Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,26

line. “The only time she ever raised her voice to me was when I told her I didn’t mean to take her place someday.”

“It seems this was more than just a job to her.”

“It was a sacred trust,” Sebastian agreed. “One wrapped up in secrecy. She must have felt she couldn’t tell me the truth about the position, at least not until I agreed to become her apprentice.”

The sorrow in Sebastian’s eyes cut unexpectedly. “Would have you acted differently, if you had known?” Ves asked.

Sebastian sighed. “I don’t know, to be honest. I truly don’t.” He glanced at the oath. “Do you mean to sign it?”

“I try to avoid signing my name in blood whenever possible,” Ves said dryly. “Don’t you?”

“I mean generally, yes. But you’re going to have to if you’re hired on a permanent basis. I’m sure it was the same at the library in Boston.”

“It absolutely was not.”

“Really?” Sebastian asked, in apparent sincerity. “How odd.” He picked up the envelope, turned it over—and all the color drained from his face.

“Sebastian?” Ves sat forward, concerned. “What’s wrong?” When Sebastian didn’t reply, he reached for the envelope.

Mr. Sebastian Rath was scrawled across the front in the same handwriting as O’Neil’s signature.

Chapter 9

The next day, Sebastian sat in his office, wondering what to do.

It was Saturday, normally a half-day of work at the museum, but he was unable to keep his mind on business. The envelope had proved to contain a key—but absolutely no clue as to what the key opened.

He took it from his pocket and stared at it again. It was completely innocuous, not very different from the key to Bonnie’s door on his own key ring. It hadn’t unlocked anything in the bindery; there were no locks of the correct size even. It was the right size for a house key, but what house could it unlock?

So many secrets. Kelly’s secrets; his mother’s secrets; apparently his great-uncle’s secrets.

If he’d agreed to be her successor, she would have told him about the oath. About what it meant, and why Nathaniel Ladysmith, of all people, had signed it.

Or if he’d pulled her from the fire that day. Forced himself through the searing flames and carried her out, burned but alive.

Sick of his own thoughts, he put the key back in his pocket and went to the bindery. Ves called for him to enter at his knock, and when he stepped inside, he was greeted with a smile.

God, what a smile, one that lit Ves’s handsome face from within. Sebastian considered locking the door behind him, falling to his knees, and showing Ves just what he could do with his mouth.

But he didn’t want to frighten Ves off. Best to take it slow for once in his life. Which wasn’t something Sebastian was used to doing. Most of the time, when he went to the bathhouses or the bars that catered to a certain type of clientele, it was merely the matter of exchanging a few looks and words, before retreating to a private room.

That wasn’t the approach he wanted to take with Ves, though, even if it might have worked. The more he got to know the new binder, the more he liked him. Not to mention they worked together. This wasn’t a matter of a single fuck, then going their own ways.

“The diary is ready,” Ves said, picking up a book and handing it to Sebastian.

What had been a moldy wreck was now a lovely volume, bound in red morocco leather, The Diary of Glen Parry neatly stamped in gilt letters on the spine. Sebastian opened it carefully, to find the pages in vastly better condition than they had been: mildew removed, tears repaired, and grime washed away.

“Excellent work,” he said, and meant it.

“I passed your test, then?”

Heat crept up Sebastian’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve come to understand the position I occupy has personal significance for you.” Ves hesitated. “If it was you who left the note, I would understand.”

Now Sebastian felt even more of a wretch. “I wasn’t as kind to you at first as I could have been. Please accept my apology. But it wasn’t me behind the note.”

“Apology accepted.” Ves crossed his arms. “Have you thought more about what the key might unlock? And why O’Neil left it for you to find?”

“I’ve thought of nothing but,” he confessed. “But I honestly don’t know. I suppose it could be the key to his apartment, but if so, there’s nothing left to find. Everything was removed