Sword and Pen (The Great Library #5)(17)

Khalila framed his tired face in her hands and said, “Have you seen the Medica yet?”

“I will, my child. Soon. I promise.” His smile lit her world. “But I would not miss being here today, not even if I had to be carried.”

“Don’t listen to him. He walked under his own power,” her brother said, and picked her up in a hug that took her breath away. His smile was as broad as it had ever been, as if he hadn’t endured prison and near death. “Khalila. Who knew my little sister could be so brave?”

“You should,” she told him, and his smile moderated a little. “I was never afraid of you, after all.”

“I’m not particularly fearsome.”

That was a lie. Saleh was one of the most capable men she knew, and she knew a fair number of them these days. She decided not to argue the point, and instead cut her gaze toward her father. “Should he even be here?”

“Try to keep him away,” Saleh said. “I’ll be sure he sees a Medica. But give him this, sister. He needs to see the Great Library redeemed before he takes to his bed. So do we all.”

Now that the Scholars had entered and found their places, the next rank to enter the hall was formed of High Garda: sharply dressed companies of soldiers, solemn and proud. At their head strode Captain Niccolo Santi. He looked grave with the responsibility, and as his troops took their spots at the edges of the huge hall, he advanced down the long white space. The black-robed crowd parted for him, and he walked to the foot of the stairs and went to one knee, fist over his heart.

“Your service to the Great Library is beyond price,” Scholar Murasaki said. “As the elected Archivist, I thank you for your loyalty and vision, and I welcome you to this sacred place. Will you take your oath?”

“I will,” Santi said. “I swear to serve the Great Library with body, mind, and blood for as long as it pleases the Archivist. I swear to defend it against all enemies, within and without. I swear to uphold the laws and covenants of the Great Library, and when ordered to direct and lead the High Garda in battle. I swear to protect knowledge and its servants wherever they may be threatened.”

“Then, rise, Niccolo Santi, Lord Commander of the High Garda,” Murasaki said. “Captains of the High Garda: do you affirm this elevation?”

Each captain, Khalila realized, stood at attention beside each block of troops, and one by one, they took a step forward, put fists to their hearts, and said, “I do so affirm.” There were dozens of commanders here. The High Garda had united behind Santi.

Of course, not all the High Garda are here, she reminded herself. The deployed companies, the local Garda in the cities and towns, they’re not represented. And the High Garda Elite all broke for the old Archivist, and no doubt took some of the regular High Garda with them. How many, I wonder. Santi would know. She’d need to ask him for the figures and details on the captains who were missing. Murasaki would need that information as quickly as possible.

“Khalila?” Saleh’s whisper. She glanced at him and saw him watching Santi as he completed his ceremony and began to rise to his feet. “He is Scholar Wolfe’s lover?”

“Yes,” she said. “Though more than that. Partner for years, though I don’t believe they have formally married.”

Saleh nodded without taking his gaze from Santi. “Wolfe spoke of him,” he said. “Well . . . not to me. I suppose better to say he spoke to him when Wolfe was . . . unwell.”

“Unwell?”

“Prison was not good for the man. You should be sure he’s coping.” Saleh frowned and cast a look through the crowd. “I’d expected to see him here. Is he not?”

“No,” she said. “He’s hunting the Archivist.”

Saleh looked frankly shocked. “On his own?”

“He has help.”

“I hope he knows that,” Saleh murmured, and she almost laughed because it was a very legitimate concern. Wolfe was absolutely capable of believing he alone was tasked with bringing down the world’s most dangerous fugitive. That brought with it a stab of worry, belatedly; he had—she’d heard, at least—Jess with him, but Jess could just as often bring out more recklessness in people. The two of them together might well be a bad combination, especially with the grief that was bound to be consuming Jess just now.

She sincerely hoped Santi was aware of all that.

Murasaki seemed at home on the throne as she began the process of accepting the oaths of her High Garda captains. After that, the Scholars and librarians would renew their oaths as a body, along with the soldiers, and then the ceremony would be done—for them. Murasaki would have to receive the waiting body of diplomats, and then the Alexandrian Merchant Council. She had a very, very long day ahead.

Which meant, as her personal assistant, Khalila did, too.

As the captains finished their oath taking, Khalila embraced her brother again, kissed him on both cheeks, and said, “I have to go to her. Watch after Father?”

“Of course,” he said. “Don’t I always?”

Having a brother like Saleh was a gift, she thought, and she had never prized it as much as she should have done. She gave him a smile and he returned it tenfold, and she withdrew back to stand in the shadows near Scholar Murasaki’s throne, where she could hear any requests easily.