Selene’s pov
"Who was that girl they killed unjustly, and how did the writer know she wasn’t the one?" I asked Ashlyn.
"Her name was Nara. She was blamed for causing it because she was the only one in her group who wasn’t affected."
I wondered to myself. How could people be so cruel? They clearly hadn’t done their research properly before killing her.
"But why did the flu stop after she died?" I asked her. She said she didn’t know about that part, but she knew for certain that the prophecy was going to come to pass.
"How do you know?" I asked her.
She said Nara, with her last breath before being set ablaze, swore she would return and have her revenge on all of them. She said the war would continue. They would never be one.
"Are you seeing any signs of the prophecy being fulfilled today?" I asked her.
"In fact, I do believe she’s already been reborn. Nara lives among us, and we should be expecting war any time now," Ms. Ashlyn said.
She told me that was all she knew. If a war broke out, it would affect all of Morvaine. There was no way to stop it because we didn’t know who Nara had been reborn as.
I decided I had to start my own investigation ... first, to find out who was truly behind the flu back then, and why it had stopped the moment Nara was killed unjustly.
For now, I had to keep studying.
"If I may ask, what do you want to use this information for?" she asked me.
"Just for the knowledge. I love to explore," I replied.
She nodded, probably wondering what kind of person I was. People in Winterwood didn’t seem interested in this kind of knowledge ... history ... and it showed. They’d been wounded by that neglect for a long time.
Maybe I’d get all my answers once I found parts two and three of the book. The author was said to have died some time ago.
I was ready to leave the library. On my way out, I saw a message from Cipher. Finally ... but it wasn’t a message with a solution. It was just a message of encouragement.
"I believe in you. I’ve always known you to be a resilient person. You’ll overcome ... just keep pushing."
Reading it made me feel so alive. I’d never felt more lifted, especially coming from a mentor.
I remembered Lucian was sorting things out with Kael and wouldn’t be free for a while, I told myself. I decided to go check on him anyway.
I reached the chambers and saw Tessa first.
"Why are you going to the Alpha’s chambers? Did he tell you he needs your presence?"
The nerve of her. I had to answer carefully before she ordered my head served on a plate.
"He told me to come check on him."
"It’s not possible to see him now. He’s busy. Go back," she said.
I had no choice but to listen. I retreated, hoping within myself that I’d still get the chance to see him.
I started heading back to the room reserved for me. I figured I’d have some alone time until I was ready to return to the library, or maybe go see Valerie ... until I walked in and found Lucian standing inside my room.
What the fuck? What was he doing in here?
He had his back turned to me.
"I heard you’re staying here," he said.
"Yes, this is where I was given," I replied.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
I felt myself blushing, like he actually cared.
"It’s okay, I guess," I said.
"Hmm. So you wanted to tell me something yesterday."
I tried to remember what I could have possibly wanted to tell him. Nothing came to mind.
"Tell you what, exactly?" I asked, trying to clarify.
"You had something to say to me yesterday. Don’t tell me you have a short memory," he pressed.
At that point, I knew this wasn’t going to be talk. It was going to be action.
We were about to have sex when Kael walked in.
I’d been taken as his breeder, brought here primarily to please him, but him coming to my own room wasn’t something I expected. He crossed every boundary, broke every barrier just to get closer to me.
But he was the Alpha. He’d made those barriers, and he could break them whenever he wanted. I didn’t have a choice.
I stopped talking. I just stepped a little closer to him.
I was near the door. He closed the distance faster than I expected. We started kissing ... he kissed me far more deeply than I kissed him.
"Wait, let me lock the door so we don’t get interrupted," I managed to say, his mouth still on mine.
He refused. "I don’t care," he said.
He didn’t linger on the kissing for long before he wanted to be inside me. Fuck, he was good.
He unhooked my bra in an instant.
His underwear was gone in the blink of an eye. I could hardly believe it ... this would be the second time he’d been inside me, and this time it was in my own room. But I loved every second of it, so fuck it.
He thrust into me, picking up speed every thirty seconds, until he came inside me.
We had good sex that evening. He moaned in a way that said, I’m satisfied, thank you. I was gasping too. He’d fucked me so thoroughly I thought my womb had shifted.
Still, I was glad to be fulfilling my duties as his breeder.
As he lay down afterward, I noticed marks on his back ... marks similar to the ones I’d seen in the history book at the library.
They matched the signatures of the cult that had investigated the flu and executed judgment on Nara.
What could that mean? After everything I’d tried to uncover, it felt like more was unraveling ... like I hadn’t even scratched the surface yet.