Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,20

genuine puzzlement. “Note? What note?”

“The one telling me to leave before it’s too late,” Ves said, suddenly no longer sure Rath had been behind it after all. “I assumed it was from you.”

“No. It wasn’t.” Rath shook his head in confusion. “That’s…troubling.” He squared his shoulders. “I can see why you might think I left it, though. I’ve been less than welcoming. I owe you an explanation, since you were kind enough to save me just now. But not here. Would you care to go for a drink? Or do you have a room here?”

Ves didn’t go out for drinks. But he couldn’t imagine Rath’s reaction if they went up to the room and he saw the mirrors turned to the walls. Ves wouldn’t be able to explain.

Of course, he could simply tell Rath to go to hell and leave him here in the lane. He had no further obligation to the archivist.

But he was curious. Why were the men chasing Rath? And why had Rath seemingly changed his mind about Ves?

And if Rath hadn’t left the note, who else didn’t want a new employee working in the bindery?

He’d satisfy his curiosity, then leave. Surely no harm could come from one drink.

“I’m not familiar with the bars in the area,” he said. “So I’ll allow you to lead the way.”

“Here we are,” Rath said, setting two beers down at the corner table where Ves awaited him.

Ves had never been in a bar before, though of course he didn’t admit that to Rath. He’d read about them, though, and The Silver Key didn’t seem far off from the descriptions in books.

Life in the cult had been circumscribed, all knowledge controlled. Since leaving, Ves and Noct had both read voraciously, absorbing everything from Homer to Dickens to the latest pulps. But their lives had by necessity remained narrow, confined only to each other’s company. Ves normally went no farther afield than work or the grocers.

So he looked around now with avid eyes, comparing reality with illustrations from the pulps. A long bar, its surface sheathed in gleaming copper, ran along one wall. Tables crowded most of the remaining area; the clusters of folk around them looked to be mainly clerks and shop workers of various sorts, interspersed with a few men in rough overalls. A young woman in the opposite corner hunched over a sketchbook, her table littered with pastels and charcoals, her hand flying over the paper. The smell of spilled beer and fried fish hung in the air.

“Thank you, Mr. Rath,” Ves said a bit stiffly. He lifted his glass and took a tiny sip, before setting it back down. The beer was good—too good. He had to be careful not to get carried away and drink too much.

Rath sat down across from him. “Call me Sebastian, please. You did save my skin, after all.”

Bands tightened around Ves’s chest. This encounter suddenly felt far more dangerous than the one with the ruffians. What had he been thinking to come here?

He ought to be rude. Brush off Rath’s unexpected attempt at friendliness. Get up and leave, and forget about finding out what was going on. It was none of his business, surely.

But he would be gone in a few days. Surely there could be no harm in enjoying a single drink in a bar, or calling the handsome archivist by his first name.

“Vesper,” he said. “Or Ves, if you prefer.”

“Ves,” Rath—Sebastian—said with a pleased smile, so different from the chilly demeanor he’d shown at work.

Ves took another sip of his beer. “Are you going to tell me why those men were after you?”

Sebastian glanced around, as though reassuring himself they couldn’t be easily overheard above the murmur of voices all around. The silver rims of his glasses glinted in the dim lighting. “I should probably begin with an apology. As you said, I haven’t been exactly welcoming.”

Ves shrugged. “I came to work, not to make friends.”

The crease between Sebastian’s brows suggested Ves had been a bit too candid. “Still, I might have been kinder. We don’t have many outsiders among the librarians.”

“Outsiders?”

“People not born in Widdershins. Not to suggest we have some sort of prejudice against them,” Sebastian added hastily. “Outsiders come to the city often. Many leave after a short time, but some find a true home here.”

“A man on the train ride here warned me against the town,” Ves said, just to see Sebastian’s reaction. “He said something along the lines of the inhabitants obeying the laws of neither