2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

CHAPTER
38
Amren took the Book to wherever it was she lived in Velaris, leaving the five of us to eat.
While Rhys told them of our visit to the Summer Court, I managed to scarf down
breakfast before the exhaustion of staying up all night, unlocking those doors, and very
nearly dying hit me. When I awoke, the house was empty, the afternoon sunlight warm
and golden, and the day so unusually warm and lovely that I brought a book down to the
small garden in the back.
The sun eventually shifted, shading the garden to the point of frigidness again. Not
quite willing to give up the sun yet, I trudged the three levels to the rooftop patio to watch
it set.
Of course—of course—Rhysand was already lounging in one of the white-painted iron
chairs, an arm slung over the back while his other hand idly gripped a glass of some sort
of liquor, a crystal decanter full of it set on the table before him.
His wings were draped behind him on the tile floor, and I wondered if he was also
taking advantage of the unusually mild day to sun them as I cleared my throat.
“I know you’re there,” he said without turning from the view of the Sidra and the redgold
sea beyond.
I scowled. “If you want to be alone, I can go.”
He jerked his chin toward the empty seat at the iron table. Not a glowing invitation, but
… I sat down.
There was a wood box beside the decanter—and I might have thought it was something
for whatever he was drinking had I not noticed the dagger fashioned of mother-of-pearl in
the lid.
Had I not sworn I could smell the sea and heat and soil that was Tarquin. “What is
that?”
Rhys drained his glass, held up a hand—the decanter floating to him on a phantom wind
—and poured himself another knuckle’s length before he spoke.
“I debated it for a good while, you know,” he said, staring out at his city. “Whether I
should just ask Tarquin for the Book. But I thought that he might very well say no, then
sell the information to the highest bidder. I thought he might say yes, and it’d still wind up
with too many people knowing our plans and the potential for that information to get out.
And at the end of the day, I needed the why of our mission to remain secret for as long as
possible.” He drank again, and dragged a hand through his blue-black hair. “I didn’t like
stealing from him. I didn’t like hurting his guards. I didn’t like vanishing without a word,