A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,111
Zaid, but I’m sure he’s lurking somewhere.
I tug free of Carrick. “We have to talk. Arwen had a lot of information I need to tell you.”
“Thought you wanted to hold tight to it for a while,” he drawls.
Shaking my head, I explain, “Arwen said I was to trust you, and since she specifically didn’t mention anyone else that applied to, I wasn’t about to say anything in front of Pyke.”
“Sometimes I underestimate you,” Carrick mutters. “Want to go to my office?”
“Sure,” I reply, pondering the conversation we’re going to have as I follow him out of the kitchen. Because it’s not going to just be about what I learned from Arwen.
We’re going to put everything out on the table.
Carrick enters his office first, flipping on the overhead light. He eschews his desk in favor of us sitting in the furniture grouping. Reminiscent of the first night I came to his condo where he told me about fae and daemons, I had taken the couch and he the chair adjacent to it. Back then, we were both dressed in business attire, and now we’re both in casual outdoor gear and smelling faintly of gryffin.
Assuming his usual casual recline, propping an ankle on a knee, Carrick leans on one armrest and waits for me to divulge what happened.
But first things first. “Arwen told me to trust you, and I’ve decided that I’m going to do just that.”
“I’m glad,” he replies with a slight smile.
“But,” I continue with a pointed look. “I need to know you trust me back. So I’m asking you for the very last time, what are you?”
He blinks, eyes widening in surprise. But his expression almost immediately smooths out, and he counters with a question of his own. “You already know what I am, don’t you?”
“A demi-god,” I reply with a firm nod.
Sighing, Carrick rises from his chair and gazes down at me. “You would be right. Come on… I have something to show you.”
He looks neither upset I know what he is nor happy either. Possibly a little relieved as he walks around his desk. I follow. At the end of his built-in shelves that connect to the back wall, he reaches under the crown molding edge and pushes something. I’m stunned to see that part of the shelves swivel open, revealing a hidden passage aglow with sconce lighting.
“Whoa,” I breathe out.
Carrick sweeps his hand, motioning me in before him. I take a few steps and gasp as I immediately come to a spiral staircase framed in wrought iron with glossy wooden steps that lead downward.
They lead down exactly one floor, where there is a spectacular library so large I can’t see where it ends.
I’m so excited by this discovery, I go tearing down the stairs and come to a skidding stop at the bottom. Rows and rows of cherry-wood bookcases that stretch in both directions that look to take up the entire floor, each one filled to the brim with leatherbound books of various sizes. There are no windows on this floor, just mahogany paneled walls, yet it’s not dark down here at all. Hanging chandeliers hover over each row of shelves and sconces on the walls give a cheery glow.
Just off to the left is a large conference room table that seats ten, upon which several books are scattered, along with three bankers lamps interspersed down the middle to provide reading light. To the right, a comfy reading nook with two plush chairs in blue velvet with an ottoman before a fireplace. In between the chairs, a beautiful crystal floor lamp with a table base built around the stem. The perfect place to kick back with a good book and get lost.
I study Carrick as he casually comes down behind me. “This is the entire floor below yours, isn’t it?”
“That it is,” he agrees. “No one knows about it but Zaid and now you.”
“Establishing trust,” I murmur appreciatively. I sweep my hand out. “What are all these books?”
Carrick scans the area, a hint of pride on his face. “Mostly history books about any culture or civilization you could ever want to know about from the dawn of modern man. There’s also a huge collection on the north side of books on magic, mystics, fae, and stone-created realms.
Turning the other way, he nods. “On the south side are my personal journals. A historical chronicle of my life.”
This amazes me, and my eyes flare wide. “And just how long is that life?”