Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(71)

A long wooden table took up the center of the room. Books were stacked on the table and spilled over onto the floor.

“Seems safe enough.” Valmont crossed the threshold batting cobwebs out of his way. He pointed at a fat candle in a sconce on the wall. “Light that.”

“Sure.” Bryn lit the candle with her flame. The sound of creatures scurrying across the floor made her shiver. When something scrambled over her foot, she jumped backward.

“It’s only a mouse,” Valmont said.

She might be a kick-ass shape-shifting dragon, but a mouse crawling over her foot still gave her the heebie-jeebies.

Valmont laughed, like he knew what she was thinking.

“Shut up.” As the flame on the candle grew, light filled the room. How was that possible? And then she saw it. The wall behind the sconce held a large mirror, which directed the light across the room to another mirror, where it bounced across the room again. “That,” she pointed at the candle, “is ingenious.”

“And probably a bit magical,” Valmont said.

From the table, Bryn picked up a dust-covered book. Scrawled inside, she found names, with lists next to them, like a family history of greed, malice, and cunning. That was weird. Did the person who made this list consider those positive or negative traits? The elements symbol, a circle with the four triangles representing the elements, was drawn at the bottom of the page. Family names were written in under the different elements. If this was Directorate property, had there ever been a time when that symbol didn’t mean treason? She tried to turn the page, but it crumbled beneath her fingertips. “Crap. Should we get Miss Enid to look at these? She might be able to preserve some of them.”

“Are you sure you want to share the existence of this room?”

“If anyone else discovered it and found out we already knew, we’d be labeled as disloyal. We’ll tell Miss Enid when we go back upstairs, but for now, we investigate. Sound good?”

Valmont checked his watch. “We have time.”

The room held books in varying states of decay. A glass case on the wall contained leather bound scrolls. Another case held daggers. Using the tips of her fingers, Bryn picked up a scroll and gently laid it on the table. Touching the edges, she unrolled it, becoming more confident as the scroll unwound without breaking. “This is so cool.”

She scanned the handwritten report detailing Clan members that were allowed to marry and those that weren’t. “I wish this told us how they tested the bloodlines. There’s a drawing of two dragons touching some sort of maze or plate.”

“I might have found that.” Valmont carried what looked like an oversize metal dinner plate. He placed it flat on the table so she could see it. “Careful, the rim looks razor sharp.” A channel started on both sides of the plate and then turned into a maze, which met in the center.

“Do you think they actually bled on this and did some sort of scientific test?”

“Maybe.” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you hear that?”

Bryn listened. “I hear the disturbing sounds of tiny scurrying feet which will probably haunt my dreams tonight. That’s about it.”

Valmont pointed toward the back of the room. “It’s coming from over there.”

Bryn followed him around the table to what appeared to be a box covered by a tapestry. He flung back a corner of the cloth to reveal another one of the glass display cases. Inside rested a sword etched and decorated with a red metal that created a design which looked like fire and some bluish metal embedded alongside it to resemble frozen flames.

“Holy crap.” Here was physical proof hybrids had existed in the past. “No one would make a sword with both elements on it unless they were bonded to a hybrid dragon.”

Valmont didn’t respond. He was too busy running his hands over the case.

“What are you doing?”

“This has to open somehow.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Bryn asked. “There could be booby traps.”

“Not against a knight who serves a Red-Blue Hybrid,” Valmont said like he was 100 percent certain. “Ah-hah.” He pushed on something, and the side of the case swung open.

Bryn could feel something like Quintessence pulsing from the case. “Be careful.”

“It’s meant for me.” Valmont reached in and grasped the pommel, which was decorated with red and blue stones. Whoosh. Magic pulsed through the air like a wave.

With great reverence, Valmont removed the sword from the display case and held it up to the light. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

The red and blue etchings seemed to pulse in the light.

“It is.” Bryn noticed something else. “I think it comes with its own carrying case.” She reached in and pulled out a black leather scabbard. Since Valmont didn’t seem inclined to set the sword down, she buckled the black leather belt around his waist. “There you go.”

“I’m not ready to put it away yet.” He looked like a five year old with a brand new Star Wars light saber.

A thought occurred to Bryn. “We need to head upstairs and share this with Miss Enid.”

“I’m not sharing my sword,” Valmont said in a tone, which sort of sounded like he was joking.

“I doubt anyone will try to take it away from you. As for the rest of this,” Bryn indicated the dusty old books and scrolls, “she’s probably the only one who can read the books without destroying them.” Something caught Bryn’s attention. Amid the dust on the far wall, something twinkled. “What’s that?”