Return the scroll 

Lucian's pov 

I was in the middle of a lecture when Kade mind linked me.

We haven't returned the scroll.

The words hit me like a punch to the chest. I had been so focused on Cressida and the council and the breach that I had forgotten. The scroll was still in my quarters. Hidden under a loose stone in the floor. Wrapped in cloth and sealed with wax that Voss had used to keep its magic contained.

I know, I sent back.

We need to put it back. Tonight.

Tonight.

Marlow is going to notice it's missing. She's old but she's not senile.

I said tonight.

Kade's presence in my mind flickered and then faded. He was annoyed. I did not care.

The Professor was still talking. Something about dramatic structure. Something about the weight of silence in a scene. I had not heard a word she said. My mind was elsewhere. On Cressida. On the scroll. On the fact that I had broken into an elder's chambers and stolen something that could get me executed if I was caught.

And now I had to do it again.

I visited Cressida after class.

She was sitting up in bed with Ember in her lap and her dark hair loose around her shoulders. Her color was better. Pink in her cheeks and warmth in her eyes. She looked like she was healing.

"You're supposed to be resting," I said.

"I am resting."

"You're sitting up."

"Resting doesn't require lying down."

"It does in most definitions of the word."

She smiled and the sight of it made my chest ache. "You're too bossy."

"I'm concerned."

"Same thing."

I sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand. Her fingers were warm and her skin was soft and I did not want to let go.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better."

"Better how?"

"Less like I'm going to die."

"That's not a high bar."

She laughed and Ember meowed in protest and resettled on her stomach. "Voss says I can leave tomorrow."

"That's good."

"She says I need to take it easy for a few more days."

"That's also good."

She looked at me and her dark eyes were steady. "You're worried about something."

"I'm always worried about something."

"You're worried about something specific."

I was quiet for a moment. I did not want to tell her about the scroll. Did not want to add to the weight she was already carrying. But she was watching me and she would know if I lied.

"I have to do something tonight," I said.

"What kind of something?"

"The kind I can't tell you about."

Her jaw tightened. "Lucian."

"Cressida."

"After everything—"

"It's not dangerous." I squeezed her hand. "It's just complicated."

She stared at me for a long moment and then she nodded. "Be careful."

"I will."

"I mean it."

"I know."

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her skin was warm and she smelled like lavender and herbs and something underneath that was just her.

"I'll come back after," I said.

"You better."

I stood and walked to the door and looked back at her. She was watching me with those dark eyes and Ember was purring in her lap and the afternoon light was catching the edges of her face.

"I love you," I said.

The words came out before I could stop them.

She did not say it back. But she did not look away either.

"I know," she said.

I left.

Kade was waiting for me in the corridor.

His arms were crossed and his face was tight and he looked like he had been pacing for hours.

"It's broad daylight," he said.

"I noticed."

"Everyone is awake. The halls are full. Guards are everywhere."

"I noticed that too."

"This is insane."

"Probably."

"We're going to get caught."

"We're not going to get caught."

Kade stared at me. "You were the one who almost stepped on a sleeping guard last time."

"I didn't step on him."

"You stepped over him. Your foot brushed his shoulder."

"He didn't wake up."

"Because we got lucky."

I started walking. Kade fell into step beside me.

"We're not relying on luck this time," I said. "We're relying on speed and silence and the fact that Marlow is at a council meeting until sundown."

Kade's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

"I asked."

"You asked Elder Marlow where she would be?"

"I asked her secretary."

"Her secretary?"

"The secretary likes me."

Kade made a sound that was half groan and half laugh. "The secretary likes you. Of course the secretary likes you. Everyone likes you. Even the people who want you dead like you."

"Not everyone."

"Sha doesn't count."

I almost smiled. "Sha definitely doesn't count."

We reached the east tower and the stairs were empty and our footsteps echoed on the stone. I kept my breathing steady and my hand close to my side where the scroll was hidden. We had wrapped it in fresh cloth and sealed it with fresh wax and I could feel its warmth through my jacket.

The guards were at their posts.

And they were awake.

Kade grabbed my arm and pulled me back around the corner. "They're awake."

"I can see that."

"What do we do?"

I thought about it. The guards were young. Their uniforms were new. They looked like they had something to prove.

"We wait," I said.

"For what?"

"For them to get bored."

Kade stared at me. "That's your plan?"

"That's my plan."

We waited.

The minutes passed slowly.

The guards shifted their weight and yawned and glanced at each other. One of them checked his phone. The other stared at the ceiling.

"How much longer?" Kade whispered.

"Patience."

"I don't have patience."

"You've been my second for years. You have plenty of patience."

"I have plenty of tolerance for your nonsense. That's not the same thing."

One of the guards laughed at something on his phone. The other one shook his head and said something I could not hear. They were relaxed. Too relaxed.

"This is never going to work," Kade said.

"Watch."

The guard with the phone said something to his partner and pointed down the corridor. The other guard shrugged and nodded and they both walked away.

Kade's mouth fell open. "Where are they going?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

I moved.

Elder Marlow's chambers were dark.

The fire had burned down to embers and the room was cold and still and the air smelled like old paper and old wood. I crossed to the bed and knelt on the floor and reached underneath.

The chest was still there.

I pulled it out and set it on the floor and took the key from my pocket. The same key. The one I had stolen and then replaced. Kade had called me reckless. I had called it planning ahead.

The lock clicked open.

I unwrapped the scroll and laid it inside and closed the lid and turned the key.

Done.

Kade let out a breath. "We did it."

"We did it."

"We actually did it."

"Don't sound so surprised."

We slid the chest back under the bed and stood and walked to the door.

The guards were still gone.

We made it to the stairwell before Kade spoke again.

"That was terrifying."

"It was fine."

"It was not fine. It was the opposite of fine. My heart is still pounding."

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. My side ached and my hand throbbed and my bandages were damp with blood. But the scroll was back. The evidence was gone. No one would know.

"Thank you," I said.

Kade looked at me.

"For coming with me. For not letting me do this alone."

He was quiet for a moment. "You would have done it alone."

"Probably."

"You would have gotten caught."

"Probably."

"And executed."

"Also probably."

He shook his head and there was something soft in his eyes. "You're an idiot."

"I know."

"A lucky idiot."

"I know that too."

He clapped me on the shoulder and his hand was heavy and warm. "Let's go see your girl."

"She's not my girl."

"She's definitely your girl."

I did not argue.

Cressida was asleep when I got back to the infirmary.

Her dark hair was spread across the pillow and her hand was curled around Ember's fur and her breathing was slow and steady. The candles had burned low and the fire had died down to embers and the room was quiet and still.

I sat in the chair beside her bed and took her hand and watched her sleep.

She was alive.

She was warm.

She was here.

I pressed a kiss to her knuckles and leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

Tomorrow there would be more meetings and more questions and more wolves who wanted to tear us apart. But tonight there was just this. Her hand in mine. Her breath in the quiet. The weight of the scroll no longer pressing on my chest.

I stayed until dawn.

And I did not let go.