The Way We Fall

Chapter 17 (Roche)

 Verita was locked in deep conversation with the king when Roche returned carrying stacks of books about the war. She sidled up to Verita, who had dark shadows staining the skin beneath her eyes.

"What's happening?" she asked quietly when there was a break in the conversation. Verita shot her an irritated look.

"What else?" the librarian groused, "War plans are being discussed. Of course, we need to wait until morning for the Princess to organize the knights. All this is speculation."

Roche lowered her voice. "And the curse?"

Verita's eyes sharpened. She glanced at the king, who was conversing with a smarmy looking advisor. She turned towards Roche fully, her eyes dark.

"The king will hear nothing of it," Verita murmured, barely loud enough to be heard, "And even if he did, the sources are meagre."

"So it can't be broken?" Roche whispered, her heart falling. Verita bit her lip.

"I don't know." the librarian admitted, "All curses should have a way to be broken, no enchantment is without a way to undo it. If there is a way for this curse, however, I do not know it."

"And you're sure your texts have nothing about it?" Roche pressed, trying to keep the urgency out of her voice. Verita tilted her head.

"All the inkblood related texts need to be reviewed by the king." Verita grumbled, jerking her head towards the royal. A stack of yellowed papers were next to him, pinned down by a metal cup of wine. "He wants to burn them."

"He can't!" Roche blurted out before she could think it through. She coughed awkwardly when Verita raised a brow. "I mean... what if there's a cure in there or something?"

Verita's brows twisted. "It's a complex curse. Even the information about it is obscure. There is no cure in those texts."

"I could review them. Maybe there is something of use." Roche offered. Verita's answering smile was painful.

"As could I," she muttered, "But as I said, the king wants to burn the texts. They are too reminiscent of inkblood. In his eyes, if they do not contain the cure, they are useless."

"They helped us identify the curse. So they're not totally useless." Roche argued. Verita's smile flattened and her gaze drifted back to the red faced monarch.

"Tell that to him." the librarian snorted quietly. Roche stifled a chuckle, glancing back at the stack of papers.

"Was that all you could find about the curse?" she asked, her mirth fading. Verita nodded gravely.

"I shouldn't have brought the texts here. They're going to be destroyed." Verita stared longingly at the stack, "I should have known better. But I trusted... it was a fool's hope."

A fool's hope that the monarch would actually act sensibly. Roche thought sourly. She couldn't let those pages get burned. Offering to take them back to the library alone would cast suspicion. Unless...

Roche closed her eyes a beat too long, rallying her concentration. A new word bubbled on her tongue.

"Skuedo." she whispered, ever so quietly. She opened her eyes and tugged on the inkblood within her. The king turned towards Verita again, and Roche zeroed in on the cup of wine.

The cup fell over and rolled off the table, clattering against the ground. The king stood to avoid the splash of red wine that currently coated the papers around him. Verita let out a strangled sound, like he'd spilled his wine on a precious jewel rather than a text. Roche quickly stepped in to help, scooping up the texts before they could get soaked. A servant scrambled forward with a cloth and soaked up the spill before it could touch any documents in the center of the table.