Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (cont'd)

"Quite a few. And not just Ashes." Emery glanced at him. "The diaries of Lord Septimus Lady Gwynna excluded, I'm afraid. But Lord Modestus is there. Lord Michael never kept a diary."

“Ah,” Aleth shrugged, forcing himself to seem less interested. “That surprises me. I’d think diaries would be kept private — that is in their nature, no?”

"Once the person's dead there's not much need for privacy," Emery said with a shrug. "There are useful insights, scores settled, arguments resolved, all within a few pages. You learn a lot."

“Fair enough.” Aleth glanced down the hall they’d turned into, proud of himself for having remembered which hall the library was on. “What are the accounts you mentioned? Other diaries?”

"Accounts of spies, generals, counts, slaves, servants. Massive volumes of information, all sitting prettily under the careful watch of the Librarians."

“Interesting,” Aleth answered, still forcing himself to be nonchalant about it. “I can see what you mean about it being more interesting than fiction. I’m sure there are unique perspectives sprinkled through them all.”

"Fascinating stuff! Especially the old scrolls from the time of the first Lord." He frowned. "Though Nortung is next to impossible to read when they were only just learning to write with ink."

“Because it’s faded, or because the spelling was bad?”

"The spelling was fine; it's the handwriting that's terrible. Lord Venr writes like he's holding a sword, not a pen. But then, he would have been better than the first Lord Tarr. I've never read any of his scrolls but he was even more a warrior than Venr."

“Fascinating,” Aleth said. “I never thought of there being a correlation… do all Lords keep diaries and accounts in their libraries?”

If so, Ky had sure as hell better be digging through Loquitur or Tarr dirt, wherever they’d left her. He was going to kill her, but he’d ring her for information first. As he had no doubt Loquitur had already done — gotten every single secret out of her he could manage. Which probably hadn’t even been that difficult. She was such a timid little idiot who would lick the boots of whoever commanded her. It’d been handy when he had her; it’d be her downfall, now that she was kissing Loquitur’s ass.

"Indeed. There are a few crossovers, mostly of useless or wide-known information. For general reading. Only writings of Lords and their family, though. The lesser household members' accounts aren't traded around." They reached the doors of the library. "Most things find their way back here, though."

“Makes sense.” Aleth pulled open the door and gestured for Emery to go ahead.

Emery entered with a gracious nod. "What shall we do in here, my friend? Practice your reading?"

Friend, was it? It seemed Emery had bottled up all the warmth in this entire damnable Keep within himself.

“I’d love that,” Aleth said. He’d need to be careful. He wasn’t sure how slow he’d need to go, for it to be believable that he was still learning how to read. Giving away a secret reading ability is what had landed Ky with Aleth in the first place. He certainly wasn’t going to make the same mistake. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

"Not at all!" Emery flung himself down in one of the many armchairs. "Pick us out something random and we'll get started." A couple Librarians passed by, both of whom gave Aleth suspicious glares.