“We didn’t come from there, originally.” Though she still wouldn’t look up at Isaac, Soranna seemed to be gaining confidence as she told her story. “Many generations ago, my people lived on Earth. There was a great disaster that threatened to destroy us entirely, but my master the Eddicant intervened and offered us a new home. We have served her out of gratitude ever since.”

“What’s it like?” Alice said. “Living on another world.”

“Hard,” Soranna said. “We live in the shadow of an ancient forest, and we hunt the beasts that live there for food. They, in turn, hunt us.” Soranna paused. “There were twenty-six children in my cohort. I am the last survivor.”

That produced a moment of shocked silence.

“But you were born a Reader,” Dex said.

“Yes. Every child in the village is tested by the Eddicant for the talent. In my cohort, there were two, myself and my half sister, Kasdeja. That is very rare, and the Eddicant was pleased. She offered a great feast for the entire village.” Soranna smiled slightly at the memory, but then her face fell. “My sister and I went to train together, but she was more talented than I by far. Our master intended that we form a complementary pair, one to fight and the other to support her. You can see that the creatures she chose for me to bind were meant for this.”

She indicated Dex’s leg, now tightly bandaged. “But I was never good enough to accompany Kasdeja on her assignments. Before I was ready, she was killed in battle. Now my master sends me out alone. I think she would just as soon be rid of me, as a failed experiment.”

Dear God. Geryon had warned her that not every Reader trained apprentices as “liberally” as he did, but she had never expected a story like this. And Dex, bought from her family like a loaf of bread. Who knows where Isaac came from either. She chewed on her lip. It’s inhuman.

Geryon is a Reader, Ending had whispered. His magic is based on cruelty and death. But from the sound of it, Geryon was a veritable saint compared to the rest of the old Readers. Or is he? Alice remembered Emma, the girl Geryon had “helped” by relieving her of her Reader talent, who now served at the Library like an automaton. She shivered.

Dex intervened rapidly to change the subject to a discussion of bound creatures and what they were capable of. Alice demonstrated the Swarm and the devilfish, and Isaac explained that since they’d last met, he’d bound a fire-spirit called a salamander, which could project fire or let him melt objects between his hands.