The first-year flushes in obvious embarrassment, then steps aside into the aisle.
Shadows fall back into place, and we walk forward as a group.
“I thought he might kill him,” Aaric whispers once we’re out of the first-year’s range of hearing.
“Wouldn’t have surprised me,” Imogen replies. “Might have been more efficient.”
We both whip our heads around to see her shrug.
Jesinia leads us out of the main library and down a well-lit hallway lined with windows and with a few classrooms on each side. The deeper we travel into the Archives, the tighter my collar feels.
Xaden catches up to us in a few strides, walking calmly beside me.
“Someone is going to notice all that black,” I lecture quietly as Jesinia turns to the right. This place is a fucking maze, and it all looks exactly the same.
“There’s no one here.” Xaden’s hands are loose at his sides, and he’s exchanged the swords he prefers at his back in favor of a short one, which tells me he’s prepared for close-quarters fighting. “At least not in this section.”
“Your shadows tell you that?” Aaric quips.
“I thought we agreed not to speak,” Xaden retorts.
Jesinia opens the third door on the left, and we follow her into what looks to be a classroom. No wonder the hallway is lined with windows; in here, it’s dark. Two of the walls are made of stone, and the back one is lined with books. The rest of the space is sparse, filled with rows of long trestle tables and benches that face a lone desk at the front of the room.
“Everything from here is only what I’ve been told,” she signs, worry pursing her lips. “I’ve never been farther. If I’m wrong about any of this—”
“We can handle ourselves,” I promise.
She nods, then walks to the far corner of the room, toward the long bookcase.
“Imogen,” Xaden orders, nodding toward the door.
She takes a lookout position, retrieving a knife from under her robes as Jesinia reaches for the back of the bookcase, moving several tomes out of the way before locating a lever.
She pulls down on the metal piece, and the corner of the room separates from the other stones. It rotates a quarter-turn with surprising near silence, revealing the opening to a steep spiral staircase.
Looking closely, I can see the faint lines of the metal track it spins on.
“Amazing,” I whisper. How many of these little hidden wonders exist around here? “What?” I hiss at Xaden when I catch him looking at me.
“I feel like I’m looking at what could have been.”
“And?” The secret entrance clicks into place, halting its rotation.
“You look better in black,” Xaden whispers, his lips brushing the shell of my ear and eliciting a shiver of awareness despite our current situation.
“This is as far as I can take you,” Jesinia signs. “If I’m gone much longer, someone may notice. According to the others, the normal Archives wards end here, so if you can’t get back in time, you’re safer down there overnight.”
“Thank you,” I reply. “I’ll be in contact as soon as we can return them.”
“Good luck.” She offers us an encouraging smile, then leaves the four of us to it.
Xaden leans into the stairwell. “Watch your step,” he tells us. “There’s a little light coming from the bottom, but we’ll need to keep the rest from turning on.”
“We’re down to forty-five minutes,” Imogen says. Any longer and we’re either stuck and court-martialed…or dead.
No pressure.
“Then we’d better move quickly,” Xaden replies, lacing his fingers with mine before starting down the steps.
The first time you are caught in the Archives after the door seals for the evening will be the last. The complex magics put in place to preserve our texts are not compatible with life.
—COLONEL DAXTON’S GUIDE TO EXCELLING IN THE SCRIBE QUADRANT
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Shadows blanket the ceiling, blocking any mage lights that could flicker on at our presence, so I put my free hand on the wall as we descend the stairs slowly. Every step is a gamble in the darkness, but miraculously, no one stumbles.
Pale blue light blooms at the bottom of the staircase.
“A mage light?”
“There are two guards at the end of this hallway,” Xaden answers, slipping his hand from mine. “Wait here while I solve that problem.”
I put my hand up to signal the others to stop when we reach the final step. The space opens into what looks to be a hallway, but Xaden doesn’t question which direction to take. He moves quickly to the right, lifting both hands. A crumpling sound follows.
“Now,” he says aloud.
