Sera found the record room because no one wanted her to.That was the first clue.
The second was the guard posted outside the eastern archive who looked too quickly away when she turned down the corridor. He did not stop her. That would have been obvious. He simply shifted his weight, one hand brushing the hilt of his blade, his body angling toward the door as if he could become part of it.
Sera stopped three paces away. The guard swallowed. Interesting.
“What is in there?” she asked.
“Old records, my lady.”
She hated the title more every time someone used it. “Old records usually do not make armed men nervous.”
His eyes flicked past her shoulder. Sera did not turn. She felt Valerius before she heard him.
The bond moved first, a low dark awareness tightening beneath her ribs, followe
