Page 61 of Maleen

The armor I found, they didn’t have time to get to it. Maybe if they had more warning…

Talyn squeezes my hand three times and I ground myself back in the present. “I see,” is all I manage to say.

“Perhaps you can read your mother’s journals—they should be locked away in her rooms. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you helped yourself to them.”

“How is my mother doing?” I haven’t been up to see her since she arrived, but last I checked in there was no change, still in a coma. The healers have been doing what they can to keep her comfortable, but it is obvious now that it’s only a matter of time.

“The same,” she says, confirming what I already knew. She takes a deep breath and forces a smile on her face. “Now, let’s discuss some happier topics, shall we?”

“I am all for some happier conversations,” I tell her.

“Perfect. As you are aware, we have plans to throw you and your mates a homecoming ball, and then when you complete all the bonds we can throw a mating celebration as well. I was thinking we could have everything thrown together in a few days time—”

Jesper cuts in. “Actually push it a week. Our delightful queen-to-be completed all her bonds last night and so have our dragons. And according to Ravina we will be unreachable in a few days for about three days if the books are right.”

“Just tell her you’re going to have a sex marathon that is forced upon you by the Fates. Oh, tell Rozen that I will be expecting him to feed me while you are otherwise occupied,” Nero adds lazily as he cleans his feathers.

“Actually, we should probably hold off on any major engagements until after the war. So that gives you a lot of time to plan something extravagant,” I add with a smile.

Madam Windwhisper’s eyes widen. “Yes, of course. I’ll make all the arrangements for after. Congratulations, Princess. I hope you have a long and happy mating. Now, onto the details.”

MY HEAD HURTS after going through all the decisions with Windwhisper with my bonds chiming in from time to time with their opinions. Thankfully Jesper and Aemon were all too happy to help me decide when they noticed I was getting overwhelmed. Ember helped keep them in check: Jesper and Nero wanted floral centerpieces with daggers and swords, but she managed to talk them out of it. I’m hoping that one day all this will be easy, but something in me doubts that. I’m just glad I have a great group of friends to help support me through this, because I would be utterly lost without them all.

The moment I step back into the library it’s like my whole body finds peace, and the stress from earlier melts away.

“Princess Ravina,” Merriwhether says, exasperated. “Can you explain what happened to the table? And the books?” She places her hand on her hips and my face instantly heats as I try to stammer my way through an explanation.

Roz wraps his arm around my shoulder and ruffles my hair. “We will clean it up.”

“You better. I won’t have you destroying my library, Queen-to-be of the realm or not,” she states, but her eyes sparkle with mischief. She takes a step closer. “Congratulations on your matings,” she winks and then disappears down an aisle.

“Oh my fucking Fates,” I mutter, pressing my hands to my cheeks, trying to cool them down.

Killian’s amusement trickles down the bond as Nero gives him a play-by-play of what just happened. “Tell them to not throw out the table. I’m keeping it.”

“Whatever for? It’s broken.” He doesn’t reply and shuts me out of his thoughts, but I can still sense he’s plotting. “Killian?” Nothing.

Ember steps up beside me, eyeing where the librarian disappeared. “Is it just me, or did she have more of a pep in her step?”

“I think Rav’s little rebellious actions brought some life back to the old fae,” Roz teases, bumping my shoulder. “Come on, let’s clean up your mess so we can go back to researching how to destroy the most powerful magickal artifact in the realm.”

“Actually…” Lennox adds, stepping back towards the door. “I need to go meet someone. I’ll see you all for dinner later.”

“Is everything okay?” I ask, my brows furrowing.

“Yeah, everything’s good, I promise.” He gives us a tight smile and then leaves through the library doors, back into the main part of the castle.

“What the Fates was that about?” I mutter, and Nero lifts his wings in the bird version of a shrug.

Ember shakes her head, letting out a dry laugh. “Cynder is training right now, and I think our friend wants to keep an eye on her since the rest of the Safir Raiders are back.”

I shake my head in amusement. “Alright, well, let’s get this finished so we can see if we can find out anything more.”

I would be kicking myself in the ass for making the mess, but it was worth how amazing it was, and honestly I wouldn’t change a thing.

“THERE"S NOTHING HERE,” I sigh, closing yet another tome and rubbing my temples. At this point I just want to crawl into bed with my mates and sleep for the rest of the week.

Ember rolls up the scroll she was reading. “What if we try to find that magickal being your mother got the spell from? Maybe they would have an idea of how to destroy it?”