Rise of the Firebird Read Online Free Page B

with suspicion.”
    “Hmm, so that means you’re going to be extra surprised by what I show you?”
    “You threw a knife at my head, so now I am extra suspicious at what you consider a good surprise.”
    “You really need to get over that,” Søren replied as he pushed open a heavy set of doors. “Don’t be nervous, it’s not like I’m trying to kidnap you. Believe me, if I was going to, you would know about it and there wouldn’t be a thing you could do to stop me.”
    “How odd,” Anya said as she walked toward him.
    “What is?”
    “Aramis said something very similar to me once.”
    “Typical! He was always stealing my best lines.”
    “I am going to kidnap you and you can’t stop me is one of your best lines?”
    “When it is said the right way, they want me to kidnap them.”
    “So you think,” Anya couldn’t resist saying. Søren grinned again and Anya peeked at something that could very well be charm.
    “Stop arguing with me. We are in a library, you are meant to be quiet.” The spots in front of Anya’s eyes cleared and she saw that they were standing in a long hallway. Massive shelves lined the walls and the hallway lead into a massive vaulted room three stories high.
    “Wow,” she said as she stopped to look up at the domed roof.
    “No time to gawk,” he said as he took her hand and kept walking. His hand was warm around hers and when she felt her power reaching for his, she pulled her hand free with a jerk. He gave her an odd look.
    “Anya, I didn’t mean anything…”
    “It’s not that, my magic was trying to touch you and I promised you that I wouldn’t use it until I see Ruthann,” she fumbled. Her odd relationship with Aramis and her magic was complicated enough, but if it started to react to Søren in such a way, it would turn into a very scary nightmare. His magic and personality were the complete opposite to his brother and where she’d been to battle with Aramis, and knew she could trust him. Søren was another matter.
    “Relax, Elenya , I didn’t think it would react like that. I can see by the look of horror on your face that it really bothers you that it did. I promise not to touch you,” he said seriously. “Well, not until you ask.”
    “Thank you, sorry. Hopefully Ruthann can explain why it does it.”
    “I already told you why it does. Your magic is drawn to Aramis and he is my twin,” he said as they kept walking. “It’s not trying to jump into me like it did to him, but it wants to feel me out. It could be an effect of the elvianth .”
    “Did you tell Ruthann about what I did to Aramis?”
    “He knows what happened but I’m going to let him be the one to drop that particular bomb.”
    “Sounds promising,” she said gloomily, “see? Be glad I’m not letting my magic run into you. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
    “Even after I threw a knife at your head?”
    “You were showing off.”
    “Guilty as charged.” He stopped in front of a tall heavily carved cabinet with a large padlock. He brushed his fingers over the lock and it clicked open. “Go ahead,” he said as he stepped back.
    “If something jumps out at me there’s going to be trouble.”
    “Trust me.” Taking a deep breath, she opened the doors. Inside was full to bursting with scrolls, books and random scraps of paper all sitting on small shelves.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Has anyone told you about how Ilya used to have visions?”
    “Yvan did. He said that Ilya must’ve used them to find the firebird’s egg.”
    “Before he died, he found the Álfr in Russia at a place called Svetilo. It is a place very sacred to us and is the seat of all of our knowledge and history. He gave all of this to them, because he knew that all writing was sacred to them. Every scrap of writing in here are his visions, dreams and prophecies. After many years, they were shipped here at Ruthann’s request. I thought you would like to have a look at them because you lost everything else when