Son of Night and Daughter of Stars

Chapter 26: The Tales and Lies

Nyx wandered the rows of the library, the list the Queen had given him clutched in his hand. If he was going to find a way home, he had nowhere better to start than research. He paused in front of a bookshelf and scanned the titles.

"You're Nyx, right?" Nyx jumped and dropped the paper he was holding, his wings flaring out as he turned to see the silver-haired young man, Reave, standing in front of him. The boy held a stack of books in his hands, a notebook balanced on top. 

"Yes," Nyx replied warily. "Reave, right?" 

The boy nodded. "What are you doing?" 

Nyx leaned down and picked up the paper he'd dropped. "Looking for these." 

Reave stepped closer, his bright turquoise eyes narrowing as he read the paper. "You're in the wrong section." He turned swiftly, beginning to walk back where he'd come from. "You're looking for the Magic section." 

An eyebrow raised, Nyx followed after the young boy, staying a few feet behind him as he walked through the packed rows of shelves. 

"So you're Lady Feyre's- sorry, High Lady Feyre's son?" Reave asked over his shoulder. 

Just hearing his mother's name made him homesick. But Nyx shook off those feelings before they could take over him. "Yes, I am. I'm surprised you all know her as well as you do." 

"Well, Mother told us the story a billion times," Reave said. That's when Nyx realized who this boy must be. Why hadn't he seen it before? He even shared the Queen's turquoise-and-gold eyes. 

"You're Aelin's son, then?" He asked. Reave nodded. 

"I heard about what happened yesterday with Danica. Were you telling the truth?" He asked, his quizzical eyes turning to Nyx. Nyx bristled slightly. He hadn't seen either girl since yesterday, and he didn't particularly want to. The witch-princess unnerved him, and Estelle... well, as of right now, the thought of her just grated his nerves. Why hadn't she believed him?

"Yes, I was. I know what I saw," Nyx said with as much conviction as he could muster. "And I know it wasn't just a trick of the light, or whatever else your sister tried to claim." He paused, debating whether to voice his concerns to the boy. "Do you know why she was so adamant I was wrong? Why would she want her friend to have tried to murder her?" 

Reave shrugged. "Estelle is strange that way. She hates being wrong, mostly. I think she's annoyed Danica managed to hurt her. She hasn't been able to do that since they first began training." 

Nyx's brows lowered in confusion. "Then wouldn't a magical intervention of some kind make more sense?" 

"It should," Reave agreed. "But like I said, Estelle hates it when she's wrong. She's probably pissed she didn't notice it first. Also..." He paused, stopping to turn and face Nyx. "She hates things that she doesn't understand. That's probably why she was so harsh with you when we found you." 

Nyx stopped as well, pondering this. "So you think she's refusing to admit I'm right because she doesn't want to believe it's real?" 

Reave grunted and repositioned his hold on his stack of books. "I don't pretend to know everything about my sister. That's just my guess." He jerked his head towards the wall of books to their right. "There's what you're looking for." The prince spun around and walked away. "Good luck." 

Nyx turned to the stack of books, breathing out a sigh when he saw how many covered the wall. 

"I hope you're all alphabetized," He muttered, then leaned down to scan the titles.

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Reave watched from around the corner as the Illyrian, Nyx, grabbed a book off a shelf and pulled it open, scanning the pages. After only a minute, he growled and shoved it back in, rougher than Reave would have, considering its age. 

But Reave didn't make a move to stop him. The Illyrian fascinated him, and honestly, he wished he'd stick around longer. Obviously, he was aware that Nyx had to go home, that he had people worried about him. But Reave had never met anyone from another world before. The concept made his brain hurt from trying to make sense of it. He'd sort of believed the tales his mother told were just that-- tales. 

Until Nyx had shown up. Reave had studied Wyrdmarks and magic his whole life, and yet, he'd never seen them used. This was his chance to see what the magic of two worlds could really do!

He clutched the notebook he'd brought on the journey to his chest. No one had asked him about it yet. As usual, they'd forgotten that he knew more than them. So, if no one asked...

He simply wasn't going to tell. Besides, it wasn't as if Prythian would fall apart if Nyx stayed a little longer. What was the worst that could happen?