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“What happened?” Arden asked. She flipped through the pages again. “These are all completely blank!”
“Shit. It must have had an alarm of sorts.” I pulled my hand away. “Did you read any of it?”
“No.” Arden deflated. “If I had known something would happen, I wouldn’t have let you touch it. Not that it’s your fault, but…”
I understood.
“Whoever enchanted this book was incredibly powerful. And they had something to hide,” I said. “But I don’t know who that might be.”
“I don’t know, either. Obviously.” Arden closed the book, then opened it again, checking if the text came back. “But at least we have the name Aridunn. That’s something.”
Despite finding the good in the situation, the look in her eyes was worn out. After living her entire life without knowing, feeling so close and having it ripped away from you had to be devastating.
“I’ll have my aides dig through to find information on them, okay?” I rubbed her upper back. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I put my arm around her. “I’ll still help you find who they are, no matter how long it takes.”
Chapter29
Jagger
We had a lot of shit going on, between the Forsaken Lunars, finding Tommy, and figuring out who Arden’s parents were, but today felt slow. I’d gotten through my work, and now I had time to kill. I debated whether to get my chef to make me something for an early dinner, but I got a better idea instead.
I wandered through the central palace until I ended up in front of Arden’s room. I pushed the door open, finding her curled up in a chair with a book.
Fuck, I loved seeing her like this, so cozy and warm despite the dreary day outside. Her red hair was up in a messy bun, the kind she liked to sleep in, and she was wearing a loose t-shirt. She looked up from her book and smiled at me.
“Hey, you,” I said. “I’d say I didn’t mean to interrupt, but that would be a lie.”
Arden laughed, tucking a bookmark into her spot in her book and putting it on the side table. “It’s fine. It’s a rainy day, so I’m just relaxing.”
I leaned over and kissed her, savoring her lips. “Sounds pleasant. Do you want to finally cook that meal for me like you were going to do that time?”
“Sure, yeah.”
I took her hand, and we walked back to my quarters, taking the long route to avoid going outside. Once we were back in my quarters, she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the kitchen as if it was her space. Good. I wanted her to feel like that with me.
She opened the doors of the fridge and nodded in approval. Some aides had restocked my fridge recently. “What do you want to eat?”
“Surprise me.” I leaned a hip against the big island in the middle of the kitchen.
“You’re sure?”
“Very sure.”
She reached into a lower drawer, pulling out several kinds of cheese and mumbling to herself as she put them on the island in front of me. I checked her out while she wasn’t looking. Even in a big t-shirt and leggings, she inspired lust in me. Her long legs and shapely ass held my attention until she turned and shut the door of the fridge.
“Are we having cheese?” I asked.
“Nope.” She held up a pack of bacon. “Macaroni and cheese. With bacon, because why not? It’s a comfort food kind of day.”
“It is.”
She went on her tiptoes and grabbed macaroni from the pantry. Then, she dug through the cabinets and unearthed a cheese grater I didn’t know I had. As fucking cute as she was puttering around the kitchen, the furrow in her brow bothered me.
“What’s going on?” I asked her, resting my forearms on the island. “How was the library with Flint?”
She sighed with her whole upper body, like it had come from deep inside her. “It wasn’t great. The aides compiled a ton of great resources, but nothing was there. Just a mention here and there. Then we found this one book that was sealed up so much that even Flint couldn’t get into it. But I could. I was so excited, but the minute Flint looked at it, the pages went blank. At least we know a name associated with it, so Flint is having them gather information on that.”
“Shit.” I pushed off the counter and went to hug her. “I’m sorry. We’ll find out more about your family soon.”
