Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
I frown. "Trusted me? You're acting like I'm dangerous, or something."
"You are. More than you realize. Oh, and the book is encrypted. Empire destroyed anything having to do with unbound centuries ago. The encryption is the only reason this one survived the purge. It’s also part of the reason I didn't give it to you right away. I needed time to create a key you can use to decipher it. And Nessa? Don't write the actual text down anywhere. Guard that key with your life, and destroy it before you let anyone touch it. Understand?"
I nod my head as the gravity of what he’s saying and what I am seems to settle in on me with new weight.
"Use the key. Read the book. You'll start to understand."
He looks like he wants to say more, but he turns and disappears instead, leaving me with the strange book.
I run my fingertips over its surface, wishing it wasn't already so late. I doubt I'll have the energy to read much of it tonight before passing out, but I'm sure as hell going to try. Dread mingles with a desperate kind of hope as I stare at the book, wondering if I’m finally about to get some actual answers about what I am.
7
I use the water tower common room to read Bastian's book because I don't want to wake Mireen with my candlelight. At this hour, it's empty—nobody is crazy enough to deprive themselves of sleep with the hell we endure every day.
Nobody except me, apparently. Or whoever is causing a girl in a nearby room to moan loud enough that I occasionally hear it.
My fingers tremble as I carefully open the book. I've spent weeks searching for answers about what the hell I am, and Bastian may have just handed me all of them. The leather cover is cool against my palms, the pages inside worn with age and heavy with secrets. The book even smells old, reeking of forgotten knowledge and buried truths.
It's just a book, but I can't seem to slow my breathing as I crack open the ancient cover and run my fingers down the first page.
It takes me a minute to get the hang of the key and the encoded text. It's not as simple as swapping letters for letters—there's a complex system based on sound patterns that makes my eyes burn with concentration. Every deciphered word feels like a small victory as I whisper them under my breath.
It’s a full five minutes before I’ve decoded the first few lines.
"Unbound. The fifth affinity. Mender and the breaker. Dangerous, powerful, and essential."
My breath catches in my throat. The fifth affinity. My affinity.
The small scrap of information is already more than I've managed to learn after pouring through half the academy’s library. And this is only the beginning. I already feel myself getting faster with the key Bastian provided in neat, precise handwriting. But at this speed, it will take me days, if not weeks to decode the entire book.
It’s half an hour before I’ve managed my way through the next passage.
"I mark these words in secret, for the tri-emperors have deemed the truth too dangerous to be known. I refuse to let the truth be destroyed. The real story is one of betrayal, love, destruction, and creation. It’s a story that centers around the most powerful to ever claim the title of unbound: a story of Lorkan Grace. The truth they wish to hide is how a man seen as a hero single-handedly led to the death of thousands upon thousands, nearly breaking our world in two.”
A ball of ice forms in my stomach as I process the words, dread coiling through me like a serpent.
Destruction. Thousands dead. Is that what I'm capable of? Is that what waits inside me?
I push my burning eyes a little more, decoding the next two sentences to finish the first page.
"But that is where the story ends. This is where it begins..."
I sit back, closing the book as the excitement I felt mingles with a new feeling of dread. I thought this book would teach me how to excel. How to use the power I’ve been given. Now… Now I’m terrified it’ll simply show me what nature of monster I can become.
A sudden yawn cracks my jaw. The candle flickers beside me, casting dancing shadows across the common room.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I jolt awake with a gasp, nearly knocking the unbound book and Bastian's written key from my lap.
Water. Everywhere. Filling my lungs. Something ancient watching from the depths. Waiting. Hunting.
Hunting for me.
I gulp for air that feels too thin, my uniform clinging to my sweat-soaked skin, heart hammering against my ribs like it's trying to punch its way out. The nightmare that woke me lingers, even as my brain switches itself back on. I can still see the dark water, the watching eyes, and feel the sensation of being hunted by something ancient and patient. The words that thing whispered still echo in my mind.