Nym's Arc

Chapter 23 of 41

A servant came for them when the light outside turned gold. She led Nym and Drasila down a long stair to the dinner room. Candles ringed the walls. Painted faces watched from every side. A long table stood under a white cloth, spread with roast meat and bowls of fruit. King Thomas sat at the head. Queen Tess sat at his right, hands folded in her pale green gown. "Sit," the king said. His green eyes moved over Nym, then Drasila. "Eat. Then you will tell me how you came here." Nym sat. Her stomach was tight. She knew the danger. If she spoke the truth—a mother sealed three hundred years, a daughter who should not exist—the king would name her a liar and lock the records away. She had to win his trust without the whole impossible tale. So she gave him a small truth. "We came for the books," she said. "The ones with my mother's face. The queen saw them. I only want to read them." The king set down his cup. "Face in a book," he said. "Every stranger wants something from my library. Why should I open it for you?" Nym's mind raced for proof. Words would not do it. She pushed back her sleeve. She let her power rise, the way it rose in the tower. Runes glowed beneath her skin, pale and moving. The queen stood so fast her chair scraped. "Those marks," she said. She looked at Drasila's hands, then at Nym's arm. "They match. Mother and daughter." Her voice shook. "Thomas, no forger draws living runes on skin." The king stared. The anger left his face. He looked older, and afraid. "Then the book is true," he said quietly. "I hoped it was a tale." "What book?" Nym asked. The king rose. He led Nym and Drasila out into a corridor lined with books. “Not this library” he said soft He led them up a secret passage behind a bookcase up a winding staircase…