Destroyer by Meg Smitherman

Author:Meg Smitherman [Smitherman, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose & Moth Books

Chapter 20

“I guess I don’t understand the relationship dynamic,” said Gwyneth. She pulled another book from the shelf and handed it to Ru, who was already hefting a heavy pile of books.

They were in one of the many Tower libraries, hunting for more tomes that might assist in their research. It had been two days since the deliberation, time during which Ru devoted every free moment to preparing for their research. She had made a meticulous list of every tool, device, or item they might need from the palace that wasn’t already available at the Tower, and sent it by pigeon to the regent.

Ru had tasked everyone in the research group with studying her paper on magic, noting anything that could apply to the artifact. Even Ru had forgotten some of the paper’s nuances and was eager to reread it, to apply her own methodology to this new project.

But the paper was only a basis — they would need more books, more avenues of study than what Ru had presented. So, she and Gwyneth paid visits to the libraries, one by one.

This particular library was in one of the Tower’s smaller turrets, a circular library with books all the way up to the ceiling. There were several levels and a spiral staircase right in the center, like a black metal corkscrew. Ru and Gwyneth had started at the top and gradually made their way down, picking up books in any subject or genre as long as it sounded even somewhat promising.

Ru looked skeptically at the book Gwyneth had just handed to her: Matters of the Mind and Heart by Lady Isabella Bosomme. “I’m pretty sure this is smut,” she said.

“It’s romance, actually. You didn’t answer my question.” Gwyneth continued pulling books from the shelves, returning them when they didn’t pass whatever test she was using to select them.

“You didn’t ask one,” said Ru. “Why have you added a romance book to the pile?”

“Because I want to read it,” said Gwyneth, her tone airy. “I asked about your relationship with Fen.”

“What about it?”

Gwyneth sighed and stepped down from the short ladder she’d been standing on as she perused the shelves. “Ru, sometimes I want to shake you until your stubbornness falls out. What is going on with you two? Are you… you know.” She fixed Ru with a wide-eyed, meaningful stare.

Ru feigned ignorance. “You’ll have to speak a dialect I understand, Gwyn.”

Gwyn made a sound of frustration, which elicited a shushing from other academics using the library. “It’s just bizarre,” she said in a lower voice. “You come back from the Shattered City with a strange man in tow? I mean, he is handsome. His hair is…” she cleared her throat. “But the way he behaves around you, tracking your movements, it’s almost as if he’s your bodyguard or your very attractive manservant or something. And the way he looks at you. His attraction to you is so obvious it’s almost unseemly. I just want to make sure you’re not rushing into something.

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