*Lena*
The air was warm and humid in the atrium, which was probably my favorite room in the entire castle. Three-story-high windows towered over us as Xander and I sat in wicker chairs in the center of the room.
The windows were dripping with moisture, and the air was thick. It felt amazing, and Alexis seed to like it, too. She’d been sleeping peacefully in Xander’s arms for the last half hour without stirring.
Xander had his eyes closed as he rocked her in his chair, and I was busy looking around at the huge tropical plants that were older than I was, so likely forty or fifty years old at this point.
I yawned hugely, blinking into the muted afternoon light shimring against the water droplets trickling down the glass panes. The sliding door to the atrium slid open, and Adrian stepped inside, holding sothing in his arms. Xander opened one eye and settled it on Adrian, but he opened both eyes wide when he noticed what Adrian was carrying.
“Rember this?” Adrian said as he walked over, opening a large, heavy book and setting it on the table in front of us. I leaned forward, arching my brow as I looked down at the book. For a mont, I thought it was the spellbook that was now in Maeve’s possession, but this one was... different. It felt different, if that even made sense, when I reached out and ran my fingers along the ancient script.
It also wasn’t written in a language none of us could decipher with divine help, which was a nice change of pace.
I was, however, totally uninterested in magic books from bygone eras at this point. I’d had my fill of magic for the ti being.
“Would you care to explain why you have this?” Xander said, his voice sharp and clipped as Adrian rocked on his heels, a mischievous look in his eyes. He tilted his head to the side, shrugging. “Adrian. Did you steal this from the Temple of Lycaon?”
“I borrowed it,” he argued, his perfect white teeth on display as he gave Xander a crooked, boyish smile.
“Why?”
“Because the one I found in this realm is likely nothing but ash–”
“Oh, my Goddess! I totally forgot!” I snatched the book off the table before either man could protest my rough handling of what was quickly explained to be one of the most important religious items in all of the Dark Realm. Adrian had dropped what I assud was a copy of this book on my bed in Cedar Hollow, but I hadn’t had a second to react to it, or ask about it. Within minutes, Cedar Hollow had burst into flas, and we were under attack.
I flipped through the pages, scanning the text. It was mostly just... lore, maybe so guided prayers to a God, rather than the Moon Goddess.
“I found the other copy in a library in a town called Raven’s Peak, just north of Red Lakes. I stopped there on my way back to Cedar Hollow and it was literally just sitting on a shelf, Xander, just sitting there between so book about animal husbandry and one about the proper way to mix cent.” Adrian plopped down in a chair opposite mine, stretching his legs out in front of him. “I might need a raise, Xander. I had to pay three whole dollars for it. It wasn’t on sale.”
Xander shot Adrian a dirty look.
“Why the fuck was The Canonical of Lycaon in a bookstore in Raven’s Peak? And why did you–”
I gasped, and both n looked in my direction as I lowered the book back on the table. An entire page, yellowed with age, was covered in illustrations that had faded with ti. But it was clear what was on the page. My heart was beating rapidly as my eyes left the illustration and t with Xander’s.
“Is this... is this supposed to be ?” I asked in a voice that I had ant to be small. Shock rippled over my skin as I held his gaze, which was knowing... understanding passing behind his dark eyes.
Adrian huffed out his breath, crossing his ankles. He glanced at Xander, then back at .
“Xander ca here to find a descendant of the White Queens to marry, you know. At least I hope you know, that this isn’t coming as a surprise–”
“Adrian, please shut up,” Xander breathed, closing his eyes for a mont.
“I did know that,” I chuckled, glancing between them. I looked back down at the image, and the sunstone I’d been wearing around my neck since the day I left the Night God’s company grew warm against my skin.
The page was a blur of florals and stars, most of them faded to the point it was impossible to see what their original colors would have been. But, in the center, was a woman with long white hair, her eyes a soft silver and her palms outstretched, vines dappled with white roses falling from her open hands. But around her figure was a darkness. It was a shadow, I realized as I slowly looked up at Xander, who was watching closely.
The shadow was embracing her, protecting her, and in a way... bowing down to her. But it could’ve been sothing else entirely, sothing more sinister.
“This text belongs to the church founded by the early followers of Lycaon,” Xander began. “I’ve never read the entire thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not allowed,” Adrian cut in, stretching his arms over his head. “We studied so of it in school, but only what the priests and elders of the Church wanted us to see.”
“We were ant to worship Lycaon as a god, not as a man gifted with magic and curses,” Xander added, shifting Alexis’s weight as she began to stir. She rooted against his shirt as he rose from his chair and carefully placed her in my arms.
“So you’ve never seen this picture?” I asked as I pulled my shirt up, making sure I wasn’t accidentally flashing Adrian as Alexis latched onto my breast, her eyelids fluttering as she nursed herself back to sleep.
