Ash scans the street around us. “I’m thinking we’ll drive for a few hours tonight and stop along a farm road somewhere to sleep, then continue in the morning. Unfortunately, my family doesn’t have an apartment in Edinburgh, only in London. Under other circumstances we could stay at the Strategia hotel in Edinburgh, but after our encounter with Logan, I think it would be a categorically stupid idea,” he says, keeping his voice low while eyeing the pedestrians passing us to head into the library.

“Maybe we could find an inn or some little place that would be inconspicuous?” I suggest, not thrilled with the idea of sleeping in the car in winter.

Ash shakes his head. “The reason all our Families keep apartments in major cities or stay at Strategia properties is because non-Strategia hotels have security cameras that are easily monitored and staff that are easily bribed. But more importantly, those places don’t have a no-killing rule.”

“Right,” I say, and glance warily at the street for possible onlookers. “So sleeping in the car it is.”

He gives me a knowing smile and we walk past a large iron gate and through the heavy wooden doors of the library.

Inside is exactly what you would expect from such a grand building—magnificent domed ceilings and walls lined with dark paneled bookshelves. Ash weaves us through the rooms and along elegant corridors with the ease of someone who knows exactly where he’s going. I watch him as I walk. We think differently, were raised differently, and interact with the world differently, yet I have more in common with him than I ever did with the kids in my high school in Pembrook.

Ash stops in a back corner of the library at a counter that has a sign reading REFERENCE DESK. The girl behind it wears all black and has an asymmetrical pixie cut. She leans her elbows on the counter and scrutinizes Ash in a way that instantly tells me she’s Strategia.

“Do you have any materials on Cyrus the Great?” Ash asks casually.

To my surprise, I recognize the name from one of Layla’s tutoring sessions. Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which is where the Wolf Family Strategia originated.

“Audere es facere,” Ash says under his breath, and it reminds me of the Latin phrase Matteo said to use at the Bear apothecary, which I have yet to tell Ash about.

The girl gives Ash a hard stare and disappears into the room behind her without a word.

I look at Ash, who winks at me, but before I can ask him to explain, the girl returns with a black clothbound book. She plops it onto the counter with a thunk.

“Name and date,” she says, and pushes a ledger toward him.