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[Emilia Hasting]

Emilia adjusted her hood, making sure her dark curls were safely hidden and continued through the streets of Luthadel. Thankfully, they were relatively empty. The executions that occurred earlier that day had blackened the mood of everyone in Luthadel, and it seemed skaa and noble had decided that today would be better spent indoors. Still, Emilia wanted to be careful. She knew there was someone watching her, and that put her on edge. There was something dangerous going on, something that involved her mother and Anabelle. While they had been missing for a year, from Emilia's experience, any situation involving those two was likely to be dangerous.

The stakes, of course, had been raised last night, at the Casuana ball. All of Keep Hasting had been buzzing. Mikhail Elariel was dead, stabbed to death by Phyra Venture with a distinctive obsidian dagger manufactured by House Hasting. Furthermore, the last known possessor of said dagger, Kaylen Hasting, had not been seen by anyone since the ball, around the time when Emilia had received the first note from whoever was watching her.

Her mother had taught her not to believe in coincidences. This was all connected somehow. Just over a year after her mother and cousin went missing, Kaylen Hasting, a trained mistborn, went missing as well. The same night, House Hasting was implicated in murder that could put them in a very dangerous position with the other houses in Luthadel and Emilia received a note containing information that could have only come from her mother or Anabelle. It all had to be connected... but how?

Emilia clutched the newest note in her fist, running over the words in her head. First there had been a number, one of the codes used to sort and find books in the Canton of Doctrine library. Next, today's date, listed as the due date for the book. The entire thing had been written in Emilia's own handwriting, though she knew for a fact she had not written it. The paper was still white and unwrinkled and the ink hadn't faded. The note had been written the same day it was left on her desk for her to find, and for some reason the author had wanted it to seem like Emilia herself had written it.

Both Anabelle and Darleen were competent forgers and would have been familiar with Emilia's handwriting, so it was impossible to say which of them had left the note. However, it did indicate one of them was involved, in the same way the wording of the first note had. These notes were obviously meant only for Emilia, and right now whoever was sending them wanted her to look up a certain book for some reason.

While Emilia was worried she was playing into the hands of whoever was watching her by going to the library, she couldn't stay away. People were going missing, House Hasting itself might be in danger, and for the first time in a year she had evidence her mother and cousin might still be alive. These notes were her only clue. Until she had other information to work off of, she would have to do as the notes said if she wanted to get to the bottom of things.

Emilia waited until she was inside the library to lower her hood. Her instincts told her to keep it up, but wearing a hood inside would have made her conspicuous. Removing her cloak, she handed it to a door man and made her way to the front desk. He seemed surprised when she came to him with a code instead of a title. When he offered to fetch the book to the reading room for her, Emilia said she'd rather find the book herself. The book might contain another message, or perhaps someone would be waiting for her in the shelves. With obligators pacing throughout the shelves, Emilia was pretty sure she would be safe, and if the librarian brought her the book, she might miss an important clue.

And so, code and the librarian's instructions in hand, Emilia began to wander through the library, searching for the next clue.