She gave me a pissy look. “What, did you think Albert unlocked my chains each night and sent me home for eight straight?”

“I guess not.” I shrugged. “We’re up to no good.”

“Excellent.” She waved her hand. “Continue.”

I grinned. The selkie had been stuck in this library for several decades after doing something to betray the Mage Council. No one knew what it was, and they’d hidden her skin, shoved her in Naud chains, and spelled her into silence.

I chewed on my lip. “Question.”

“Answer.”

“When Samael was in the Naud chains, he couldn’t use his power, but he could still gather it to him.”

“Yes?”

“Can you do the same?”

She smiled. “That would mean I’d been gathering power for decades, waiting for my chance to burn this place to the ground, wouldn’t it?”

I shivered, and her smile widened. Next to me, Cara cursed.

I stared at Mella. She stared back at me. All she needed was her skin and she would be uncontainable. Selkies were lesser fae, but if she’d had decades of gathering power… and the rage to fuel it…

Cara jerked her head and I followed her toward the restricted section. Here, the bookshelves here were shorter and wider, and they surrounded a collection of round tables since they weren’t able to be checked out from the library. Anyone using them had to sit at one of these tables under the watchful eyes of the librarians.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

She grinned. “Trust me. I’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve been working here for a while. You’d be surprised how many people can get into this area.”

If Ben hadn’t snuck into this very section of the library, I wouldn’t currently have the Mistilteinn Dagger on my hip. If that idiot could do it without getting caught, Cara could too.

She held her hand up to the ward and I shivered as it licked at us.

“How are you getting through?” I whispered.

“I copied one of the librarian’s magical signatures.”

My mouth dropped open. Not only was that an elegant solution, but it took serious power.

The ward glowed briefly and then parted, allowing us entry.

“Over here,” Cara said, striding toward a squat bookcase near the window.

I wished I had a few hours to poke around in this section. The books seemed to call to me, as if urging me to rifle through them.

Cara crouched and ran her fingers over several books, finally pulling out what looked like a small, unassuming, leather-bound journal. She placed it on the table between us and opened it, rifling through the pages until she found what she wanted.

“Check this out.”

I sat and read.

Rowan– mountain ash– witchwood – sorb apple.