Assassin of Truths(54)

I took in a deep breath, digesting his comments. I'd played that moment in the curer's room several times in my dreams. There was a second. A second where my globe could've hit Ruth Ann right before she stabbed Carrig. And a second where the dagger could've stabbed him right before the globe hit its mark.

Then there was the thought that if I hadn't tried to throw my globe, Ruth Ann wouldn't have panicked and stabbed Carrig.

The only one to blame for Sinead's death was Ruth Ann.

"I'm sorry, Bastien," I said. My voice didn't sound like my own. It was tired, drained of energy. "It wasn't your fault. I haven't been fair to you."

"We both made mistakes. And you were grieving."

"I was," I said.

"You're leaving tonight to find the Tetrad, aren't you?"

"So you were spying on me."

He quirked a smile, taking a few steps until there was almost no space between us. "Is it spying if the person was in the right place at the right time?"

"I suppose not," I said with a small smile.

"My guards will stand watch in the library when you leave," he said. "Make sure you can return safely."

"Yeah, okay. I'd feel better knowing they're there." I grasped his hand and he towed me to him.

His hand slid behind my neck, and as he lowered his lips to mine, I tangled my fingers in his hair. A surge of heat rushed through my body, my heart pumping like a runner on the last lap of a five-mile run. I wanted to get lost in him. Forget the storm building around us. Forget the pain of injuries and loss. Forget my fear that we'd never have a normal life together.

Rain dropped on us and clapped against the taut skin of the tents. It plastered our hair to our faces and our clothes to our skin, but it didn't pull us apart. We kissed as if we'd never kiss again, and I hungrily devoured his lips, wanting more from him. Wanting all of him.

I pushed my body harder against his, causing him to lose his footing, and we tumbled to the muddy ground. He rolled onto his back to keep me from ending up in the mud. And his consideration made me want him more.

"If you keep that up, you'll both drown, duckies," Lei hollered over the rain drumming around us.

Jaran laughed. "Good one."

Bastien let me go, and we held each other's arms as we struggled to stand, our feet slipping in the mud until we gained our footing.

"That's determination," Demos said. "There's dozens of tents around them, and they chose a mud pit to do that in."

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it," I said and walked off to a chorus of their laughs behind me.

After washing up the best I could in a basin full of water, I met the others in the dining tent. Carrig sat at one of the tables with Deidre fussing over him-placing his napkin on his lap, then picking up his fork and knife to cut his food.

When I reached them, I bent and kissed Carrig's cheek. "You look well."

"I be feeling good, if not a bit pampered," he said. Deidre tried to feed him a fork full of potatoes, but he took the utensil from her. "I'm quite capable of feeding me self. Me arms aren't broken."

Emily brought Uncle Philip over. "They're serving meat and potatoes. It's your favorite. Sit and I'll get you a plate."

Uncle Philip took a seat across from Carrig. "I'm not the only one being treated as a baby, I see."

Carrig stabbed a piece of meat. "They think we be fragile."

Uncle Philip folded his hands on the table. "I would have to admit that I'm in and out of stability." He winked at me, and I knew stable Uncle Philip was the one who had come to dinner.         

     



 

I took a seat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. "I love you both. You know that?"

Uncle Philip's lips pushed into a smile. "That's good to know."

Freshly showered, and with a mischievous grin plastered on his face, Bastien sat beside me, placing a plate in front of me and one for himself on the table. He leaned over. "You need to eat. Keep up your strength."

The rest of the Sentinels joined us. Arik took a seat beside Emily. As we shared jokes and stories of our short past together, it felt good to laugh. To have what could be our final meal together.

My eyes went to Emily and Arik. She fed him something from her plate that he hadn't gotten for himself. There was this easiness to them, as if they were comfortable with each other. The smile on Emily's face warmed me inside, and I couldn't help the smile pulling on my lips. She had come through for me time and again, and she was growing on me.

Taking a slow drink from my cup, my eyes scanned the smiling faces around me. I wanted to stay in this moment forever. Remember every detail so I could recall it in later years when I would miss them.

