“Of course, anything,” I answered quickly. “I’ll go to the library right away.” The castle had a vast library with its very own archivist.
“No.” He stopped me. “First, yer going to shift and heal. That’s a nasty wound.”
“Oh.” I looked down at my thigh again. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Ye can nae be so reckless, Mackenzie. Nae anymore. Yer going to be Queen soon. Ye have a whole people to worry about and protect. It’s a huge responsibility, and one that can nae be taken lightly. Ye understand?”
“I understand,” I mumbled like a scolded child. But he was right. It wasn’t just me and Bash that I had to worry about. I had the future of a whole species to consider. I couldn’t forget about them. “How are you feeling?” I changed the subject.
“All healed.” Alexander rubbed his chest. “I’ll be fine, Mackenzie. They can nae enter the castle.”
“Right.” I slid down from the bed and hobbled on one foot. “Well, I’m going to go shift and then I’ll head to the library with Bash. Do you want me to take your place at this evening’s Council meeting?”
“Would ye?” Alexander asked hesitantly and I nodded. “Very well. I look forward to yer notes.”
Saying our goodbyes, I stumbled from the King’s chamber and headed straight for the rear of the castle and to the field where I could shift in peace. It made me wonder how close to the castle Fenrir truly was.
5
After shifting and healing, I headed back to the guest wing to shower and change clothes. I was a walking nightmare, with dirt and dried blood saturating my clothes and skin. Bash was lounging in the common room watching TV when I arrived. I quietly slipped past him to the bedroom, wanting more than anything to delay the inevitable confrontation I knew was coming. I quickly showered and dressed in comfortable clothes before walking to the common area where Bash was sitting in the same spot as before. I made a cup of coffee using the fancy coffee machine that Helena brought in for me and then joined Bash on the sofa.
“I need your help,” I said haltingly, then took a sip from my mug. “Alexander wants me to do some research and I could really use an extra pair of eyes.”
Bash sighed heavily and lowered his head. “I would have backed you up, you know.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I should have gone to you. I don’t know why I always have to do things the hard way.”
He finally peered at me and his ocean blue eyes pierced me in place. “Because you don’t trust easily. But I need you to trust me.”
“I do trust you!” I edged closer to him. “It’s not that, Bash, I swear. I—I just always think I can handle everything on my own and I hate the idea of being seen as a damsel in distress. Most of the time I can handle myself just fine, but this … this time I can’t, Bash. I messed up.” I looked down at my mug.
He nodded as if my admission wasn’t surprising. “I know. I felt your fear.”
My gaze whipped back up to him. “You did?”
“Yeah. You want to tell me what happened?”
I shook my head. “Not particularly.”
Bash reached out and gave my knee a comforting squeeze. “Okay. So what kind of research are we doing?”
I exhaled a relieved breath and chugged the rest of my coffee before speaking, using caffeine to bolster my scattered thoughts. “We need to figure out what those flying people are. No one’s ever seen them before. I think they’re angels.”
“Angels?” Bash repeated incredulously.
“You didn’t see them up close like I did. They had bird feathers and they were huge and beautiful and … angelic,” I finished lamely. “And if Fenrir is a god, well, then it makes sense that they’re angels, right?” I added, more to convince myself than anything.
“So you’re saying they looked like angels?” Bash confirmed.
I twisted my mouth to the side and considered how to respond. “Well, in the village they looked more like warriors entering a battlefield. But Raven – the one I encountered with Fenrir in the forest – well, she looked more like me.”
“What do you mean, ‘more like you’?”
I sighed, struggling to put my thoughts into words. “I mean, she was wearing jeans and a tank top. She seemed comfortable and casual—very human.”
Bash leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “What does that mean?” he murmured.
“I don’t know, but I think we should head to the library and find out all we can on angels,” I announced with authority, standing from the sofa. I placed my empty mug on the coffee table and we exited the common room without a word, walking hand-in-hand out of the guest wing. Once we pushed through the doors of our wing, we were escorted by two King’s Guards to the library, which was located on the left side of the castle on the lower level.
As we hiked across the castle, I couldn’t help but wonder how safe we truly were here. With flying creatures, there was no point depending on a drawbridge for security; they could fly over the top and enter whenever they wanted. Unless there were protective wards covering the castle. Then again, there were supposed to be wards in place in the village and forest, but they still managed to get through those. All these thoughts raced through my mind as we trekked to the library. I was startled when we arrived, surprised I didn’t even remember the walk.
The guards opened the library doors and we entered a spacious room filled to bursting with row after row of wall shelves and freestanding bookcases, all crammed full of every manner of subject. The room was immense, and I had a mild panic attack when I realized how improbable it was that we would find what we needed in the mountain of books that were available.
“The archivist is over there.” Bash pointed to a desk on the far left of the room, his deep voice echoing as he spoke.