“I hadn’t seen it until I had to spend seven hours on a bus back to Cedar Hollow when I was coming back after looking for Xander,” Adrian replied. “I rembered a poem from school, sothing dark and creepy that one of our teachers made us morize.”
“Two lines into one. The builder of realms seeks its throne. Through the trials of the court of blood and fury, out of darkness cos light, as day turns to night. A new dawn of the Empire of eternal sun,” Xander recited as his eyes t mine. He leaned forward, his hands resting on his knees. “That night at my apartnt in Morhan, when you were telling about your parents... That’s when I realized the connection. Two lines... that was you. I’d known about the vampires by then, and assud the Court of Blood and Fury had sothing to do with their realm. I realized then I would never be able to keep you safe from them–”
“Because it was all prophesied,” Adrian shrugged.
Xander gave him a look.
“But what is the role of the White Queen in your realm? I don’t understand why there would be a picture of–even if it’s not , still. This is a White Queen. Lycaon hated his sister, and she was the first White Queen.”
“I don’t know,” Xander said honestly.
“I realized you’d likely done sothing to Xander when I rembered the line about a builder of realms,” Adrian cut in, his eyes eting mine. “Obviously, I didn’t have ti to explain, or ask if you’d sent him sowhere, even accidentally.”
I ran my tongue along my lower lip, nodding as I adjusted my shirt. Alexis was asleep again, dreaming cozily against my stomach. Shortly after Adrian had co back to Cedar Hollow, the pack was attacked, and the book had been lost.
“Why would there have been a copy of this in my realm?” I asked.
Adrian shrugged, but Xander let out his breath, looking contemplative.
“You said the Lycennian refugees went north, right? So of them obviously didn’t cross the Northern Tundra like you thought, because they ended up in the west–Slate’s family, Clare and her family. The only explanation is that the Lycenna pack had their own copy–”
“I don’t think it was a copy,” Adrian said, clapping his hands on his thighs. “I think it was the original.”
We both looked at him, but anything left to be said was quickly forgotten as the door to the atrium slid open, and Abigail stepped inside, followed by Elaine.
I hadn’t seen them together yet. The entire reason we were sitting in the atrium was that Abigail and Elaine were reuniting for the first ti since they were toddlers.
I realized why I hadn’t imdiately noticed the similarities between the two won when I first t Elaine. They didn’t look all that alike, if I was being honest. There was sothing about the shape of their eyes, and the way their lips parted into a smile that was identical, and the color of their hair was exactly the sa.
But Abigail was softer, her face more round and cheeks more full. Her curls were looser, and her hair was swept in a long sheet down her back.
Elaine’s face was more intense, much sharper than Abigail’s soft femininity. She was slightly shorter than Abigail, and her hair fell over her shoulders in tight, auburn curls.
I also hadn’t noticed the tattoos that decorated Elaine’s torso and back until now, which was the first ti I’d seen her in anything but a flannel or sweatshirt. The colors in her tattoos were visible through her white tank top, but I didn’t have a mont to ask to see them or ask about them.
The twins moved in on us, smiling.
Adrian looked Elaine up and down with raised brows.
“We had a lot of catching up to do,” Abigail said with a shrug, smiling at her mate as Adrian’s eye t hers.
“Abigail told that... that Prince Oliver–”
“I don’t know where he is. And I don’t know for sure if you are... if you are mates,” I said quickly, swallowing against the lump in my throat as I looked at Elaine.
She gave a weak smile, nodding in understanding.
“I think they are,” Abigail argued, sitting down in Adrian’s lap.
Adrian blew out his breath, pretending to wince as she swatted him playfully. I couldn’t help but smile at the happy couple, now a married couple, as she bent to whisper in his ear. I turned to Xander, who was gazing at with a knowing look in his eyes.
I rose from my chair, gathering Alexis against my shoulder. I felt Xander’s hand against my lower back as we walked out of the room, leaving Elaine, Abigail, and Adrian to catch up.
“Are you feeling alright?” he asked as we stepped into the corridor.
I nodded, smiling up at him as he closed the door to the atrium and fell into step with .
“Are you sure? You gave birth less than a day ago.”
“I’m fine, I promise. It feels good to get up and walk around.”
It felt even better to close up so loose ends about our trials with the vampires. But now, after seeing the book, I felt a sense of unease settle in my stomach.
Was that shadow behind the White Queen in the book just a coincidence? Was it the imagining of the prophecy Xander and Adrian had talked about?
Could it just be and Xander?
Or, was it sothing sinister, a warning or an on?
That darkness had surrounded the queen in the image, wrapping itself around her...
“What’s on your mind?” Xander asked as we walked towards our room.
“I... nothing. It’s nothing.”
And I prayed that it was, in fact, nothing.
#
Reviews
All reviews (0)