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“You can’t blame me for being worried,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Last night was tough.”
Her argument with Jagger’s cousin had been the worst part of the night, at least in an acute sense. Everyone had a snide comment or an askance look for Arden, and it’d made my blood boil. They didn’t know her. And if everyone wasn’t in each other’s business all the time, they would have never guessed she came from Smithton. She looked the part of a Royal’s mate.
“I understand,” she said, her voice gentle. “But seriously, I’m okay. You’ve asked me ten thousand times already.”
My restless energy didn’t have enough space with me sitting down, so I got up and paced alongside the long wooden table. Ardensaidshe was okay, but was she going to be later?
“But for the next events—” I started.
“Flint.” Arden glared at me. “Seriously. I’ve told all of you that I can handle myself, and it’s getting tiring.”
I sighed. Fine. But just because I wasn’t voicing my concerns didn’t mean that I had turned off my protective side. It never turned off, ever.
“Flint.” She rested her hand on my forearm. Her expression was soft. “I love you, and I understand why you care. But I love the others, too, and wish I could be closer to all three of you.”
I put my other hand on hers, and she flipped it over, so we were holding hands. The simple touch felt so good and so right, but it was canceled out by knowing I was a part of the reason why she was distressed. I was truly split. I craved more moments like this—us, together. Alone. But the jealousy burned in my gut no matter how much I wanted to give her what she wanted. That part of me felt as powerful as the protective side.
“I know, Arden,” I said, squeezing her hand. “I’m still thinking about it. I promise.”
Arden swallowed and nodded, even as a furrow appeared in her brows. “Okay.”
The book glowed in front of us, the pages fluttering until the book closed. I grabbed it, holding my breath, and opened it. The spell had worked—the pages that were once blank were now covered in text and ornate drawings.
“What is this?” Arden asked, sliding closer to me. I moved the book so both of us could see it. “Is the language jumbled?”
“No. It’s in an ancient dialect. They usually use it in spiritual texts about the Mystic.” I frowned. This book wasn’tthatold. Whoever wrote it must have done that on purpose—very few fae besides priests, Royals, or their tutors could read it. “It’s been a while since I’ve read it. Hold on.”
I dug back in my memory for the proper translation spell, something my tutors growing up had discouraged me from using while learning the ancient languages. But I remembered it anyway and transformed the text into our modern language.
The book was simply called,The Aridunn Family Journal, with a table of contents of the various years the entries were in. Even though it was written in the ancient text, the entries came all the way up to about a hundred years ago. Family history journals weren’t uncommon, especially for prominent families. Had the Aridunns been prominent at some point? I frowned and flipped to the first entry. Arden and I skimmed through it.
“This is just a description of a birthday party.” She thumbed through the latter pages. “What is this?”
I turned the book a few pages to see if the other entries were like that, and a page made me stop. Arden moved her hands so I could open the book fully to the page that had caught my attention.
“It’s a Royal journal. Look at this.” I pointed to a paragraph. “This is a description of a ceremony to swear in new Royals. Only close family are allowed to even know about this aspect of the ceremony.”
“A member from each of the four families spilled their blood, creating a burst of light like I had never seen before around the newest Royal. After recovering from the intense moment, we started plans for the official coronation,”she read aloud. She blinked. “Four families.”
I read the page again, just to be sure. There hadn’t been four ruling families…well, ever. It had always been Lex’s, Jagger’s, and my bloodlines for as long as our history had been recorded.
I flipped back toward the beginning, right after the birthday party entry, my gaze darting over the pages. The fourth family came up again and again—the entries were from someone in it. Several someones, given the time span of the journal.
The reality sunk in little by little, as much as everything I’d known about my world since I was a child resisted it—the Aridunns were a fourth Royal family.
“The historian is absolutely sure that this book is on the Aridunns?” Arden pulled the book toward herself.
“I assume so.” I summoned him from his desk at the far end of the library. He hurried over, passing through the sound dampening spell I had around our table.
“How can I help?” the historian asked.
“This book.” I showed him the leather-bound cover. “Where did it come from? What sources have you been pulling from?”
“I just brought you as many sealed books as I could get from every corner of the kingdom, Your Highness.” He wrung his hands together. “I even went beyond our library system and asked private collectors. It must have come from one of them.”
“So, it might not be real?” Arden asked. “Like it might be fiction?”
“I’m not sure.” The historian swallowed. “But I assumed you wanted a range of possibilities. A wide net.”
