Rory blew a piece of rogue hair out of her face. “Yeah, I remember. You supposedly only have one set of wings, and they have three. That doesn’t mean you can’t shift them away.”
Kit’s parents exchanged a loaded look, and Kellin gave Sam the slightest nod. “Our mistake. You two have a seat, and let’s discuss what you need from us.”
They’re dropping it just like that?“Is Lauren’s name really Jophiel?” Rory asked Sam.
“Yes,” he replied as he sat down, and she followed in a trance. Her friend was hiding something, but she knew when to push, and this was not it.
“You said the Umbra King needs information on your soulscape magic. Do you know why?” Kellin asked, all business.
Rory hadn’t given that part much thought, but she had an inkling. “We recently discovered if something physically changes on our bodies in the soulscape, it happens in real life.”
The fact was reinforced that morning, not only by her bite mark but also by the almost non-existent blood on the tampon she still wore. The soulscape didn’t stop her period completely because shestarted to bleed again when she woke up, but for the night, her period was gone.
She guessed the tampon was still inside her because it wasn’t part of her body, therefore, it didn’t permanently change in the soulscape.Why did her body change but nothing else?Maybe the bond connecting them physically is what held the magic, not the actual soulscape itself.
“Changes how?” Meena asked, already moving around the room again. Did she ever sit down?
Rory had to show them the bite, and there was only one reason Caius would bite her. This wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with her friend’s parents, but she didn’t have a choice.
Tugging her collar aside, she showed them the scabbed-over bite. It was deep and might leave a scar. She was going to kill him.
Kellin leaned forward. “Is that a bite mark?”
Sam coughed, and Rory glared at him. “Yes. He bit me in the soulscape, but that’s not all. We tested it on him, too. The same thing happened. His cut was scarred the next morning. Healed, unlike mine, but the scar was there.”
“Incredible,” Kellin murmured and grabbed a pen to write something down.
Meena hummed as she meandered through the stacks back to her desk. “The funny thing about the realms,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Is that there were no history books in the early days. Everything was told through tall tales, written in storybooks, or passed down by mouth.
“It’s believed that Lora created theAeternumbond,” Meena went on. “She was obsessed with the idea of an undying love that tied souls together and thought everyone deserved loyal devotion, but Aemas wouldn’t let her create fated mates for everyone. Their compromise wasAeternums.”
“Why couldn’t everyone have a mate?” Rory mused. “Why was he against it?”
Meena shook her head. “It doesn’t say, but Aemas is told to beirrevocably in love with his wife. There must have been a good reason for him to deny her.”
Leaning forward, Rory tried to get a glimpse of the page. “Then Lora is responsible for the soulscape magic?”
“If the story is true, then yes,” Kellin confirmed. “While she is not as powerful as Aemas, she is aSeraphwith the ability tocreate. If physical alterations transfer from the soulscape to reality, she made it that way intentionally.”
Rory leaned on the arm of her chair, absorbing the information. “You’re saying anything we physically change in the soulscape will change in real life, no matter what?”
“Theoretically, yes,” Meena replied, closing the book. “I’m not sure if this information will be helpful to the king, but it is all we know about it.”
“Thank you,” Sam said, standing. “You have been accommodating.”
He signaled for Rory to stand, and she could tell he was ready to leave. “We really appreciate it,” she told Kit’s parents as they crossed the room to leave.
“If there is anything you ever need, please ask,” Kellin said, walking them to the door.
“Wait,” Meena called after them. The woman looked nervous. “If you make it back to Vincula, will you tell our daughter we love her and miss her?”
Rory smiled empathetically at the historians. “Yes. She is proud of you two and the work you do.”
The woman’s eyes watered. “We’re proud of her, too. Thank you. You two take care.”
Sam didn’t say a word, and as much as Rory wanted to ask him if he was okay, she didn’t.
“I need to make one more stop before we head home,” she told him as they exited the museum.
