Lux [h.s]

four

Cora's aunt ended up keeping her inside that evening, and the following morning she had to tackle the rooms of the second floor with Adair.

Adair was the only other person that Cora could call her friend. They'd met when Cora was fifteen because her aunt had hired him to clean the hostel. He'd been sixteen at the time, and he'd been more than willing to help out here and there in exchange for some daers. Cora had taken the habit to clean the rooms with him, to have an excuse to talk to someone her age then, and now because it was one of the rare moments she got to spend around him. He was planning on going to the capital to continue his studies after solstice, so he'd been getting increasingly busier, and Cora hardly got to see him anymore.

They cleaned the rooms of the second floor, and then, in an attempt to escape their duties, also the ones of the floor below. Cora's aunt came back and, to Cora's surprise, decided to give her that entire evening free to thank her for her hard work.

That evening, Cora went to dinner with Naomi and Adair. They had to move early, since the Lilac Sun was the only tavern in Beilyn that kept its doors open during the week of the Fair—its tables weren't only expensive, but also rare to come by. If they didn't manage to snatch a seat, they'd have to resign to dining with the sweets and honeyed nuts offered by the stalls on the street.

The tavern was crowded, but Adair had begged its old owner to reserve a table for them earlier that day, so they sat on the side of the room. They were about to make their orders when a man tipped over the bottle he was carrying, splashing the pale yellow skirt of Cora's dress of red wine. She jumped up and he apologised a thousand times, but she excused herself and went to the bathroom.

She put the hem of her dress in the sink and opened the water, but there was no use. No matter how hard she scrubbed, the red wasn't leaving the fabric, and she looked like she'd just stepped out of a murder scene of which she was the victim. She let out a sorrowful sigh and wrung as much water as she could out of the fabric. A glance in the mirror told her her blonde hair had left the hairdo she'd carefully braided it in before leaving the hostel, and she was embarrassed at the thought of going back into the tavern looking like that. She wished she'd at least brought her coat with her.

She let the fabric fall when she understood it was a lost cause and left the room. The corridor was cold, and goosebumps formed on Cora's naked arms. Her dress was too thin for the cold season, but she didn't have many that were elegant enough for the night. Knowing that it was ruined made her throat tighten.

She was nearly in the other room when she noticed light coming from a crook in the shadows of the hallway. She stepped back in the darkness and moved closer, discovering it was a door hidden in the wall that had been left ajar. Despite Cora's mind telling her to stay away, curiosity overcame her and she peeked into the mysterious room.

A wall of books greeted her on the other side. The Lilac Sun had a library? She'd only seen a library once in her life, before the closing of the Altair Hall Tower, and since then she'd treasured the shelf with thirty books in her aunt's bedroom. She looked back into the hallway. Her friends were waiting for her, but she'd only be a moment.

She slid into the room and moved the door back to the position she'd found it in. Her mouth fell open in awe.

The room was almost as large as the main entrance of the hostel, but the ceiling was much taller. Shelves upon shelves rose from the floor to the sky, covered in large tomes that gave off the comforting scent of old paper. On the right wall there was a fireplace that was spreading warmth and golden light all around. Differently from the corridor, it was warm there—almost too warm. Cora had never seen a room that smelled so strongly of culture before. She resisted the urge to rush to the closest bookshelf and give a closer look to the tomes on it with the wonder of someone that had read few in her life. Books were expensive, and it was rare for a new one to enter the hostel.