Six of Ruin (Heirs of Irenwell #1) ✔

Chapter 13: Lying Tomes

My eyes hurt from reading. The night had started to fall. Some of these tomes were decades old and had worn down over time, but I grabbed the third book of the day and began taking in the words. There wasn't enough time.

Havoc ruled for hours after the injured villagers came to the castle. I couldn't find the moment's peace, not outside and not in my mind. Images of blood and pain and the memory of that dead boy flashed before my eyes every time I dared to close them.

But there wasn't enough time.

So, I pushed down the ache and continued reading the book, War of Men from the Perspective of Mages. And the damn tome surely had something to say.

According to this book, humans weren't so innocent as my teachers led me to believe. All my life, I've assumed mages were a massive threat that needed to be handled for the human race to grow. Parts of it weren't necessarily a lie. Humans became much stronger after the war against mages; humans became the predominant species.

But this book claimed mages weren't out to get humans. On the contrary.

Politics and related dramas weren't my primary focus, though. I had to find an artefact the mages were after. Nickeltinker said it showed people who they truly were.

And the closest to that was something called the Truthteller. My eyes flew over the text. Wanderers should not gaze upon the reflection in the Truthteller, for the strongest of men crumbled beneath the truth. Ominous.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, the scarce light making it difficult to read. Danilo would come for me soon after all. The journey was about to start.

There was hardly place for the books inside my suitcase, but I carefully put them at the bottom, leaving behind the ones I had already read. The suitcase was stocked with my dresses and all the other stuff I might need.

My eyes fell on the Ars Magica, Beginner's Guide to Magic Using.

I could simply leave the tome behind. But what if somebody found it? What if the maid stumbled upon the book while she cleaned the room and brought it to King Bernard? He would never let Danilo marry me if he found out about my magic.

No, the book was safer with me. I'd toss it in the woods somewhere along the road. The path to Orathia was long and abandoned, no one would ever find it.

Before I could hide all the books, someone knocked on my door.

"Just a second!" I rushed to the wooden closet with the heap of books in my arms and threw them on the bottom quite carelessly.

"Princess Irina? It's Danilo. May I come in?"

I suppressed the grunt and closed the door of the closet, "Just a second!"

In the corners of my eyes, I noticed the book I was currently reading lying on my bed. Crap. I jumped across the room. Right as I covered the book with the sheets, Sir Danilo entered.

My heart thudded as I turned around, "I said just a second."

"I apologize, your Grace." His blue eyes scanned the interior of my room, until settling on me and turning significantly gentler. "I wanted to see how you're doing. You've barely eaten anything in the afternoon."

Perhaps because I was busy reading books he could not know about.

"I'm sorry, Sir." The smile failed to reach my eyes. "Today was a lot to take in."

"As I assumed." Danilo walked across the room, his muscles tensing in his leather gear.

I pulled away from the edge of the bed, trying to push the book further away. Danilo's ease was slightly disconcerting, especially since I've only ever seen him pull back from me.