Page 28 of Fire to the Stars

Education in the Old Tongue is strictly passed down through the Slayers Guild and the Church. Royal decree grants both institutions full control over document access to ensure all recordsremain free from translation errors. Only a successful petition to the king and queen can modify it.

In short: Average people shouldn’t know how to recognizefluentOld Tongue.

That includes Claire.

I was naïve to dismiss her vocabulary, as if it were a bluff akin to the rest of her tactics. It wouldn’t be smart of me to proceed on this hunt without an explanation.

“You told me you weren’t fluent in the Old Tongue,” I say. “Did you lie?”

“Of course not. I’m above average.”

Same difference. “Tell me where you studied it.”

She raises an offended eyebrow. “Testing me again?”

“Normal civilians don’t casuallylearnit, even if they want to hire a slayer. For all I know, there’s a secret organization hoarding ancient literature in the middle of nowhere. And you never know what fringe practices small towns might generate.”

“ ‘Fringe’ practices? That’s what you took from my heartfelt stargazing story?”

“You had to have broken the law on some level to access controlled documents. What did you do?”

“Oh, fine.” She twirls a lock of hair. “Imayhave lifted a copy of the originalL’Histoire des Étoilesfrom a cardinal on his way out from Port-de-Chance.”

I stare. “Lifted it.”

“What? It’s not like the Council of Cardinals ever stays in one church. They have thegood wordto spread. His travels would have provided him access to other copies.”

“Those are ancient relics, Claire.”

“Better I stole a book than the donation money bound fortheir orphanages and whatnot.” She waves me off. “Comparing that text to the translated version was the quickest way to self-teach.”

“To what end?”

“I was preparing to con my way into a slayer archive building.”

I palm my face. “You plotted to steal hunting records, too?”

“I didn’t think a slayer would take my job offer without a human identity attached.” She pokes my chest. “Don’t judge. I had to lie about knowing the Bourlin dragon just for you to hear me out.Andyou agreed that my knowledge of Sellecastel’s residents was a solid place to start. I won’t apologize for being overprepared.”

Diu spare her. “Dare I ask where the book is now?”

She’d better not tell me it’s at the bottom of the Tordou River.

“I left it with my…mentor of a sort. After that, I couldn’t tell you.”

Translation: It’s been sold on the black market, most likely.

I rub the knot between my eyebrows. A missing relic isn’t the real problem here. If thievery were all it took for Claire to scrape together an understanding of the Old Tongue, others could have done the same.

Anyone could be a suspect in the slaughter of Ravinfort.

“I can’t fathom who would want slayers dead,” I say. “That only serves to offend Diu.”

“Hypocrisies exist everywhere, even among the faithful,” she answers sternly. “Whatever their goal was, they didn’t want witnesses. We need to lie low.”

I roll up my tent and furs. “You can’t expect me not to alert the Gendarmerie.”

“I don’t, but—” She bites her lower lip. “That’s the obviousresponse. Those killers might be watching every Gendarmerie station and aviary post downriver to pick us off.”