Their Hidden Princess Chapter 113

The librarian directed me to a corner of the library that was dark and smelled of wet leather. All of the books and tombs around me looked at least a hundred years old. If not more.

“I usually don’t bring students back here,” the librarian stated. “But I’d recently come across a lost tomb and placed it back. I’m sure it will be helpful to you.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, eyes still tracking across the thousands of ancient tombs around me. I wonder how many told the story of my mother. Or my grandmother. I’d have to come back for a leisure read. I was on a mission.

The librarian stopped at the end of the long case of tombs. She wiggled her fingers as she read across the spines then hummed when she found the one she wanted. She pulled the spine gingerly and it fell into her hands. Although, it didn’t actually touch her hands. It floated above them in a haze of purple light. She saw my eyes go wide at the magiks and chuckled.

“This tomb survived both the Enslavement and the Great War,” she said. “I’d be doing a terrible job if I let everyone’s grubby fingers all over it. The magiks around it preserve the book but still allow it to be read.”

“Amazing,” I said as she gently floated the book towards me. I lifted my hand as if to pull back the cover and the hazy purple shadows did it for me. I blinked in response. Magiks were still so new to me. The librarian clearly noticed.

“Your family doesn’t use much high magiks, do they?”

I shook my head. “Not while I was around, at least.”

The librarian hummed. Then, she swiped her hand over the book. Instantly, all of the strange symbols and letters on the first page shifted and became plain English. I looked up at her and she smiled.

“I assume you don’t know ancient wolvish?”

“That would be correct,” I snorted. “So this will have information on wolves with multiple fated mates?”

“Yes,” she nodded at me. “It should contain all known wolves with two fated mates. Maybe some with three.”

“Perfect,” I smiled back at her and she took that as her cue to leave. She started back towards her desk, out of the rows and rows of tombs. Before she disappeared, she waved a hand over her shoulder.

“Any of the other book will come out if you focus on them,” she called. “And when you’re done, just focus on putting them back.”

“Thank you!” I chimed. The librarian waved her hand again and then she was gone.

The silence of me and the tomes was brutal. There was a slight hum of the High Magiks used to preserve them but other than that, nothing. I was almost certain I could hear my own heart beat. I ignored it and held my hand over the book. A page flipped to show erratically scrawled text. I immediately started reading.

Ellis Wolferly, twenty-six years of age as of 1132,

Holy fuck was this book old. I tried to not panic about it and kept reading.

Lady Wolferly bonded her first fated mate at the age of eighteen. Her second fated mate made itself know in the summer of her twenty-fifth year. He’d already chosen a mate that was not Lady Wolfery. Because of this, he refused the fated mate bond. The subsequent break down of both Lady Wolfery and her consort Lord Haymitch occurred over the course of two years. Lady Wolferly and Lord Haymitch both succumbed to their illness before they turned twenty-seven.

The next section detailed their illness in bold bullet points.

Hysteria.

Weakness.

Rage.

Pneumonia.

Delusions.

I swallowed thickly. None of that seemed pleasant in any way. I flipped the next page of the book and came across another name. Widen Lunerly. He must’ve been a relative of Valentin’s. His fate was the same as Ellis’s.

One fated mate and another that made itself known later in life. He was twenty when he died. The same symptoms were bulleted below his outcome.

Hysteria.

Weakness.

Rage.

Pneumonia.

Delusions.

I felt the lump in my throat grow larger. Another page flip. Another victim. Written in bold letters on the bottom, yet again, the symptom.

Hysteria.

Another page. Another victim.

Weakness.

Another.

Delusions.

It took almost twenty pages until I reached a page with no symptoms under the story. I sighed, shakily and went about reading.

Edward Swallows, born in 1801, deceased 1966.

Mr. Swallows found his first fated mate at sixteen years of age. Their bond was completed by eighteen. His second fated mate was found when he was twenty. The bond was completed by twenty-two. Mr. Swallows lived for one-hundred-and-seventy-five years total, the average age for a wolf at that time. He did not have any symptoms to show that he had two fated mates. In the case of future wolves with multiple fated mates, it is advised that the bonds be completed.

A spark of hope lit up inside of me. Death wasn’t imminent. Was it still there, lurking like my serial killer? Yes, absolutely. But Edward Swallows gave me hope. I flipped another page and my hope was bashed in with a hammer as I saw another wolf who died of the same causes.

There were a few more success stories but none of the wolves had more than two fated mates. It wasn’t until I reached wolves born in the 1900s that I found anything other than success or tragedy.

The wolf’s name was Elena Wolfham. Was it a coincidence she was Maximus’s relative? Maybe. It also couldn’t have been because how was Maximus supposed to know what he did? Unless he was privy to tombs the librarian was privy too. I frowned but continued reading.

Elena Wolfham, born 1945, deceased 2023.

Ms. Wolfham was born during the enslavement period. Since her magik was subdued, she did not realize her mate was her fated mate until she was forty years of age. It wasn’t until the end of the Great War, when her magik was allowed to flow freely, that she realized she had a second fated mate. Her second fated mate was Freeman Penchant, a known abuser and violent war general. Because of her disdain for Penchant, she did not wish to be bonded to him. In the first act of it’s kind, Ms. Wolfham broke the fated mate bond between her and Mr. Penchant. She retained no symptoms but had a life that was much shorter than that of the average wolf. Her life was akin to a human’s. Mr. Penchant’s life was not effected. He is still alive as of this recording. Ms. Wolfham was announced to have passed due to old age.

I blinked at the words before me. That was what Maximus was talking about. He was saying he’d break the bond so that it didn’t kill me. Unfortunately for him, his life was about to be chopped in half. My hand went to my mouth as I processed that.

Maximus was willing to break our bond and shorten his life, so that our bond didn’t kill me.

I immediately slammed the tomb shut and forced it back onto the shelf with my mind. I darted downstairs and back to where Loren was. She and Ani were completely leaning into one another at the table. I hesitated before running past them and out of the library completely.

I had to find Maximus.

I had to beg him not to break our bond.