We spent hours there, telling stories and reliving memories. When those we'd lost would come up, we'd go silent until someone would bring up another story. And then the laughs and smiles would continue. And it was over too soon. One by one, they left for their tents, turning in for the night.

When they awoke in the morning, the world would either be changed or destroyed.





Chapter Twenty-Four


Royston and I would have to jump alone to the George Peabody Library in Baltimore, Maryland, where I had left Gian's book and the leather canister. I was uneasy about it, but Bastien and his guards would be sensed in the gateway, and our whereabouts would be discovered. Bastien would wait for us by the gateway book in the Chetham's Library with two of the guards from Couve who had joined us in Barmhilde.

The Red and his army had forced the council's forces out of the library, which allowed Bastien to put a spell on the page into Chetham to lock them out.

Bastien gave me one of the guard's window rods to contact him should we run into trouble.

Trouble? The end of our quest would bring us smack in the middle of it. To the Tetrad.

I hugged the fur jacket The Red had given me. All the talk about releasing the Tetrad and no one ever mentioned what would happen when the beast was released. Supposedly, whoever opened its prison could control it. But how were they so certain it would work? A prophecy? I had my doubts.

Royston put the strap holding a canteen over his shoulder and then the crown I had removed from my body onto his head. He nodded at me then jumped into the book.

Bastien cradled my head in his hands and pressed a long kiss on my lips. "Take your time. Don't make rash decisions." His hands fell away, the warmth of them leaving my skin.

"I will. And Bastien, I, well, I-" I considered telling him how I felt about him, but the words wouldn't roll off my tongue. Maybe it was better to leave it unsaid. I worried he would think me saying it was only fueled by our situation and not my real feelings.

"What is it?" He watched me curiously.

"I'll see you soon," I said and kissed him one last time before leaping into the open page.

After I landed, Royston and I didn't speak. He handed me the crown, and I returned it to my body. We climbed to the fifth level of the cathedral-like room and went straight to the bookcase where I'd hidden Gian's book and leather canister. Thankfully, they were still where I had shoved them behind the books.

Royston paused in the middle of putting on his fur coat. "Did you see that?"

I buried the canister into my boot and darted glances around us. "What was it?"

"Might have been a bug."

A shiver tickled up my spine, and I scratched my neck. "I hope not."

I had thought we could only jump into libraries, but Emily had found a charm in the ancient spell book that could create a gateway to anywhere. Gian must've used it for his book. I slipped on my coat and opened the book to the page with the three-peaked mountain range on it.

"Let's go."

We grasped each other's hands and jumped into the photograph.

Like a million needles, the icy wind stabbed at my exposed skin. I pulled the fur hood over my head. We were at the foot of the tallest peak of the mountains. In front of us, a trail spiraled up to the mouth of a large cave.

With shaky fingers, I opened the leather canister and carefully removed the parchment with Gian's instructions. "We have to look for etchings. There are clues for getting past traps."

We followed the trail to a wall made out of some sort of metal. It had to be over twenty feet tall, stretching from one side of the mountain to the other.         

     



 

"Possibly we need a Chiave for this?" His breath froze in front of his face.

"I think you're right." I touched the slick wall and instantly wished I hadn't. The frozen metal bit my fingertips. "Crap. That was real smart."

"You should never touch metal that is frozen," Royston warned, a little too late.

As I rolled my eyes at him, I spotted an etching in the wall. There was a shape of a cross cut into the metal. The spirit of the Chiave had told me the wearer or owner would see things that had come before them. I couldn't see over the wall, so I guessed using the cross would show me something. Like the other side maybe.

The wind picked up as I opened my jacket, pulled aside my leather breastplate, and lifted up my shirt. I placed my cold fingers on the cross branded into my skin and shivered.

"Reditum," I said. The cross tugged from my skin, and I fell to one knee from the pain.

Royston caught the cross and slipped it into the etching on the wall. It fit as perfectly as a puzzle piece. The ground shook as the wall separated in the middle, leaving just enough space for one person to pass through it at a time.