WHEN JO SAID she wanted to go to the library, I laughed. Like really laughed. I was certain that I was high from the electrifying tonic Noldrett gave me, and coming down from today's rush after everyone who wasn't my best friend practically fled the room in her wake, because there was no way Jo wanted to go to a library. But then she grabbed my hand and stormed out, only pausing to ask a knight on guard, "Which way is the library?"

I sobered immediately. She wasn't kidding. I wasn't high. But we were definitely in a fantasy world if Jo wanted to spend free time in a room full of books.

"Esteemed guests," he bowed swiftly, then pointed down the next hall. "From there take a left and go until you see the minx vase. You'll know the one."

"Jo." I bundled my dress to keep the hem over my shoes so I could keep up with Jo's determined pace. The silky fabric threatened to drop on my feet with every step. "Why are we going to the library?"

"Claire, you punched a guy," she said as we took the directed left. "It looks like we're both expanding our horizons."

I grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. "I'm serious. What's going on?"

"We're meeting the king and queen at dinner tonight," she whispered, looking over our shoulders. I nodded. I was freaking out, too! "And we only know Swords and Roses lore. What about Larnwick? What about our backstories?"

"We have them," I said, bewildered.

"No, like real backstories, Claire. We lucked out the first night here, and even then, it was easy to skate by when the prince was only looking at your lips."

My cheeks burned. "It's not like that."

"It doesn't matter what it's like," she said. "What matters is the king and queen won't be so easy to fool. We need to get through this, and do it right, or else we'll get thrown in jail. Or... worse."

My fingers tightened around my dress. She was right, of course. If we were found out... it would be worse than jail.  "I'm sorry. I didn't get that far," I admitted, the realization hitting me hard and fast.

"You got us far enough," Jo said, a shadow of her usual smile turning her mouth up. One that reminded me of us as kids, whenever I did something she was proud of. "And now I can help."

I smiled back. This was the Jo I knew. "Let's go find that vase."

It would be a hunt, considering every other decorative table had one. But the knight said we would know it. I smiled at a few servants cleaning the drapes, trying to act as if everything was fine, but nerves bubbled in my stomach. It suddenly felt like everyone was watching  us. 

But Jo... Jo was coming back into herself. She'd been shaken by this world, sure, but it didn't keep her down. She made up for my sudden lack of confidence. I could see it in her walk, the way she began to reclaim the space she took up. The way she stared at everything with fire in her eyes, and revealing the thoughts brewing in her head.

Those thoughts were stopped short when we found the vase. "Is that —"

"A penis," Jo finished. The shaft of the vase was tall and brown, and there were two smaller, rounder vases connected to the base of it. The tall one had a delicate white flower sticking out of the top. "Good to know this place has a sense of humor."

She shoved the two large doors beside the offensive vase open, and my jaw dropped at the the most spectacular library ever. Two stories high and filled with books, trinkets, and statues within every square inch. Each book shelf had glittery jars glowing with golden mist on either side of the books end and floating in front of scroll organizers, lighting the area in a spotlight of magic. 

And they say love at first sight only happened in fairytales.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful."

"Your prince would be offended," Jo chided as she ran her finger over the shiny oak tables. 

I sighed. "Please stop. Prince Elric is kind. He's trying to be a good host to us —"

"To you," Jo corrected. "It's okay, you don't have to pretend. He likes you, and you like him. We don't have time to talk about this now. We need to focus. Dinner is in a few hours."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine then. Where do we start?"

"Anything Larnwick related."

"That's good, but we should also look for anything related to Velein. We need to find out the timeline we're on. Before or after Swords and Roses. You can take the first floor, I'll do the second."

As if the start of an argument hadn't happened, Jo smiled. "I love it when we put our heads together."

We didn't say much after that. We only had until dusk to find anything we needed, which was impossible because navigating this space alone would take anyone, let alone two people, days. I relied heavily on the time I spent in libraries. I basically trained for this moment.

