Dainan and Regan had to calm her down before they could start to examine how they would go about stopping the Seven. Regan and Dainan discussed a few ideas, and asked Mari a few questions, but she had no answers. Mari didn't know what the Seven were trying to accomplish; she couldn't remember anything. Dainan told her to rest, promising he and Regan would start working on a solution based off what he remembered during his meetings with the Seven. In the meantime, she should sleep, organize her thoughts, and try to remember anything about the Seven that would be useful. Mari willingly did so.

She lay on the bed, shifting through her mess of a mind. She wasn't sure what would be useful. What was Dainan looking for? What were they even going to do with the information? What could they possibly do to stop the Seven? Mari was the only one who could see, hear, or touch them. The more Mari thought about it, the more she confused herself.

Pushing herself up, she buried her head in her hands. She groaned. Stopping the Seven... Mari had to stop them; she couldn't take it anymore. What they were doing, people were getting hurt. Mari still saw Regan's husband still beneath her red hands. She recalled the pain in Dainan's voice from that day. The wreckage around her was burned into her mind. Her own image stood in front of her, taunting her. Dainan, sitting in the dark, dirty cell, the farthest thing from the king he used to be, all alone.

No, Mari couldn't let the Seven continue to use her to do that to people. On the other hand, Mari certainly didn't want to go against them. What choice did she have? They were her life until most recently; they were everything. She couldn't imagine her life without them. Actually... that wasn't right. She could imagine her life without them.

She pushed herself off the bed. She needed to talk to Dainan, to get a clearer picture. Mari reached for the door when the pulling returned. Her heart raced in her chest. She scrambled for the bed and made it the second before they arrived.

This time, it was Rekema and Muraad. Mari held her breath, doing her best to appear normal. For once, she didn't want their attention.

"Let's get straight to the point," Rekema said. She walked up to the bed post. With a flick of her wrist, Mari's body seized up, and her mind hazed over. Her last clear thought was simply that she hoped the water in her eyes didn't overflow.

"Don't worry, pet," Muraad said as Rekema had her put on the crown. "We're just going to look at some books."

Books? What were those?

She opened her mouth, but was ushered out the door. What had she been about to ask? She blinked and stumbled down the stairs. The crown shifted, and the guards at the bottom frowned. Her movements were different from normal. Normal... since when had she considered her own movements to be normal? Since when was the Seven's control not normal?

Her mouth opened, but Rekema's words came out. "Take me to the library."

Library? Weren't they looking for something else? A b—buh—?

"Right this way, Your Majesty," one of them said.

The four of them, even though to an observer there only seemed to be two, made their way through the halls Mari had become fairly familiar with. Despite that, it didn't take them long to reach a completely new area Mari had yet to explore; although, to be honest, it didn't look all that different. It felt different. If Mari hadn't been under Rekema's control, she would have shuddered and held her arms.

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Rekema and Muraad did not speak the entire way. Mari's gaze was forced ahead so she could not even see their expressions. While Mari was still poor at deciphering them, all the time she had spent with Dainan had started to help her improve her understanding of expressions. She could have used the practice on the two of them; maybe she would come close to understanding Regan's odd, withdrawn expressions.

"Here it is, Your Majesty." The guard stopped in front of a large, ornate door. Mari stumbled out of her thoughts and took it in. Bright, polished metal shined in complicated patterns. This door was second only to the doors of the throne room. What kind of priceless treasures would be in such a room? For if Rekema and Muraad were after it, it could only be something incredibly important.

Mari still couldn't see Rekema, but she heard Rekema whisper something to Muraad. Mari didn't catch it as she was forced to push the door open. It creaked and groaned as it slowly swung back.

The sight before her eyes... Mari didn't understand it, but her legs trembled at the sight. It was magnificent.

The front of the room had several tables with plush chairs around them as well as chairs and long chair like pieces of furniture that seemed to be built to seat multiple people. Beyond the tables, gigantic wooden structures that looked like hollow boxes filled the room. Mari could not even see the back of the room. There was a staircase off to the side that led up to another floor with even more of the hollow boxes. Each of these boxes had strips of wood and on them rested small boxes of a different material and colors. Mari didn't know what the purpose of them was, but just the sheer amount of them filled her with awe. Dainan must have been the wealthiest kind of all the kingdoms to have so many of those boxes filled with smaller boxes. The smaller boxes must each contain something beautiful, elegant, or precious, and each must be unique to have such a vast quantity. They much also have been of the highest quality; they could only be so because for a kind would have no use for them if they were not valuable.

"This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Muraad groaned.

Mari's thoughts slowly turned. She told herself to ask Dainan about needles and haystacks when she saw him next. Mari wasn't sure it was important information, but she would rather have too much information than not enough.

"I'm not looking forward to it anymore than you are. But unless you want to deal with the twins or Balak's antics, I suggest you stop whining and get going," Rekema said, letting go of Mari. Mari stumbled forward, swaying as her mind cleared. Books! It came back to her; Rekema had said they were looking for books.

"What is happening?" Mari asked, facing both of them.

Neither answered her. Muraad just rolled his shoulders; red scales rolling over his tan skin. "I'm just saying maybe if Bidkar could find something useful to narrow our search, we wouldn't have to do this."

"Those scholars aren't talking, and there's not much on this kingdom in our archives Underneath, so taking advantage of this library seems to be our only option for the moment. If we don't find anything soon, we'll bring Bidkar and try again with the scholars. Unfortunately, while that way may be the easiest option, the higher ups want us to try this first." Rekema crossed her arms and tossed her hair. "If it were up to me, we would have already finished, but the others have their plans and strategies, with that comes patience, despicable thing it is, it is necessary."

Their conversation made little sense to Mari, which was nothing new, but this time, Mari took care to try and remember what she could. She wanted to keep a tight grip on it because while it may not make sense at that moment, maybe with Dainan's help, it would make sense later. There had to be something useful in what they said.

Muraad sighed, "I think you just like the sound of your own voice, but fine. Let's get started."

They turned back to her, and Mari kept her face neutral. At their looks, Mari had a feeling that no matter how magnificent those boxes seemed to her, they would turn them into something awful. They certainly had with everything else.