And Damien and I would have the time we deserved.
I sighed and rose from the bench, wincing with each tender step as I returned to the Archivallia. I wasn’t sure what time it was, or how much longer I had until Damien would return for me. I wondered where Salwa was. This chamber was so massive, she could be anywhere, but I didn’t want to disturb her work.
My chest swelled as I thought about the news I’d be able to share with Damien
We would be mated. We would be one. I didn’t want to wait, didn’t want to risk us not having enough time. I looked down at myself as I neared the bench. Joggers and a loose T-shirt. This was definitely not what I wanted to wear, so it wouldn’t happen when he came to pick me up.
I couldn’t deny it; I felt a little guilty about only wanting it to be us, but everyone had their own things to deal with. Vincent needed to focus on Anna and their baby. Zephyr and Calista were busy planning their own mating ceremony. I didn’t want to take anything from them.
This was for us, and for no one else.
I reached down to grab Lucia’s book, which was resting where I’d left it. I’d skimmed to The Fall of Kingdoms, but there’d been nothing in it on how she’d defeated Melantha—no details, just that she’d done it. It was frustrating.
My eyes drifted to Moira’s book on the small table next to the bench. I wanted to know more of her, if only to feel a little more connected. The leather was cold against my hand as I grabbed it and set Lucia’s book in its place. An astral sprite caught sight of me and approached, its head tilting as I settled onto the bench, turning the cover over to the first page.
“Mind helping me?”
The creature climbed onto the bench beside me, the act more like a toddler than a magical librarian, and I giggled. It scooted beside me and lifted its tiny clawed hand to my arm as I held the book. My eyes fell to the text before me, the words flowing into my mind once again. “Your magic is amazing.”
The tiny sprite chittered, the cheerful pleasure it felt from the compliment seeping into my skin.
Moira Archonis. I smiled at the sound of Damien’s last name in my mind. We’d been mated even then. Cassie Archonis. My smile grew wider, and I had to shake my head to focus on what I was reading.
Moira Archonis. 1025-1221.I hadn’t lived as long as Lucia, just under two hundred years.
Parentage. Maternal: Selene, Goddess of the Moon. Paternal…
I frowned. There was no father listed. Why? I knew Moira’s father had been an immortal, but who? I chewed the inside of my lip as I flipped through the pages, wishing I’d kept a diary of sorts, something to help me visit memories now lost to me. There were many major events listed, far more than in Lucia’s book. I’d been more warrior than a princess, and the details of the first thirty to forty years seemed vague. Over the next hundred years, there were notations of many accomplishments, battles, and victories. It wasn’t until 1082 that Damien and I had been mated. What was the ceremony like?
What little I’d seen of Lunoscia castle had been glorious. I could only imagine how beautiful it would have been to be mated within its walls. I wished I could’ve experienced a wedding like that, the gowns, the music, the dancing. Hollow numbness spread through my chest, and I blinked back the burning in my eyes to refocus on the text before me.
Page after page, I read, battle after battle, victory after victory. God, Damien and I had fought so many battles, so many monsters. A name popped up from time to time, snagging my attention, almost always linked to a battle. Lupa. I wondered who it was. It almost sounded like the name of the shadow wolves Damien summoned, the Lupai. Another warrior, maybe?
The pages grew fewer and fewer until I reached the text describing The Darklings’ Descent. A chill as icy as the winter wind crawled over my skin as I began to read. It had happened so fast, a dark power sweeping in with little warning. Immortals fell left and right to the warriors who’d turned, their minds seemingly twisted by Matthias’ dark influence. My heart ached when I read the next line.
The darkness was far too strong, corrupting and unleashing the horror lingering at the core of House Skiá, turning immortals into darklings, friend into foe.
I halted at the end of that line, my stomach dipping. Damien had told me House Skiá fell when the darklings first appeared, but I’d assumed they’d been killed. They hadn’t, though. They’d been changed—tethered to Matthias’ will and the darkness he commanded.
My imagination ran wild, images of immortals falling one by one as the darklings descended on our kingdom. The immortal, Lee, flashed across my mind, the dark veins spreading across her skin. Had it been as gruesome a sight as that? I could only imagine how terrifying it must have been.
I continued reading.
The kingdom of Lunoscia was unprepared, the attack devastating. Thousands were killed or converted before Matthias was destroyed.
I turned the page, but it was blank.
Wait, what happened?
I flipped back, wondering if I’d missed a page, but there was nothing. It just... ended. What happened to Moira after The Darklings’ Descent? I set the book aside and grabbed Lucia’s book to flip through until I found the end, then scrolled over the last page with text.
Lucia Archonis passed in childbirth. She was survived by mate Damien Archonis and daughter Emilia Archonis.
The words hurt to read, but I pushed past the pain sinking into my chest at the sight of her name. I closed the book and grabbed Moira’s. The astral sprite watched me with confused eyes as I pushed myself up from the bench, regretting that I hadn’t propped my feet up as the throbbing pain seared through them. The sprite jumped down from the bench, tiny, clawed hands shooting up into the air frantically at me.
“I’m okay, just sore,” I assured the creature, forcing a weak smile. We headed toward the front of the Archivallia where the glass case resided. I wanted to look at Elena’s book, see what it said at the end. Did it have my cause of death listed there? I set Moira’s and Lucia’s books back in their places, then grabbed Elena’s book and flipped through to the end.
Elena Archonis fell in battle during the darkling invasion of Moonhaven, survived by mate Damien Archonis and brother Zephyr Laskaris.
