Letter 17 Isadora to Callum
Dearest Callum,
How I wish you were here with me now. I am terrified.
The conspiracy you speak of is moving faster than anyone anticipated — so quickly I fear it may already be beyond being stopped by anyone.
Something is happening inside the Royal Library. Something deliberate, and dark, and carefully hidden.
Yesterday morning, I found two soldiers guarding the entrance to the lower basement. I knew by their bearing that they were military. They bore the rigid stillness of guards. The insignia on their sleeves doesn’t belong to any regiment I recognized. That scared me. I’ve enclosed my sketch of the embroidery pattern. Perhaps you know what it means.
They went rigid the moment they saw me.
Their eyes narrowed in unison, and before I could speak, they had crossed their bayonets across the doorway to the catacombs. My heart beat so loudly I was certain they could hear it; certain that guilt was written plainly across my face.
I steadied myself and showed them my credentials.
The taller one shook his head without a word. The other one barked, “No entry,” and stared at me as though daring me to argue. When I asked, as calmly as I could manage, whether there was a construction project I should know about, his glare only sharpened. The other one spat on the ground and tightened her grip on her weapon.
Yes, the taller one was a vampire warrior. I hadn’t realized, at first. When I shuddered, she dropped her fangs.
I turned and walked away with every scrap of dignity I could gather around myself like a cloak.
That night, leaving work, I was followed. I’m certain of it. Footsteps stopped when I stopped. A shadowy figure I glimpses from the corner of my eye kept its distance. My nerves may have been betraying me, but I don’t think so. I know what it feels like to be watched. I felt the evilness of that presence in my bones.
I cannot sleep. I cannot settle. Every creak of this old building startles me awake.
And yet, I cannot let this go. The secret hidden in that vault is connected to my mother’s death and threatens all our lives. I must go back.
I’ve decided. I’m returning to the library tonight, as soon as I send this letter into the nethersphere. I want to know whether the soldiers are still posted at that door. If they’re gone, I intend to slip inside and see what I can learn. I can no longer reach the catacombs from within the library itself, so that door is my only way I can get to the secret vault.
Wish me luck, dear Callum.
I want you to know ( in case I don’t live through the night) that my last thoughts will be of you. Of the tender, impossible fantasy I have carried quietly for so long: that we might one day stand in the same room, breathe the same air, and no longer need paper and ink to reach each other.
Our correspondence has been difficult. Emotional. At times almost unbearable. But the knowing of you — the slow, careful discovery of who you are — has held my heart captive in a way I have no words adequate to describe.
With a love I have no right to feel, and cannot bring myself to surrender to,
Farewell,
Isadora
Letter 18 — Callum to Isadora
My darling,
Do not go back to the library.
I am begging you. Whatever you saw at that door, whatever you believe is hidden in the vault — leave it alone. If you have already gone, if this letter reaches you too late, then I pray to every God who still listens that you came back safely, that no one saw you, that you were careful enough for both of us.
I recognized the insignia the moment I saw your sketch. It belongs to the personal guard of Lord Zakin, a select team of assassins.
I cannot write more than this in a letter. I don’t dare. But you must understand what it means his men are stationed inside the Royal Library, guarding a vault that should answer to no one but the Crown. You must understand what kind of danger you walked toward with your credentials in your hand and your heart hammering in your chest.
Isadora. My love. Please hear me.
When this letter reaches you — the moment you finish reading it — go somewhere crowded. A market, a chapel, a public square. Somewhere with witnesses and noise and a dozen exits. Do not go home. Do not walk alone after dark.
And do not write to me again until you receive word from me first. I know how much I am asking. I know the silence will be difficult to bear, and trust me when I say that it will be no less difficult for me. But there are always unwanted eyes on correspondence. I will not be the reason harm finds you.
There is so much I want to say to you that I cannot commit to paper. So much that would require your hand in mine and time we have not yet been given.
I have thought of little else, Isadora. The two of us, together, in a quieter world than this one. I am drawn to you in a way I have never been drawn to another soul. Not slowly, the way one normally grows accustomed to someone. Suddenly. Completely. As though some part of me recognized you long before I had any right to.
I can only hope the universe is not finished with us yet.
Stay safe. Stay hidden. Stay alive.
All my love,
Callum
Past Letters
You can read the first letters here:
1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, 9&10, 11&12, 13&14, 15&16
Feedback
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Buy the Ebook
Now that we have entered the third act, the ebook of Secrets Never Die will be available soon for preorder.
It will launch October 1st with oodles of yummy bonus material. I’ll be editing and polishing the work in progress I’ve been posting here, and I will adding more background information about the characters and setting and a few more letters.
Have a great week, my friends,
Jo-Ann
Things are hitting up!