “How long?”

The apothecary blinked at her. “How long what?”

“How long did you know that my gran had a forbidden book of magic?”

Iris's brows knit together, and she opened her mouth before sighing.

“The whole time?” Lira stood and started to pace in a tight circle. “You knew that my gran was risking everything and you didn’t stop her?”

Iris scoffed at this. “If you think I could have stopped Elia, then you didn’t know your gran. The woman was as stubborn as the day is long. Besides, spell books themselves aren’t exactly forbidden.”

“You’re right. Teaching magic is forbidden, which is why all the spell books were confiscated when the guilds were disbanded. You can’t teach magic without books.”

“Your gran didn’t teach you magic from her spell book.”

Lira stopped pacing and whirled on Iris. “A distinction I’m sure the enforcers would have believed when they found my gran’s book and her half-elf granddaughter.”

“There haven’t been enforcers around these parts for ages.” Iris flapped a hand in the air. “How do you think I’ve kept my bookwyrms secret all this time?”

Some of the fight drained from Lira. The woman was right. It had been so long since the magic guilds had been disbanded that she didn’t even know if the lairds sent out enforcers anymore. If they did, they didn’t reach Wayside. Besides, both the lairds of Greyhelm and Craigmire were old and hadn’t been the ones to lay down the edict about magic in the first place.

Lira and her crew had only run into one enforcer—an old man who must have gotten the job when he was young and didn’t have the eyesight remaining to tell a mage from a monkey—and he hadn’t given Malek a second glance. Not that their crew’s spell caster had looked the part, since he’d dressed more like a roaming ranger than Pirrin. But Malek also hadn’t carried a spell book.

As much as the lairds of the Ageless Lands had wanted to eliminate magic from their realms, the fact remained that, even without books, spells were still passed down from mage to mage. There might not be guilds, but that didn’t mean that druids didn’t still harness elemental magic from the earth and seas, or that elves were any less powerful.

Not that Lira possessed any elven magic, she thought darkly, as much as she’d wished for it over the years.

The disbanding of the guilds had been intended to stop the dark magic that had been spreading throughout the lands so many years ago, and it had worked for the most part. But magic—especially the darkest versions of it—could never be wiped out entirely. Not when it held such power and possibility.

Lira took a breath. “It was still a risk to keep the book.”

“Just because she was your gran doesn’t mean she wasn’t one bold, brash biddy.”

Lira snorted a laugh at this. “I guess more than I ever knew.”

Iris rested a hand on Lira’s arm. “She always planned to tell you about the book. Time slipped away from her, that’s all.”

Lira’s throat became unexpectedly thick.

“So, this means I can’t tell anyone about the book?”

“That’s up to you, love. I have no problem trusting your friends. If they haven’t spilled the truth about all our enchanted creatures, I doubt they would tell tales about a book.”

Lira thought about this as Iris poured her a fresh cup of tea. She wanted to tell Sass, and she would—as soon as she wrapped her head fully around everything she’d learned. Because she couldn’t tell Sass about the spell book without telling her about her gran and about Iris. How much would unravel once she tugged at that single loose thread? But as long as secrets were being unspooled, she might as well tell Iris everything.

“Then I suppose I should tell you that it’s not only the book buried behind the wall. ”

Iris’s eyes widened over the rim of her teacup.

“There’s some gold,” Lira continued. “Not a lot, but some that I stashed here after a particularly successful quest. It’s what Rygor’s been smelling.”

Iris twirled a lock of hair around one finger. “So that’s why the reeve has been so sure Durn is holding out on him. You don’t want the tavernkeeper finding out you’re the reason for that.”

No, Lira didn’t.

“So, I guess we don’t ask Durn if we can knock down his wall,” she said.

“Not unless you’re ready to run again.”

Lira wasn’t. She sighed, disappointed that she was back to square one.

A tinkle of the bell over the door reminded both of them that it was a market day, which meant that there could be patrons wandering in to buy a poultice for their sore back or a tonic for their cough.

Iris poked her head between the curtains covering the door and then straightened, holding back one side of the velvet that pooled on the floor. “It’s your friend.”

Lira expected to see Sass enter the back room, but it wasn’t the dwarf.

“Cali?”

The Tabaxi grinned, her gray-striped tail twitching as she glanced at the fluttering bookwyrms. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I thought you’d be baking at the tavern.”

“Not this early.” Lira cocked her head. “So, you’re not here looking for me?”

“She’s my guest,” Iris said.

Then Lira noticed the book that Cali held in one paw.

Iris took it from her with a smile. “What did you think?”

“It was a good read, although the damsel was in a bit too much distress for me.”

Iris laughed. “She does veer into intolerable at some points.” She dropped the book on top of a pile then bustled to get the kettle and pour the archer a cup, flicking her gaze to Lira for a beat. “Your friend is quite the reader.”

Lira remembered that Cali loved nothing more than curling up with a thick book, and she’d always wanted to linger longest in villages that possessed a bookshop. “Isn’t your favorite genre pirate romance?”

Cali took the tea from Iris. “I might have devoured all the pirate books that have been written in The Known Lands, so I’ll read anything with rollicking adventure and a bit of romance.”

Iris turned to her shelves, running a finger across the spines of the books and muttering to herself about marauders and maidens. “You only think you’ve read all the pirate romance books.”

Lira eyed Cali, curious that the archer she’d run with had made such fast friends with Iris. She’d seen them chatting at the tavern, and if Cali had mentioned her fondness for books, Iris would have thought nothing of inviting her into her private library. Especially since she was a friend of Lira’s.

A part of Lira questioned why Cali was still in Wayside. She’d delivered her news. Was there another reason she was hanging around aside from wanting to see Lira?

Then she shook off that thought. Cali had been nothing but a loyal friend. If she’d been charmed by the village, who was Lira to judge?

“While you’re searching for buccaneer bodice-rippers, I’m going to pop into Pip’s for some breakfast and head back to the tavern.”

“See you later, love,” Iris said as she climbed up a wooden step-stool to reach a higher shelf.

“Grab an extra sweet roll for me,” Cali said.

Lira left the apothecary and stepped into the cool morning air, breathing in the smell of sugar. Then the back of her neck prickled in warning, and she swiveled her head. There was nothing but villagers meandering to the market and Tin shaking a rug in front of his shop next door.

“Morning!” the gnome said merrily, pausing his rug shaking as she passed .

Lira returned his greeting. “Good morning! I should thank you for the new coverlets for our beds.”

“You’re quite welcome.” Tin beamed at her. “Quite welcome indeed. There’s nothing like a pop of color or a bold floral to lift the mood.”

Lira smiled at him. To call the fabric a bold floral might have been an understatement.

“You girls are making that tavern into quite the draw. Quite the draw.” Tin tucked the rug under his arm. “One I can’t seem to resist.”

He ducked back into his shop, and she glanced around. The sensation of being watched had been banished by the cheerful conversation, but Lira rubbed the nape of her neck and walked faster.