Devi jolted awake, book dropping from her hand. She was sitting on the cold stone floor, hidden behind a stack of books in a seldom-used corner of the King’s library. She blinked in the darkness. How long had she been there? What time was it? She hoped it wasn’t too late. Her father had to leave early in the morning and she didn’t want him waiting up for her. She quietly stood and felt her way along the shelves, breathing in the musty air of old books. Her favorite smell in the world. She stepped towards the stairs, wondering what had woken her.

A scraping sound from the floor above her broke the stillness. Who else was still in the library at this hour? And what were they doing upstairs? That floor was rarely used. Fighting the voice in her mind nagging at her to get home, she tiptoed up the stone steps instead of down.

Poking her head around the corner at the top of the spiraling stairs, she saw light coming from under the bottom of the closed door at the end of the corridor. As she approached, she heard humming. No, not humming. Chanting.

She crouched down, pressed the side of her nose to the floor and peered under the door. Fail. She could see nothing but feet. Not wanting to disrupt whatever was going on, she slowly opened the door a crack. Her eyes widened as she took in the strange scene.

Hooded figures encircled a narrow table, on top of which lay an enormous, bare-chested man. The man had a distinctive scar running down the left side of his face. The figures around him swayed as they chanted in the Old Tongue. She probably should not be spying on this. Was it some sort of religious ceremony? Only the Elders used the Old Tongue. One of the hooded figures reached into his robe and pulled out a large diamond, connected at the top to a long chain. He unfastened the chain and placed the diamond on the chest of the man on the table. Devi suppressed a gasp as she saw a glimpse of the hooded figure’s face. She knew him. She hadn’t seen him in ten years, but she would know his face anywhere. The eyes were so much like her mother’s. Uncle Jair. What was he doing here? And what was he doing to the man on the table? The man on the table started trembling. She bit her lip as she saw him struggling against the leather cords around his wrists and ankles. The room seemed to grow brighter and she looked back at the diamond. It was glowing a bright blue. The bound man began moaning, writhing in his bonds. His moans grew louder, and the diamond grew brighter. She squinted in the glare. Finally a scream tore from the man’s lips and the chanting stopped. Devi’s breath caught in her throat. The man on the table gave one last shudder before his head rolled to the side. Devi watched in horror as blood trickled out of his eye, rolled across his nose, and dripped to the floor. 

Devi backed away, legs shaking. Turning unsteadily, she dashed through the corridor, stumbled down the stairs, and fled into the darkness.

* * *

Sunlight streamed in through the open window, banishing the horror of the previous night. Devi’s eyelids warmed in the glow, then reluctantly opened to the new day. She sat up, her mind sweeping away the night’s churning dreams and settling in on the day’s reality. What had she witnessed?

She had made it home last night without incident. No one had woken when she entered, despite her pounding heart and panicked breathing. Since there was no worried father pacing up and down, she assumed he had gone to bed without noticing that she was out. He had treated her almost as an adult for years, giving her freedom to spend her days how she wished. But she was never out that late anyway. She had stood outside her father’s door, wanting to wake him and tell him what she saw, but not wanting to bring up the Uncle that had caused so much contention in her family. After a few minutes of indecision, she had just gone to bed, and her mind eventually surrendered to her exhaustion.

She couldn’t tell him what happened. Could she? The last time Jair had shown up in town, her father had forbidden Devi and her mother from even seeing him. Devi didn’t know all the details because it had happened so long ago, but she knew Jair had been in some kind of trouble with the king. He never had been one to follow the rules. Devi understood that her father had just wanted to protect them from whatever their association with Jair might bring, but she knew it had caused a huge rift between her parents. Bringing up Uncle Jair now would resurface all sorts of grief that had been buried with her mother.

Devi reached up and twisted the earstone in her left ear. Her nervous habit. A tap at the bedroom door startled her thoughts away. Brecken stood there carrying a breakfast tray. Devi still wasn’t used to having a servant in the house. Naturally she liked the benefit of having food served to her morning, noon, and night, but privacy was now a rare commodity.

“Thanks, Brecken,” Devi said, taking the tray.

“You’re going to miss your father’s departure if you don’t hurry, Devi.”

“Blast! Is it really that late?” Devi bit into the bread and jam. “I’ll have to take this with me then.”

Brecken left the room and Devi hopped to her feet. She grabbed her boots from the corner where she had kicked them off the night before and pulled them on. Whisking her cloak across her shoulders, she hurried out into the street.

Twenty minutes later she had reached the docks. She approached her father’s ship, watching him direct the crewmen as they loaded the last of the shipment on board. He was a large man, broad-shouldered and tall. His black hair was streaked with wide swaths of silver. He saw her coming and his stern demeanor changed to a grin. “Are you sure you can’t come this time, Devi?” He said, walking toward her.

“I don’t want to miss my chance with the King. I’ve been waiting for this audience for months.”

He looked at her more closely, probably noticing her tired eyes. “It looks like you’ve been worried about it. Don’t put too much heart into this thing, because I don’t think he’ll listen. You’ve heard how stubborn he is. But any chance for opening trade to the Mudabis is worth taking, I suppose. Even if it means you can’t keep me company on my ship.”

Devi smiled. “Next time, father. You know I hate to miss a trip to the other islands.”

A crewman approached them. “Captain Dulon, we’ve finished loading. Everything is ready for departure.”

“Thank you, Tov. I’ll be along.” He put his hands on Devi’s shoulders. “I’ve asked Brecken to sleep at our house until I return.“ He hurried on before she could protest. “I know, I know, you’re used to nights alone. But it makes me feel better just the same. Just think of it as someone to talk to while I’m away. And don’t spend all your time in the library.”

