Page 93 of The Incendiary

When he realized I wasn’t following, Mavic grabbed my hand and pulled me after Mina. “Come on. I’ll take you crying out in your sleep for whoever the hell Gavin is over Finch’s obnoxious snoring any day of the week.”

My body went rigid. How much had I really been saying in my sleep?

“What’s wrong?” Mavic’s brow furrowed in concern.

There was no way Mavic knew who Gavin really was. I might have been the only one to call him by his first name in over four hundred years.

“The guy?” Mavic wore a mischievous half grin reserved for his teasing.

My dry throat scraped as I swallowed, then nodded.

He shrugged. “We all have old flames.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Shera chimed in.

I was startled by the sound of her voice. She’d been quiet since the first test. “Just because your magical ears allow you to hear everything doesn’t mean you should listen.”

“What else am I supposed to do all day?”

I blew out a breath, picked up my bag, and followed the twins out of the door, more than ready to settle in a cabin with fewer people.

The opportunity to break into Elias’s office and secure the key to the library’s hidden room finally came later that evening.

“I think Valda is leading the training tomorrow,” Mavic noted. We had just returned to our new living quarters after supper. “The commander is gone for a few days. Yesterday, I spoke to Sophia Bruta in passing. She said he had an errand. He left a few hours ago, I think.”

“I hope he took her with him. Maybe she’ll be eaten by a bear out there,” muttered Mina.

Mavic gasped at his sister. “Mina Reed!”

“He’s gone?” I asked.

“For a few days.” Mavic’s mouth tilted into a playfully evil smile. “Why? Are you going to miss him, Fera?”

“No,” I answered absent-mindedly. I might have found his taunting humorous if I wasn’t distracted by planning a break-in.

I sat down on my bed next to the twins’ bunk. Our new quarters were smaller than before. In lieu of the benches and tables, there was one small table. No fireplace, though, which meant nights were a bit colder.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Elias making special accommodations for me, other than guilty that I was about to break in and steal from him.

Not guilty enough to stop myself, however.

Shortly after midnight, only a few guards milled about. In recent weeks, I’d become comfortable creeping around in the shadows and even lighter on my feet. Our new cabin was even closer to Elias’s than the first, so I arrived quickly.

I pressed my back against the corner adjacent to the door and leaned forward, checking left and right for others. When the nearest guard disappeared along the eastern wall, I retrieved one of Mina’s borrowed hairpins from my pocket.

One of the many subjects covered in Gavin’s books was lockpicking. He was nothing if not thorough. Having already practiced on the bathroom lock after Mina and Mavic had fallen asleep, it didn’t take me long. I slipped through the barely open door, locked it behind me, and spun around to take inventory of Elias Winterton’s living quarters.

I’d been too furious to take in much of anything after the first test. The curtains, partially open, let in just enough moonlight to illuminate a massive, luxurious rug with swirling designs spanning the entire length of the room. A four-poster bed stood proudly to the right, adorned in crisp black bedding. In the corner was a tall wardrobe. A matching wooden chest sat at the foot of the bed. I was overwhelmed with the urge to not look inside it or else I might discover something about Elias Winterton’s recreational activities I wasn’t ready to see.

On one side of the room was his desk, perfectly polished with a matching chair and bookshelves behind it. The shelves held ornate bookends and books organized by color. Barely distinguishable in the moonlight, maps, pens, and stacks and rolls of parchment were spread neatly across the desk, not a single item out of place.

I hadn’t seen much the night I stumbled across Elias and his female “friends,” but based on the messy hair, disheveled clothing, and gratuitous noises, I expected this room to look wilder and more unkempt. Dirtier.

Nor did it smell sweaty and perfumy, as I’d thought it would. Instead the air was crisp, filled with an aromatic mix of mint and juniper that I unfortunately recognized as Elias’s.

I ducked below the window and crawled to his desk, then remained on my knees while sifting through his drawers. On the left, they were filled with parchment, journals, and pens. The right was much the same.

When I reached the final drawer on top, I shoved my fingers to the back and felt cold metal.