Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,54
an affronted look. “Margin width, especially in rebinding, is of utmost importance. A handsome width is easier on the eyes and allows for future rebinding should that become necessary. And it preserves the spine, as the reader isn’t obligated to practically tear the book in half to read the words closest to the gutter.”
Sebastian held up one hand. “I stand corrected. I cannot understand why there aren’t more odes to excellent binding practices amongst the annals of great literature.”
“Keep on like that, and I shall throw a book at your head,” Ves threatened, but with a smile.
God, but he had a lovely smile. His brown eyes lightened, and it seemed as if some of the care lifted from him, at least for a moment.
Time to stop thinking like that. “So other than proper margins, what did Kelly have to say?” Sebastian asked.
Ves’s smile slipped away, as quickly as it had come. “He mentions your mother quite a bit at first.”
Surely someday the pain would be less. “I imagine he does.”
“He wishes he knew more about the nature of the Books of the Bound.” Ves flipped back in the notebook and cleared his throat, before reading:
If only Rebecca had more time to find the Bound Book she was looking for. Or if she’d confided in me where she suspected it might be hidden. But she wasn’t certain, and wanted to wait…I suppose the lesson here is not to wait on anything. You never know when time will run out.
Ves ran his broad, blunt fingers across the page of his own notes. “The books have something to do with Nathanial Ladysmith—we already knew that, obviously. Some of the notes O’Neil made about the letters suggest Ladysmith was also concerned with the books breaking free of their traps?”
Sebastian shook his head. “I have no idea what that could mean.”
“O’Neil wrote here that he wondered if you did. If Rebecca had confided something to you that she hadn’t to him.”
“No,” Sebastian said heavily. “Though…God, now that I think of it, Kelly and I spent a great deal of time together about a year, year-and-a-half ago. He’d invite me out for drinks or dinner, or come round to the house. The conversation often turned to Mother, of course.” He examined memories suddenly turned suspicious. “I think…he might have been trying to ascertain what I knew, without asking outright. After a time, we grew more distant—I thought he was just busy, but perhaps he’d realized I wasn’t as useful as he’d hoped I would be.”
The thought cut keenly. He’d imagined Kelly his friend, but perhaps he’d just been a potential source of information, dropped when he could supply no more.
“Then that was foolish of him.” Ves’s eyes were unexpectedly gentle. “He should have been glad to call you a friend, no matter the circumstance.”
Sebastian met his gaze, intending to say something light. But the words deserted him. Rust and gold threaded through Ves’s eyes, giving them an almost orange cast when the light struck them just right. In his unguarded moments, he seemed so alone, so sad, and Sebastian wanted nothing more than to hold him close.
But he’d already tried that and been rebuffed.
He looked away and cleared his throat awkwardly. “The letters?”
“Oh. Um, yes.” Ves referred to his notes. “It seems that O’Neil combed through the archives whenever he had a chance, looking for anything on either Ladysmith or Dromgoole. He says something about ‘Dromgoole’s lost works?’”
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know anything about that. The museum was Dromgoole’s only piece of public architecture, but otherwise, I confess myself ignorant when it comes to the man’s career. I’ll have to check the archives myself.”
“That would probably be wise. At any rate, he didn’t seem to turn up much, but he speculated that there might be some lost storerooms in the museum where Ladysmith hid things.”
Sebastian’s lips parted in shock. “Are you saying the collection was already here?”
“Not in the library, of course. And he had to find the original plans for the museum, since there weren’t any on record. Apparently, he located them in the hands of the descendants of the man who had been in charge of records and deeds at city hall when the museum was built. Why the fellow absconded with them, rather than file them as required, even his family didn’t know. They’d kept them as a curiosity.” Ves turned and stared at the box of drawings. “They’re likely in there.”
“Likely, yes.” Sebastian swallowed. “And Kelly used them to find a lost