One of my strongest headcanons is that the one night Dustfinger spent in Elinor’s house at the beginning of Inkheart was one of the worst nights of his life. He cleared the books off of a little section of the floor next to the bed (the idiot hates sleeping in beds because he thinks they spoil him and he won’t be able to sleep on the ground again when he gets home) and just laid there all night feeling incredibly guilty about what he was doing and what he was about to do, betraying Meggie and Mo. All the books and the tight attic space made him feel trapped. He was too scared of Elinor back then to even think of touching any of her books, and books make him miss home and frustrate him because he can’t read them properly anyway. I think Elinor’s house symbolizes one of his lowest points.
““Dustfinger inspected his reddened fingers and felt the taut skin. ‘He might tell me how my story ends,’ he murmured.
Meggie looked at him in astonishment. ‘You mean you don’t know?’
Dustfinger smiled. Meggie still didn’t particularly like his smile. It seemed to appear only to hide something else. ‘What’s so unusual about that, princess?’ he asked quietly. ‘Do you know how your story ends?’
Meggie had no answer for that.””
Penhales 