“I won’t spend all of it there, Father. I have to eat and such.” She gave him a quick hug. ”Try not to scare your new cabin boy.”

The ship was just a speck on the horizon when Devi turned her feet back towards the city. The sea breeze blew her dark hair every which way, making her wish she had taken the time to tie it back. The image of the man on the table returned to her, and she shuddered. She couldn’t believe Uncle Jair had been a part of it. Could she? She couldn’t really trust her own memories of him from behind a young girl’s lens of innocence. Was this partly why her father had banned him from their house? What sort of sorcery was he involved in? It seemed like something from a child’s nightmare, and she couldn’t make sense of it.

When she reached the bottom of the stone steps that climbed up to the library entrance, she stopped and listened. She waited until she heard the clerk’s voice. He greeted a library patron and let them pass by into the library. Phew. It was Garick at the front today. She hurried up the stairs.

His red hair was messy, as usual. He looked up over a pile of books on the desk and shook his head at her. “It’s a good thing I work so much or you’d never get in here. Then how would you spend your days?”

“I know. I’ve been coming so often lately the other clerk has probably assumed I’m in love with you.” She gave him a grin.

Garick didn’t quite manage a smile. More of a grimace. “You’re lucky that I believe in education for all, not just the rich prats. Just don’t let it get around that I’m letting commoners into the King’s Library.”

Devi nodded her head in thanks and walked past him. She couldn’t stop herself from pausing as she walked past the stone stairway that led to the upper rooms. Her stomach twisted as the scene from last night flashed in her mind. She bit her lip and forced her feet forward.

Unsure of where to begin, she wandered around until she came to the religious section. Thick books and scrolls filled the shelves. She scanned titles and pulled out anything that looked promising.

Three hours later, she’d come up with nothing. Nothing about ceremonies involving diamonds. Or gems of any kind. She replaced the stack of books and hurried out.

As she walked towards the lower town, the quietness surrounding the library was replaced with the business of the common worker. Merchants called out to passersby, women haggled vegetable prices with each other, and children played in the streets. The sea breeze never seemed to make its way into town, and the sun shone warmly on her head.

Dust billowed up from a passing cart and Devi tried not to cough. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she ducked across the road and down to the tavern. She walked through the door and made her way to the back.

Olin was just beginning. No one noticed as he put his ear to his lute and tuned each string. He began to play, quietly at first, then gaining confidence as a few turned to listen. Devi watched his fingers fly over the strings and was the first to break into applause when the tune ended.

Olin caught her eye and flashed a quick smile as he continued on to the next tune. Once he finished his set, he stood and made his way over to her. “I’m glad you came.”

“I wouldn’t miss your debut performance!”

Olin smiled that ready smile of his, and Devi thought back to when she was twelve years old–when she had met him. She’d been wandering the streets, blind with grief at her mother’s passing. With her eyes on her feet, she had walked smack into him, tumbling them both over. Unfortunately, he had been carrying his lute at the time, and the instrument was crushed. He hadn’t been smiling then.

Olin set a mug down in front of her. “Here we are.”

“To your lute!” said Devi, holding up her mug.

“To my father’s continued ignorance of today’s events!” he replied, clinking his mug on hers.

Devi swallowed and set the drink down. “Olin, I have to tell you something. Last night at the library. I accidentally fell asleep there so I didn’t leave at closing time. I woke up around midnight and heard sounds from upstairs, so I went to check it out. What I saw — I . . . I don’t know.” The words tumbled out faster. “There was a group of people who had tied a man to a table. They were chanting. There was a blue diamond glowing on the man’s chest. It seemed to suck the life out of him. When they finished, he didn’t move. His eyes were bleeding. I—I think he was dead.”

Olin’s brow furrowed and he looked at her in confusion. “Slow down. Who died? How?”

She breathed in slowly and rubbed her arms like she was cold. “I don’t know who he was. And I don’t know how they killed him. But I know one person who was in the group. It was…” her voice trailed off for a moment before she continued. “It was my Uncle Jair. He was one of the people standing around the table. I don’t know how they did it. All I know is that it was unnatural. I’m trying to make sense of it but nothing about it makes sense.”

“Have you told anyone? Besides me, I mean?”

She shook her head. “No. I was going to tell my father, but I didn’t want to bring up Uncle Jair. I’ve told you how he despises him. I couldn’t do that this morning. Not right when he was trying to leave.  He left today with another shipment. I spent all morning at the library trying to find out what happened.”

“You went back?!” he said too loudly, causing others to turn towards them. He lowered his voice again. “You went back to the place where this man was killed?”

“No, no, I just went to the main floor with the books. What could happen? Actually, I didn’t even think that would be something to worry about, although I did feel sick walking past the stairway just thinking about what happened upstairs.”

“Don’t you want to report this to the city guards?”

She frowned and raised one eyebrow. “Tell the city guards. First of all, what would I tell them? I don’t even know what happened. Some people killed a man with their words? And a magic diamond? Then there’s the fact that my uncle was involved. I want to figure out what he was doing before I get him arrested, or worse–assuming anyone would even believe my story. I know I don’t owe my uncle anything, but blood relatives shouldn’t betray each other without having a good reason.”

Olin took a slow breath. “That makes sense. I wouldn’t want to rat out my uncle either. But I can’t believe you went back to that place, even if it was during the daytime.”

“I’m going tonight, too. And I want you to come with me.”