Page 95 of In Violent Waves

She grimaced, and he loosened his grip.

“Watch where you’re going,” he snapped.

Lyra glared at him, rubbing the back of her arm. “It was an accident, you prick.”

The guard behind them coughed into his golden cape to cover his obvious laugh, and Lyra smirked. At least someone found her funny. He ducked his head under Wilder’s glare.

“Keep it up, and I won’t show you what’s behind that door,” Wilder said, pointing at the door in front of them.

She wanted to roll her eyes. More accurately, she wanted to knee him in the balls for baiting her this way. But like a fish on the line, the library reeled her in.

“Fine,” she huffed.

Wilder nodded to the guards, and they pulled open the enormous iron doors. Her heart stopped. Her very breath evaporated in her lungs.

It was glorious. Like all her pleasant dreams, come to life before her.

The room stretched on forever, colossal shelves housing tomes of every size, shape, and color. It was the best thing she had ever seen. And she could explore it, could pick any book off any shelf, and read it.

Wilder nudged her forward. “I don’t have all night. You can explore more tomorrow. Pick out a book and let’s be on our way.”

But picking a single book could take ages. She didn’t even know where to start.

He sighed, reading her expression for what it was, and began showing her around.

“This section is history. That one over there is mainly maps, the one down there is nature things, but I’m sure you’re interested in the romance.”

Lyra stared at him as if he spoke a foreign language.

“Romance?”

“Yeah, you know, love stories.”

She had no idea what he was talking about.

Wilder’s lips tightened in a grim line before he spoke. “You weren’t allowed to read those. Were you?”

She did not know what he was talking about. Who would want to read about someone else’s love?

Lyra avoided his gaze until Wilder tilted his head back to the painted ceiling. It was dark blue with lighter swirls of powder blue. Constellations and stars painted in glittering gold. It was beautiful, an academic version of the night sky she had seen during their travels.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed and scrubbed a hand down his face.

“I’m going to regret this—I know it. But you’d find it, eventually.”

If it bothered him this much, she was definitely going to be reading it.

She followed him through the stacks. Sconces of yellow flames danced as they swept past. Her gown glowed each time they passed a swell of light, and she bit back a smile. The elves knew how to dress. She’d give them that.

Even Wilder, in his black jacket and matching pants, cut a delectable figure. The embroidery of ravens in a shiny navy thread almost went unnoticed. But now that she had, she couldn’t stop noticing the creatures taking flight across his broad back.

“Here,” he said, coming to a stop in front of a shelf that housed many books bound in varying shades of red.

She scanned the stack and pulled one out at random. The spine read,TheKnight in Shining Armor.Flipping open the first page, her eyes darted across the page.

It didn’t seem like romance, more like a woman in distress. How ironic, she had very much been in distress. She flipped to the middle of the book and read a passage. She couldn’t understand what was happening.

“What does ‘velvet-wrapped steel’ mean?” she asked, using her finger to hold her place and looking up at Wilder.