However, it was all for nothing when Jo was the one who found something first. "I got a whole dedicated Larwnick section over here," she called. "Help me get these books to a table!"

Jo and I piled at least ten different books and five scrolls onto the table. "Let's dig in," I said, looking out the window. Shadows were starting to envelope the green landscapes. "We don't have much time."

I never read so fast. I skimmed for the first time ever in my life, scanning through the biographies of old kings and queens, learning the Von Stetton family wasn't the original bloodline in power. In a civil war centuries ago, a distant cousin of the king's family was part of a revolution to overthrow King Jürgen after he killed his siblings to remain in power. The king at the time believed that his family, and only his family lineage, would sit with a crown on their heads until the end of time. That cousin — the first Von Stetton — showed him different.

"Holy —" Jo choked out.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Did you know we were sitting on a volcano right now?" she asked, eyes wide. "Who in their right mind builds a castle on a volcano!"

"Relax, I'm sure it's inactive."

Jo scoffed. "You don't know that."

"Well that's why they have magic here," I replied.

We turned back to our reading. I skipped by the decades in history. I learned the Autumnal Festival started as a dedication to The Sorceress as a ritual to protect their lands and celebrate the magic they used every day to keep their soil rich and their pockets full. What they didn't know was their soil was so rich because the volcano had erupted a century prior. The true origin seemed to have evolved over the years considering Prince Elric never mentioned anything about human sacrifices happening during the festival, like they used to before. Perhaps the tournaments took their place.

I was starting to lose hope to find our timeline in Larnwick's history, specifically if this was all happening before or after Swords and Roses. If I knew that, we could come up with the best backstory possible. While the necklace in Norcrest might have been an indicator, that woman could've made hundreds of them. Or Sir Ashwell could've gotten it years ago. Or maybe it truly was a one-of-a-kind piece and we were running parallel to their storyline. There were too many possibilities and such little time.

I ran my hands over my eyes. They'd gotten dry from staring at the books for so long. Jo was still pouring over the pages. She only ever looked so engaged when she was composing music or trying to learn a new song.

Opening up a scroll, my eyes widened. Names. All hand-written with dates beside them. The page was only halfway full, but my eyes zeroed-in on the last name listed: Felic Émile. My heart pounded in my ears. "I think I have something," I said, almost to myself.

But Jo heard, and she looked at the scroll. "What am I looking at?"

"I think... this is a contract, but that's not at all," I told her as I pointed at Felic's name. "Look. I remember where I know Larnwick from now. It wasn't just Lady Heathwood's healing tonic. Felic is from here. In the book, he was supposed to be Larnwick's Royal Sorcerer after his apprenticeship, but he fled to Velein instead."

"You're saying a lot of words, but I don't know what they mean," Jo said.

I frowned at her. "Did you even read the book?"

"I did!" she said. I narrowed my eyes. "Okay, okay! I skimmed it! I read it for the plot, not to fangirl over all the little details."

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Whatever. Look at the dates. See how he has a start date, but no end? His is open ended. He must still be under contract in Larnwick."

"But he wanted to be a Royal Sorcerer," Jo said. "He wanted it so bad, he wasn't going to stop for anything or anyone. Why did he go to Velein for that when he's a Royal Sorcerer here now?"

"I..." I frowned. "I don't know."

"Well," Jo said, rocking back on her heels. "At least we know he isn't in Velein, which means Swords and Roses hasn't happened yet."

My head began to pound to the beat of my hand. Before I could sit down, the door swung open. Miss Myrina, a fraction of the door's massive size, walked in. Miss Mryina didn't look pleased. "Lady Claire, Lady Joan, I've been looking for you everywhere! The second tonic was to be administered an hour ago. But now, we must get you both ready for supper so it will have to wait."

Jo dropped the scroll onto the table. "I guess it's showtime," she said, to Miss Myrina's confusion.