91: A Future Uncertain

Quincy St. Martin

I stay in the library after Lady Celeste has left. I love books. I’m glad that my mate loves books as well. He downplays his abilities, but he can read and speak in so many languages. He remembers history and facts with frightening accuracy.

He can recite the contents just after a quick scan of a book. He comprehends more from a simple written text than most people could. His sharp mind can dissect events and conflicts in the world, the causes, and arguments from both sides. He reads people like he reads a book.

I’m in awe of his intelligence.

My finger absently traces the spines of the books as I stroll along an older section of the library. I keep walking until I reach a special section and my finger touches the spine of a book with strange symbols written in gold.

Underneath the symbols is smaller writing: ~The Record of the Lycan Monarchy~.

The book is thick and massive. Ooohh…that sounds interesting! I pull it out and carry it to the nearest table by a window. The dark brown leather cover is worn with age. The cursive handwriting is elegant, and the paper is yellow with time.

There are maps of territories and sketches of the monarchs.

The history of the royal family and the monarchy is as old as time. It is bloody and violent. It wasn’t always in Russia, either. More than the first half of the record is written in some strange symbols and writing that I don’t understand.

The part that I start to understand, or perhaps with some English translation, is of King Decebel Augustus who lived in a country that is now known as Romania.

He was violent and had a hard time controlling his lycan.

He marked his own cousin, Lady Livia, before taking the crown, and his reign was filled with debauchery and cruelty. He and his men pillaged werewolf packs for pleasure. They killed the males and took their females for their entertainment.

A bloody rebellion led by another cousin, Cyprian Romanov, who was third in line for the throne, ended his reign in 841.

King Cyprian Romanov wasn’t much better, if not worse. He moved the monarchy to Kievan Rus’, now known as Russia, where he started his own reign of terror. The violence spilled into the human world, causing thousands of deaths.

He ruled for nearly four centuries before his own son, Nikolai, slit his throat and severed his spine in the year 1240 while he was sleeping.

King Nikolai, Caspian’s grandfather, ruled for 280 years before his son, Alexandros, took over. Nikolai and his mate, Azalaïs, took off to travel the world after he relinquished his throne.

They might still be alive, but no one has heard from them for centuries, and they are assumed to be dead. King Alexandros has been in power for nearly 500 years now.

None of these kings mated their own erasthais, except for King Nikolai.

I guess yesterday marked another violent chapter in the history of the lycan monarchy.

A group of criminal rogues attacked a pack in the north yesterday, but they were defeated by the royal army not too long after they started. No more incidents were reported after that.

I hear the door opening and closing, followed by footsteps. I’d know those footsteps anywhere and recognize the smell.

I carefully close the book and look up into his vivid green eyes. My poor beat-up mate. There are some healing scratches on his cheek. The rest of his injuries are hidden underneath his black knitted sweater and black pants.

The sun shines just right to hit the top of his head, and his hair shines like a halo. He looks like an angel, but I know he’s not. He’s so beautiful that, at a time like this, it hurts just to look at him. I’m so grateful to still have him today.

“Come here, ~moya printsessa~,” he says.

I round the table, and instantly I’m in his arms.

“I know you missed me and my awesomeness,” he says against my hair. “You can’t get enough of all of this amazingness.”

I want to smack him, but then I remember his injury.

“Uh-huh,” I say instead. I know he enjoys irritating me as much as I love to annoy him, and he’s using his injury as an advantage right now.

“Found anything interesting?” he asks as his eyes fall on the big book on the table.

“Just some skeletons in your family history,” I reply. “How was the meeting with your mother?”

“Well, we’re both still alive,” he answers, kissing my cheek.

Good enough.

“How’s your father doing?”

“Still the same.” His lips are now skimming my jaw.

After the fight yesterday morning, King Alexandros retreated into himself. He seems to have lost a part of himself yesterday. The only consolation is that his mate, Queen Sophia, is still alive. If he’d been mated to Katya, he would have lost himself completely.

He can’t kill his own mate. He can’t even punish her since it was done at the arena during the fight and Katya had voluntarily entered the fighting ring.

Entering the ring means you’re presenting yourself as a new challenger for the crown. You are a fair game to anybody who decides to challenge you back.

Anybody can kill you without any consequences in the arena. Your death is your defeat. It’s all in the game.

“Do you think he will survive this?” I ask.

“I honestly don’t know, ~moya printsessa~, but I’d like to think so,” Caspian replies.

“Was Lady Celeste here?” He sniffs the air before he grimaces like he’s smelled something bad.

“I can smell her sickly sweet perfume. I wish she’d ease up on that. It gives me a headache every time.”

I nudge him in the stomach, careful not to touch where he’s hurt. “Be nice. I just scared her shitless.”

“Oh, how cute,” he says with a naughty grin. “You scare people shitless every day. Only now you’ve realized this?”

I dig my elbow into his uninjured side again, and he laughs before he winces.

“So, did scaring her shitless have something to do with Jorden?” he says.

I smile. “Do you think it’s too much for me to ask them to wait at least a year before they mark each other? That way they can get to know each other better and ensure they want to spend the rest of their lives together.”

He seems to weigh what he’s about to say carefully. ”While I think that’s a brilliant idea, we can’t force them to do that. We can suggest it to them. I know you want what’s best for him, and you don’t want him to mate with Lady Celeste, but they’re both adults.”

“To be completely honest, I want him to mate with Lady Celestia whatshername.”

That’s what Penny calls Lady Celeste now.

“The selfish part of me wants to keep him in our world and keep him in my life forever,” I say. “What I’m doing now is forcing myself to think of what’s best for him in the long run instead of being selfish. I don’t want him to do something he might regret one day. Mating is irreversible, and we’ve seen what it did to your parents.”

“I know, baby, but not all arranged matings end up like my parents’.” His hand moves up and down my back soothingly.

“Besides, Jorden and Lady Celeste’s isn’t arranged. I understand your point, though, and I will go talk to him if you want me to.”

“Thank you for the offer, my prince. I just want him to be sure, you know. I think I’ll go talk to him first. If that doesn’t work, I’ll send you in. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll send Constantine, then Lazarus, then Genesis, then Penny...”

“Setting Red and Penny on Jorden? Wow, you’re serious about torturing your cousin,” he says.