Our footsteps seemed incredibly loud against the marble floor as we strolled toward the archivist’s desk. He was hunched over a stack of books, his tousled blond, wavy hair flopping over his forehead. Bash knocked on the desk to grab his attention.
The archivist jerked upright and pulled a pair of AirPods from his ears, greeting us with a bright smile. “Oh, hey! Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he admitted with a British accent. “Welcome to the castle library. What can I help you with?” His eyes jumped between me and Bash, then snapped back to me when he got a good look at my eyes. “Oh, Christ, Princess!” He bolted up from his chair, knocking it over in his haste. “So sorry!”
“Relax.” I waved off his concern. “It’s no biggie.” I smiled at him and he visibly relaxed. “We could actually use your help.”
“Of course, anything,” he said with a nod, closing the book clamped in his hands. He took a moment to pause the music on his phone and gave us his undivided attention. “My name is Blake Wilmington. I’m the archivist for Sheunta Village.”
“Sorry to disturb you, Blake, but we’re in need of some information,” I replied apologetically.
He grimaced. “I rarely get visitors in here, if ever, so this is a treat. What kind of information are you looking for?”
“What do you have on angels?” Bash asked without preamble.
“Angels?” Blake glanced between us in confusion. “I’ll have to look, but I’m not too sure what we have. What specifically are you looking for?”
From the look on Blake’s very young face, either he wasn’t experienced enough, or there was nothing in this library that could educate us about angels. I was betting on the latter since I doubted the castle would employ someone who didn’t thoroughly know their shit. That meant we would have to change our tactics.
“Blake, what do you know about mythology?” I asked instead, crossing my fingers that looking into mythology might provide a clue.
The young archivist brightened at the question. “Tons! Humans love to pull our stories from mythology. It’s my favorite subject.”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. “Do you know of any supernatural creatures in mythology that can fly?” I asked, hoping to narrow down our search.
“Mythical creatures,” Bash and I said at the same time, then smiled at each other, happy that we were on the same page.
Blake led us through rows and rows of books, swerving through sections until he reached an area in the rear of the library. “Well then, you got the garuda – that’s a real nasty fellow.” He handed Bash a textbook. “Furies in Greek mythology. Phoenixes.” He handed over another textbook. “Griffins, dragons, sphinxes—”
Blake supplied seven huge textbooks and we struggled to hold on to them. As he rattled on about different species that sounded completely absurd, it hit me.
He mentioned Furies were in Greek mythology, which triggered a thought. What if we were looking in the wrong mythos?
“—thunderbird, wyvern—” Blake was still counting off mythical creatures when I cut him off.
“What about creatures in Norse mythology?” I asked what should have been my first question, and the most obvious one, since Fenrir was a Norse god.
Blake looked over at us and shrugged. “That’s easy. Valkyries.”
I carefully placed my stack of books on the floor and took a deep breath, the feeling in my gut telling me we were on to something. “Can you tell me about them?”
“Sure,” he answered simply, “but you won’t find anything about them in those books. Set those down,” he offered to Bash. “I’ll put them away later.” When the archivist turned back to the stacks, Bash and I gave each other a pointed look. Blake searched through the books until he found the one he was looking for. “Here it is. This has everything you need to know about Norse mythology and especially about Valkyries.”
We followed Blake back to the front as he continued speaking to us over his shoulder. “Valkyries are a group of female warriors that belong to Odin, tasked with choosing fallen soldiers to fight in the final battle of Ragnarök, the war of the gods. The fallen soldiers they choose are given the honor of entering Valhalla, which is like heaven for warriors, until the day of the battle. They’re pretty tough broads.”
Could the women I saw flying in the air above us be Valkyries? It would make sense, especially considering their shared connections to Norse mythology. Raven was tough as balls – stronger than anyone else I’d ever encountered, but damn, this was way too much to take in. Which was rich, coming from a damn werewolf.
“Can I borrow this book?” I asked Blake.
He nodded. “Yeah, just sign it out and it’s yours.”
I followed him to his desk where he pulled out a ledger. I quickly scrawled my name and the title of the book, then thanked him for his help.
“Anytime, Princess.”
“Call me Mackenzie.” I grinned. “And trust me, I’ll be back. I have a feeling I’m going to need a lot of your help very soon.”
Bash and I left the library with our book in tow and the same two guards from earlier escorted us back through the castle. We kept quiet. I remembered Lucian’s admonition about guards being the eyes and ears of the castle and didn’t want to give any information away to any ears who may be listening for all the wrong reasons, but I was dying to purge and talk to Bash about what we just learned – that the chicks in the sky, including Raven, the bitch who almost killed me, weren’t angels at all; they were most likely Valkyries, another creature I used to think was purely myth.
Just thinking about it made me feel like I was losing my marbles.
