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Breakfast was hot bowls of thick, creamy porridge topped with dried brilberries and a drizzle of honey alongside mugs of steaming, sweetened tea. They’d had to find a child’s mug for me – most of the others were far too big for my fingers. Like last night’s meal, everything was delicious. Sigwulf doesn’t even need to pay me a salary. I’d work here just for the food and the baths!
We all ate together on a bench in the kitchen – Sigwulf, Hildfree, Grimswald, and me. Grimswald, Hildfree’s brother, looked like the male version of her. Same shaved head, piercings, and jovial mode of expression. The siblings chatted amiably to me as we ate. Sigwulf remained silent, but despite his lack of contributions to the conversation, I couldn’t stop my gaze from drifting over to him. The muscles and tendons of his jaw and thick neck kept drawing my eye every time he took a swig of tea or a bite of porridge. He’s probably the strongest male I’ve ever seen in my life.
I jumped up to clear the dishes when I was finished, but Hildfree shooed me away.
“Go on. Go with Sigwulf. He needs you, after all.” Once again, a knowing sort of expression passed over her face.
“Alright. Shall we, then?” I asked, spinning to face Sigwulf.
He was scowling something fierce at Hildfree, but smoothed his expression into stony impassiveness when he saw me looking.
“Yes. To the library.”
Sigwulf led me through more halls and up some stairs until we found the most breathtaking room I had ever entered. I had imagined the library would be dark, shadowy, and windowless.
But it was the complete opposite.
Evidently, we’d come to the top of a tower. I hadn’t noticed this tower from outside when I’d arrived. I would have remembered the expansive dome of glowing crystal that served as this room’s lofty roof. I gasped, tilting my head back and staring in utter wonder. The entire dome of the ceiling was intricate stained crystal – flowers and warriors and rivers and weapons. It felt infinite. Like the blue bowl of a summer sky that both closed you in with comfort and extended in every possible direction. The morning sun shattered when it hit the crystal, turning into thousands of shining spangles. The floor, my skin and clothing, the very air, was drenched in luminescent colour.
“Forgive the mess,” Sigwulf said, clearing his throat.
“Mess?” I breathed, finally tearing my eyes from the exquisite ceiling.
The mess he’d indicated no doubt referred to the gigantic piles of books, scrolls, and sheets of parchment that teetered throughout the massive, hall-like room. Around the edges of the round room, like the spokes of a wheel, were towering shelves that aimed in towards the centre. Thankfully, I spied a ladder resting against one of the shelves. I’m definitely going to need that. The shelves weren’t in much better shape than the rest of the room. Tomes seemed haphazardly scattered on some half-empty shelves, while other shelves were so full to bursting that I worried books would start popping right out and onto the floor, squeezed by all that pressure.
“Like most Dragon Caste males,” Sigwulf said, “my uncle had a tendency to hoard things he valued. However, unlike most Dragon Caste, he was not particular about the organization of that hoard.”
“And you are particular about it?” I asked. I could sense Sigwulf’s frustration with this room. With its disarray.
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “As I am about a great many things, which Hildfree laments daily.”
I snorted at that, then felt an odd twist in my chest.
“You and Hildfree… Are you…”
Stop stop stop. What are you doing? That is an entirely inappropriate question to be asking!
“Are we what?” Sigwulf asked, eyes dragging over my flushed face.
“Never mind!” I squeaked. “It’s truly none of my business!”
Realization dawned on his face – a slight rise of his brows and flaring of his nostrils.
“No. Hildfree is married. Her wife, Brunwagga, is a trader who travels frequently to the south. She will join Hildfree here when she finishes her current project.”
I nodded so fast that I probably looked half-demented.
“Good,” I said, strangely relieved that Hildfree and Sigwulf weren’t involved.
Sigwulf’s brows drew together slightly in what had to be confusion.
“Wait, no! I just mean, that’s great she’s married and happy! Not good that you and she aren’t… Never mind! Let’s just get to work, shall we?”
Sigwulf probed me with a long, relentless gaze. Silence descended, so quiet it almost felt loud, echoing among the towers of tomes.
“Yes,” he finally said, somewhat huskily. “Let us begin.”
Chapter 9
