The Library of the Unwritten - A. J_ Hackwith Page 0,57
I’ll bite. What’s Heaven offered you to jump-start a war, Ramiel?”
“Again, not your concern—” Rami paused. “What war?”
Claire exchanged a look with the demon, but only Rami saw the look that crossed Andras’s face as Claire glanced away. Eyes narrowed, lip twitched up. Pleased. Possessive. Predatory. While Claire sat with the creature at her side as if it were a favored pet.
For the first time, Rami wondered if the librarian knew what kind of creature she had at her back. But his speculation was cut short by Claire’s sniff.
“Are you telling me you’re hunting a book whose purpose you don’t understand?”
“And what should I know, Librarian?”
The librarian’s brown eyes gleamed with amusement. “I’ll give you one thing for free, though I know you won’t believe me: what you’re after is not anything Heaven has a right to. And your interference here could cost the mortal world dearly. More than that, you’ll need to ask your terrifying partner.”
“Uriel has told me all I need to know about your sins.” The creeping, hollow unease in his chest made Rami toss out the first rebuttal he could think of. Harsh and untrue, but he knew better than to admit that to servants of Hell.
Both Claire and the demon fell silent.
“The angel out front is . . . Uriel?” Claire asked.
Rami cursed himself for rising to the bait. He pushed the still half-full mugs away from him as he stood from the bar.
“Surrender the artifact and give up this errand, Librarian.” Rami’s jaw tightened. “Don’t risk your eternal soul.”
“I find myself already damned, but your concern is noted. I’d watch the threats. We’re guests of some very nice hosts with very large axes,” Claire said, gaze falling to where Rami’s fingers brushed the hilt at his side.
Rami made a slow show of measuring the room. “You’ve found yourself some privacy, Librarian. What if my good friend the bartender decides to step out?”
The librarian looked scandalized. “My goodness. Someone is desperate. Whatever will we do? I suppose that depends.” She cleared her throat and raised her voice. “What exactly is the protocol for handling aggressors in Valhalla, Arlid?”
Rami stifled the urge to jerk back as a leather-clad raven woman dropped from a shadow in the rafters. The woman squinted her kohl-heavy eyes, none too happy at being called out. “Aggressors are fed to the flock.”
“And am I the aggressor in this scenario?”
“No.” Arlid’s lip curled. “But the night is young.”
Claire turned to Rami. “There, you see. The raven captain has been keeping an awfully close eye on me and will be making sure the only one who gets to rough me up is her. You are welcome to test that, of course, but I think you’ll find she likes her duty even more than she loathes me. Isn’t that right, Arlid?”
“You have no honor,” Arlid muttered.
“Something you two agree on,” Claire agreed. Her eyes dropped to his coat. “It’s a shame that your feathers are the wrong color for her flock.”
Rami worked his jaw but said nothing. It was the second time tonight he had been surprised by Hell. He found he didn’t care for it.
Claire shrugged and slid one of the abandoned drinks to Andras, though Rami noted she’d never touched her own. “The bottom line is this: the book is under the protection of the Library now. It belongs in Hell. Heaven should mind its own business.”
“Not when the safety of humanity is at stake,” Rami said.
“Funny, that’s why I’m here too.” The woman gave a rueful smile that was so human it made the backs of Rami’s hands itch. He wasn’t used to interacting with human souls from other realms. He’d spent plenty of time among souls on Earth during his stint as a guide for the lost, not to mention his time in exile among mortals during Earth’s earliest history. But a human soul that chose an eternity in Hell? He couldn’t understand that. Especially a soul that seemed so . . . practical. He half wished she’d be as sinister as her demon attendant. It would ease that wrong feeling at the back of his head.
Rami shook the thought from his shoulders and stood. “You work for the Deceiver.”
No one followed as he left, though Rami thought he heard a long sigh at his back before it was swept up in the increased noise of the hall. Rami hit the door hard enough to make it rock on its hinges as he waded into the sea of revelers. He needed