Thread of Darkness

Ch. 21: welcome to the great library

Penny woke to light.

She sat up, rubbing at her eyes. Black ash littered the fireplace, and she could hear the low murmur of voices rising from the pub below. Someone clinked a glass against the bar. Outside, a horse whinnied. She consulted her pocket watch — half-past nine — and sighed. They were behind schedule. But was it better to let Grayson sleep, after the night they'd had?

She turned.

Grayson's side of the bed was empty.

Penny frowned. Oh. Right. Well, that answered that question.

She slipped out of bed, making quick work of her clothes. Her hair went into a plait — the best she could do on short notice — and then she wrenched open the door, only to come face-to-face with a burly man.

Penny leapt backwards. "Burning gods, Joseph!"

"Sorry!" Their coachman looked sheepish. "Sorry, Your High—" He caught himself. "Miss Lucinda. Lord Grayson sent me to wake you."

Penny looked at him suspiciously. "He did?"

"Yes, Miss."

"Just now?"

"Yes."

"So you weren't," Penny said, very slowly, "sitting outside my room this whole time under Lord Grayson's instructions?"

The man coloured. "Well, I wasn't just outside your room, Miss. I was further down the corridor."

He gestured to a spot approximately three feet away. Penny sighed. Typical. And yet, after yesterday's events, she wasn't entirely ungrateful for Grayson's actions. She gathered up her skirts, hoisting her trunk onto her back.

"Where's the carriage?" she asked.

The coachman jogged alongside her. "Let me take that, Miss."

"Joseph." Penny paused. "The carriage. Where is it?"

The coachman looked at the heavy trunk, looked at the steep stairs, and then looked back at her. "If I tell you, will you let me take your trunk?"

"No."

He sighed. "Outside. Look for the apple tree."

"Thank-you."

Penny maneuvered her way down the stairs, stepping carefully over the cat dozing on the front step. The carriage wasn't far from the inn — only a five-minute journey — but she was panting slightly by the time she arrived. Grayson was lying half-under the carriage, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He looked up as she approached, wiping at his brow.

"What happened to Joseph?" he asked.

She set the trunk in the back. "He's bringing your trunk."

"You're impossible."

"So I've been told." Penny leaned against the side of the carriage, watching Grayson work at the wheel with a tool. "When did you wake?"

"First light," Grayson said. "Couldn't sleep." He rose, rummaging in the carriage, and then produced a slice of bread and some cheese. "Here. The journey should be another seven hours, if we drive straight through."

Penny frowned. "I thought we weren't far from Libertas."

"We aren't," Grayson said. "The Great Library is just outside."

She accepted the food. "Where?"

He shook his head. "It's easier to show you."

Grayson offered her a hand. Penny clambered into the carriage — wincing slightly as her head throbbed — and then settled on the bench. Grayson called something to their coachman and then swung in beside her. The carriage lurched into motion.