Half Wylde | Book 1

Seventeen: Vast Knowledge

Thain didn't mention the previous night at breakfast. He didn't mention it while we walked through the city, or when we entered the palace and went down the long, torch-lit hallways that led to the library. By nature it wasn't unusual for him to not talk much, but I couldn't stop 

thinking about how he looked by the fire as I ran up the stairs and away from him.

Guilt sat like a stone in my belly, but so did the terror of facing my magic. I could feel it struggle against the seal, and it only grew stronger as I stayed in Thanantholl. The distraction was particularly fierce today, and I ran into Thain as he stopped at the library doors.

"Are you alright?" He asked coolly.

"Yes, sorry." I blushed.

"This is the Library of Autumn. The other courts have their own as well." Thain stood aside to show me the delicately carved wooden doors. A cold metal handle shaped like vines protruded from each side.

"That handle is iron, to remind us of the sacrifices it takes to carry the burdens of truth." He pointed to the left handle, then the right. "This one is silver, to remind us of the riches those truths can bring us."

"Does it matter which one we open?" I asked, my words bouncing off the stone floors.

"Every choice in the Wyldes matters." He stood back, letting me decide. I stared at the handles for a moment. My first thought was to suffer with the iron handle, even though it didn't hurt me to do so. My hand lifted towards it at first, but something stopped me. It made sense to suffer for the reward of knowledge, but I wasn't the one doing the suffering. The scholars inside, the fae of the past who spent hours writing the truths for the future to remember, those are the ones that suffered. I was here only for the riches of knowledge. I moved my hand and placed it on the silver handle. I looked over at Thain, who gave me a slight smile and nodded. I opened the door, and let us in.

"Was that the right choice?" I asked as we stepped inside.

"There isn't a right or wrong choice so much as your intent behind your answer." He stepped in behind me and shut the door with a soft click. "Rarely will you find an answer to be right and wrong. That's more of a human mindset, you'd do better in the Wyldes to open your options."

"I'll keep that in mind." Once my eyes adjusted to the candle light, I saw a room of books, scrolls, and shuffling scribes. The shelves stood in the middle of the room so the walls would be free to hold a collection of art.

"This way." Thain strode through the library and straight to the desk of a dusty grey satyr. He sat, hunched over a half-written scroll and occasionally drinking from a wine bottle. Thain held out a hand to stop me a few feet before we reached the desk.

"I told you, Memna will bring the documents when they are ready. Not a moment sooner." The satyr stroked his beard and continued scrawling.

"Do you want to try saying that again?" Thain growled deeply in his throat.

"Lord Thainalan!" The satyr shot up, nearly knocking his wine bottle on the floor. "Er, what brings you to the library?"

"I'm here for this one." He shook his head towards me. "You've heard the name Wren, even from all the way back here."

"Wren..." His nose flared and one of his goat ears twitched. "Wren! The youth?"

"Yes. This might be a once in a lifetime chance for you to tell the history of the fae to someone who isn't older than you." Thain leaned on the desk with both hands and murmured. "And she is under my protection from anything I deem as a threat."