I hurry out of my last class, eager to leave campus, and nearly crash into Earwyn and her dogfish. Are they everywhere?
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“Don’t apologize to us.” Earwyn brings her hand to her chest and bows. “All hail Queen Sirena.”
The dogfish both bow. “All hail Queen Sirena!”
Other students stop and giggle. Some bow and repeat the line.
My face heats up. “I’m not Queen Sirena!”
Earwyn twirls a strand of my pink hair. “You sure?”
Snickers sound all around.
I move back, forcing her to let go of my hair. “I’m Marra, plain and simple. Leave me alone!”
Earwyn smiles slowly. “You sure are plain and simple. Utterly boring, in fact.” She fakes a yawn.
Anger surges through me. I clench my jaw and my fists glow.
Vanya tilts her head and moves between Earwyn and me. “Are you going to destroy another wall? Then have Daddy clean up your mess for you?”
“Or try to kill Earwyn again?” Cove laughs.
I glare at them one by one. “I thought you liked King Tiberias. You can’t even be nice to me now that you know I’m his daughter?”
Earwyn smirks. “You’ll always be Drake the snake’s daughter to me. He did raise you. His influence runs through every part of you. King Tiberias? Not so much.”
“What about his edict to treat me well? Making fun of me is making fun of him.”
She narrows her eyes. “Nobody likes you. What’s he going to do? Punish the entire academy? And you know what’s going to happen if he does—we’ll make your life even more miserable. Trust me, you don’t want that.”
I consider my wording carefully before speaking. “Do what you want. I don’t really care. The fact of the matter is, one day I’ll be your queen. And do you know what? I’ll remember everything. All of this. Keep that in mind.”
I spin around and swim away. My heart races so fast, I’m shaking. But at least she and her dogfish can’t see that.
By the time I find Bash in the band room, I’ve calmed down.
He wraps his arms around me. “Are you okay?”
Maybe I haven’t calmed down that much. “Just had a run-in with Earwyn and the dogfish. It’s nothing.”
“At least they’re graduating after this term.”
“I sure hope so.”
He snickers. “You don’t think they will?”
“It’d be my luck that they have to stay for another year. Then she’d be even more miserable than usual.”
“She may be a snot, but she’s always on the honor roll. She’s going to graduate with high marks, and we’ll be able to forget all about her.”
“I just have to get through a few more months.”
“Exactly.” He gives me a quick kiss. “So, are you ready to fill me in on what we talked about earlier, or do you need to spar?”
“My” —I struggle to say the word out loud— “father got me out of it. But that means I’m going to spar the king for practice. Did you know he was reigning champion of the competition?”
“You just called him your father.”
“I know. I’m trying to get used to the reality, even though my dad will always be my dad.”
“So, King Tiberias is Father and Drake is Dad?”
“That’s where I’m at. They’re both my dads. Just in different ways.”
“At least you have a chance to have a good one.”
We say goodbye to the band and head for the parking lot.
Bash leans against his bike. “Now that we’re alone, fill me in. I’m dying of curiosity.”
I sigh dramatically and tell him all about my failed mission in the fourth-year library. He laughs at the part about Earwyn hearing me but her friends thinking she was crazy. “Now I want to see if I can find those other books. If the public library doesn’t have the ones I found before, I’ll know something is up.”
“But why would someone go to all that trouble?”
“Do you know how many people wanted my dad dead? People were screaming for his blood.”
He crosses his arms. “Fair enough, but it still seems like a long-shot. How would somebody even know you’d find those books? You wouldn’t be allowed in the academy library for another three years, and you didn’t know about the underground public library.”
I hold his gaze. “Unless it was someone close enough to me to know I’d get in. Maybe someone even planted ideas in my mind without me realizing it.”
“That would definitely be interesting. But who would do that?”
“Isn’t that the big question? Maybe my father?”
His eyes widen. “You think the king would be behind this?”
“Why not? My dad tried to kill him and then took over his place as king.”
“Tiberias isn’t murderous.”
“No?” I ask. “He’s the one who declared the battle to the death.”
“But that’s different.”
“Having the idea planted in my mind was to his benefit.”
Bash doesn’t look convinced. “But he’d have to get the book into both libraries unseen—while everyone thought he was dead. That’s not very likely. Who else would be behind it?”
“Unfortunately, he’s the only one I can think of specifically. We know it wasn’t my dad or Middlebrooks.”
“That’s true.” He grabs the helmets. “Let’s get going.”
I lean against Bash and let my mind wander until we get to the library. As much as I don’t like the idea of my father being behind this, it’s the only thing that makes sense. Who else would it have been? My mom was on land, and I can’t think of a single person who could’ve been behind something so elaborate.
Bash parks the bike, and we head inside. “You think they’ll let me in?”
“I think it’s open to all members of the royal class, but if not, I’ll use the princess card to get you in.”
“Maybe we shoulda brought Rudder.”
