“What are you waiting for?” Raze calls tightly, passing me. His broad shoulders relax with relief at being back in the open air.

As soon as I cross through the arch, sunlight blazes on my skin again. The wind, unsure if it’s summer or autumn, brushes over me, filling my lungs with a refreshing breath. Once my eyes adjust, I gasp. Raze stands frozen, too, his eyes moving over everything hungrily.

I press my left hand to my chest and feel the pounding of my heart. We’re so close. So close to the end of all this.

We’ve ascended into an atrium facing five floors of balconies, each with stone floors and walls and railings carved to look like vines. The domed ceiling of the atrium opens to the sky in a huge circle that floods the whole place with sunlight. Rows of shelves extend back on each floor as far as I can see. Swooping spiral staircases, suspended by supports that look too slender to hold anything up at all, curl on each side of the balconies, leading from one floor to the next. It looks like it was all carved straight into the mountain.

There’s a noticeable lack of gold.

The Mortal’s Keep. But...

“It looks like some kind of library,” I whisper, wrinkling my nose. I try to imagine treasure in the back rooms, piles of gold and whatever legacy Raze is looking for just beyond the extremely drab reality of what we can actually see. I check the compass in my palm for guidance. It points, unwaveringly, to me.

I hide my hand behind my back before Raze can snatch a glance. I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything. Now that we’re here and the enchantment has served its purpose, it’s probably just a little broken. I’m surprised it hasn’t dissolved away altogether yet. Maybe this is the first step to that.

Raze ignores me. “Hello?” He calls, at the top of his very loud voice.

“Shhh!” I whip around, crushing a hand over his lips. “What is wrong with you?”

He raises his eyebrows, and I realize I can feel his warm skin molding into a smile under my hand.

“Can you be serious for just one second?” I whisper angrily.

He just stares at me, amused, his breath hot and damp against my palm. Disgusting.

I relent, lowering my hand and wiping it viciously on my skirt. Raze smirks, squeezing every last drop of enjoyment out of my irritation. “I thought if there was anything spooky hanging around, it might be better to confront it first, rather than get ambushed. I don’t know—Olani usually handles this sort of thing.”

I can’t really argue with that line of logic, but it still seems flawed. I settle for rolling my eyes with a long-suffering sigh.

When no monsters appear, I look back to Raze. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

He looks a little uncomfortable. “This is it, all right. I expected more of a fortress or vault, and less enchanted library, but I guess knowledge is power, right?” The awkward look deflects easily into his cocky grin. “The good stuff must be hidden in here somewhere.”