“Josi Linard.”
“Identification, please.”
“Do you not remember me, my dear?” Josi asked, her voice was pitchy. She seemed ready to pull the man by the ear. The tall man shrugged and glanced at his colleague, a perplexed expression on his face.
“I’ve been working here for over thirty years. I know every person in Golheim, including your mother, and she would not be pleased to know you don’t remember me, especially because I helped her with her labor the night you were born.” Josi’s outburst was so unexpected that the man took a step back. She started rummaging through her enormous satchel, pretending to be looking for identification as she whispered curses to the wind.
“Mrs. Linard, of course! I’m sorry, my memory really isn’t that good,” the man spoke, his cheeks turning red.
He stepped aside to let her in, and as she walked past him, he stopped Freyah to ask for her identification.
Josi squeezed his ear with all the might of her wrinkled fingers and shot him a warning glance. “They are my assistants. Where I go, they go!”
And that was how a group of wanted criminals of the Kingdom of Heldraine entered one of the most protected buildings of the realm.
“Have you really known that guard since he was a baby?” Freyah asked. “That’s impressive!”
“No, I’ve never seen him before.” The old lady shrugged as if it hadn’t been an act worthy of an award.
If the façade of the library made Alissa and Freyah’s jaws drop, the interior of the place made them want to cry. The center of the building was covered with tiles that formed a huge mosaic depicting the lineage of Heldraine’s royal family. A long spiral staircase covered in red velvet went up about twenty floors above. All of them were surrounded by shelves crowded with books and encyclopedias farther than their eyes could see. Her eyes landed on the librarian, quietly organizing books at a distant corner. The vision of the red threads encircling the woman made Alissa stumble—this was the second person in Golheim she had seen enveloped by glowing threads.
Knowing no one else could see them, Alissa made a mental note to investigate this further later. She cleared her throat and slid her finger along the side of several books on the closest shelf. “How many books are cataloged here?”
“About three hundred thousand.”
Alissa didn’t even know this number of books existed in the entirety of this world, let alone inside one single building. It was completely overwhelming. How would they know where to find their answers among thousands of books?
“We’d better get to work then,” Eldric said, taking Alissa’s hand in his to climb to the first floor of the library.
106 DAYS UNTIL DHALIA’S DEATH DATE.
Their stay at Breno’s place had been uneventful. His wife, Olga, was scary both inside and out, but she loved her husband so much that she never questioned his decision to host them. After a week since their arrival, they had only been able to exchange time together at the dinner table, spending the entirety of their days inside the library. Diving into books wasn’t helpful in getting to know their hosts better, but Alissa had the impression Breno preferred it that way. After so many hours of reading every day, she could swear her eyes were about to detach from her face, and her mind would melt at any moment.
As for nighttime, when the library was closed, they had resumed sword practice, using Breno’s basement as their training ground. Now that her leg was healed and her physical strength was restored, Alissa was ready to dive back into training, despite the exhaustion that had become a constant companion.
Daily activities in the library had been organized rather efficiently; they had divided themselves to cover the sections of the library that seemed most promising.
Saying Alissa hadn’t learned anything from all that reading would be a lie. She learned that the capital was the center of an earthquake before the Battle of the Mundane, which culminated in its complete destruction, obliging the Crown to rebuild the whole town. She had learned that besides the neighboring realm of Trent, there were three other kingdoms across the seas, but no foreign visitors were allowed in as part of Heldraine’s council legislation.
They had learned a lot, but unfortunately, nothing relevant to their efforts to save Dhalia. No mention of Senectus Subita was found. In the same proportion that mentions of Senectus weremissing, they had found the story Eldric had recited to them about the Battle of the Mundane and Prince Thayan’s victory in complete abundance.
It was odd to find the same story in dozens of books. A story that was told in the exact same way, with the same exact words in each one of them. It was as if someone had memorized the tale and reproduced it in several books at once. Like they wanted to sell a story, convince people it was real, rather than actually teaching about the history of Heldraine.
Alissa skimmed a book about rare diseases with Eldric and Freyah when a sound came from the back. A familiar face came from behind the shelves with a mug in hand.
“Desi! We weren’t expecting you here.” Freyah leaped from her chair to meet the healer with a hug.
“My mother forgot her medication back home, so I came by to drop it off.”
“Spending enough time with your family?” Alissa asked, a pitch of envy in her voice.
“Yes.” Desi’s voice broke, her gaze fixed at a distant point, lost in her own mind. “I just didn’t expect it would be so hard, you know? To see their lives have moved on without me.” She cleared her throat, and Alissa had to fight back the knot in her stomach, wondering if that was what awaited her back in Bryniard.
“Should you be drinking that here?” Freyah asked, double-taking at the hot mug in her hands, trying to shift the mood of the conversation.
“No. Please don’t tell my mother.” She smiled. “How are you enjoying the library so far?”
“It’s beautiful.” Alissa sighed. “But also exhausting!”