I shake my head. “I already told you, we’re done using him. I’d hate for him to get in trouble. I’ll figure out how to use the Ayers power for such things.”
He stops in place. “You can do that?”
“Not yet, but it’s something I’m going to learn. And thankfully, I have my father teaching me now. He either knows things my dad didn’t, or he’s willing to teach me what Dad didn’t want to.”
“So, your power is as effective as the Magic Arts students learn?”
“More.”
His eyes widen.
I grab his hand. “Come on.”
The same librarian who let me in before is behind the counter. “Back for more?”
“Yes, and this time I brought a friend.”
“Friend?” Bash mumbles.
The corners of my mouth twitch.
“Name?” The librarian scowls at Bash and stares at a tattoo sticking out from his sleeve.
He stares her down. “Sebastian Marlowe.”
She hesitates. “Related to Shane and Coral Marlowe?”
“My aunt and uncle. They raised me.”
“We’ll see about that.” The librarian types quickly on the keyboard, then her frown deepens even more. “Apparently, you’re telling the truth.” She sighs like I’ve asked her to perform the worst task ever. “Follow me.”
Bash lifts a brow, and I just shrug. At least she’s not denying him entrance.
I barely offer her a thanks after she opens the door. We enter the dim area and descend the stairs.
He turns to me. “This place is creepier than the other one.”
“Tell me about it.” Although I don’t mention the even more chilling one in the castle—the one I could never find on my own. I freeze in place.
Bash bumps into me. “Why’d you stop?”
I don’t answer him, too lost in thought. Why hadn’t I put two and two together? The book in the other library had said Queen Sirena had been raised by someone other than her parents, away from them.
Tiberias wanted me to be raised by his brother. It wasn’t that he just allowed it, or because the Valora laws wouldn’t allow me to stay.
This makes it all the more likely he was behind me finding the dad curse books.
“Marra?”
I grab Bash’s hand and drag him to the area where I found the other books before.
And they’re gone.
“Would you talk to me?” Bash demands. “What’s going on?”
I gesture toward the bookcase. “The books aren’t here.”
“Let’s look harder. Maybe they moved.”
“And maybe the ones in the other library did too. Right.”
“Humor me.” He leans closer and scans the spines.
“Fine.” I look them over too, but don’t find anything.
We go up and down the aisle and several adjoining ones, as well. Nothing. Like that’s a big shock. Bash insists we keep searching, so we spend more time than seems necessary looking. And finding nothing.
Exhausted, I turn to him. “They aren’t here. Can we give up now?”
“That’s really what you want?”
I nod. “I have my answer.”
“Which is?”
“They aren’t here.”
He tilts his head. “Who do you think is behind it?”
There are too many people around for me to say that out loud. I inch closer and whisper, “You know.”
“You really think so?”
“Who else? It all points to him.”
He frowns. “It just seems unlikely.”
“Why? Why wouldn’t he want exactly this? It solved all of his problems.”
“But he could’ve done it himself. And it isn’t like he added that info in himself. Those were clearly ancient books—at least the one I saw.”
I nod. “The others are like that one, but with some different information.”
“Maybe he didn’t have a clue about any of this. The books could be checked out.”
“All of them? From both libraries? Really?”
Bash shrugs. “It’s possible.”
“So, you’re saying it has to be someone from the academy?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Or you-know-who wanted to make sure I got the information because he really wants me to come into my full powers. I don’t see how he can’t be behind it.”
Bash pulls me close and kisses my cheek. “You’re too used to having an untrustworthy dad. Relax and enjoy the fact that your real dad is a kind-hearted guy everyone in Valora loves.”
I can’t deny he has a point. Even though my dad’s true nature didn’t come out until he became king, he was still never father of the year material with his long work hours and never being home with Mom and me. And now that I think about it, his “business trips” on land were most likely visits to Valora, working out his plan to kill his brother. Could he have already been seeing Middlebrooks? What if he knew or suspected his brother was my biological father and his wife still loved him? That would’ve given him more reason to seek revenge.
“You know I’m right.” Bash kisses me again. “Why don’t we head back to the academy? You have your answer—the books are gone here too.”
“I’m going to have to ask him about this.”
“You want to tell him about the father curse?”
“It looks like he already knows.”
“Are you sure, though?” Bash plays with a lock of my hair. “If he knew all along that you’re his daughter, he’d have to know killing Drake would do no good.”
“Unless he hoped it would work. My dad was my dad, even if not genetically. Even if he was a horrible person.”
“Maybe he’s right about the trials. That could be what you need to do rather than following the curse.”
“Either way, I hate it! I didn’t ask for any of this.” Anger pulsates through me. My hands glow green.
Bash takes one of my hands and kisses it. “You don’t have to deal with any of this right now. Let’s get back to the academy and study. Try to start off the term on the right fin.”
I hate it when he’s right. “Okay. Let’s go.”
But I’m far from done looking into this.