Bash and I didn’t get the opportunity to talk, because as soon as we arrived in the guest wing, it was time for me to leave for the evening Council meeting. We looked at each other and sighed, irritated because our discovery would have to wait. Ranulf was waiting for me outside our chambers. He walked with me to the council room.
By the time we entered, everyone was already seated and waiting for us. I started to take my regular seat, but Ranulf motioned me to the head of the table—to Alexander’s seat. I gingerly sat down and saw the flashes of annoyance flit across the Council’s faces.
Well, tough luck, buddies, because soon this will be my permanent seat.
“I call this meeting into session,” I announced, wishing I had a gavel to add to the effect. “What do we have on the agenda?”
The table was quiet and no one would look up from their notebooks. Then it dawned on me.
“Feeling shitty, are we?” I snapped as I peered around the table. “The minute we lowered security at your request, our King was attacked, almost killed. I knew you were an unloyal bunch, but to wish death upon your King—”
“We would never!” Finlay yelled, slamming his fists on the mahogany table with a loud thud. “This was all Callum’s doing!”
“What?” Callum jerked his splotchy face in Finlay’s direction. “All of ye agreed with me! Don lie now, ye coward!”
“Enough!” I held up a hand. “You’re all cowards. From now on, you listen to what I say and don’t think twice about it. How’s our security?”
“Reinstated at the maximum level,” Jacob reported, barely making eye contact. “The castle is on full lockdown.”
I nodded. “They’re hiding in Caledonian Forest. I want guards sent in there without disturbing the Highlanders. You understand?”
“Aye,” they all responded, some more grudgingly than others.
“We’ve already dispatched a small platoon of guards into the forest, but they have nae returned,” Jamie revealed, yet another Council member who stayed relatively quiet and let the others bicker. “All communication with them has been cut off.”
I frowned. If those guards were missing, it meant they were probably being held captive by Fenrir, or worse. We didn’t know how many Valkyries he had, and right now we needed numbers. It was the only way we would gain the upper hand.
I peered around at the King’s Council. “Get me Lucian Young.”
Jacob scoffed and grimaced. “The vampire?”
I turned the full weight of my uncanny gray gaze on him. “Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Aye,” Jacob answered stubbornly. “We don need the vampire’s help.”
“I beg to differ,” I contradicted. “Lucian lives on the border of Caledonian Forest and has a working relationship with the Highlanders. We need him to get in touch with them to find out what’s going on in the forest. Or don’t you care what’s happened to those guards?”
Jacob grunted, “Of course I care, but one of us can go.”
I laughed. A big belly laugh. All eyes turned to me. “You’ll have better luck getting a newborn to read. The Highlanders don’t trust you, and with good reason. Since I can’t meet with them, Lucian is our best alternative.”
“I’ll send word to Lucian,” Ranulf inserted before the others could fight me on it.
I looked to the King’s trusted guard, who was typing notes into his phone. “I want to know what happened to those guards, and I want them back within the castle grounds as soon as possible.”
“Aye,” Ranulf agreed as he continued to type.
“How protected is the castle from an aerial attack?” I asked, being careful not to say anything about the threat of Valkyries. I didn’t think they would believe me, anyway.
“We have increased the wards in place, Princess,” Ranulf responded briskly. “No one is getting in.”
I leaned back in the King’s chair and ran a hand over my mouth as I pondered the information. “We need a plan for Sunday. Unless we plan on cancelling.”
“No, we cannae cancel yer coronation,” Ranulf interjected quickly before anyone could contradict him.
“Then I’ll leave the planning to the Council for how they’ll keep the castle secure when the guests start arriving on Sunday.” Getting guests inside the castle would be difficult w
ithout setting off the wards. I didn’t know how they would do it, but that was for them to figure out. “Now, if there’s no other business, then this meeting is adjourn—”
“Princess,” Finlay interrupted me, “how is the King?” He looked extremely guilty, as they all should have been.
I cleared my throat. “He is recovering, but he’ll be fine. Thank you for asking.”
Finlay was the only one who looked even a tiny bit remorseful. I made a mental note of it. The rest of the lot looked as if they had better places to be. I wanted to slit their throats to avoid having to look at their smug faces any longer.
“This meeting is adjourned.” I stood from my seat quickly, making the chair screech against the floor. “You’re dismissed.” Before any of them could move, I left the room first with Ranulf trailing behind me. If I stayed in there a moment longer, I might have done something I would regret.
Ranulf escorted me to the guest wing and we walked in companionable silence until we reached the doors to the common room.
“Princess?” He stopped me and I paused with my hand perched on the doorknob.
“Yes?” I peered over my shoulder.
“Yer almost there. Stay focused.” With that, he turned around and left me in the corridor, staring at the guard’s retreating back.
The next morning, I was up early to start my day. Bash said he would be meeting with Alexander and Ranulf to fill them in on the Valkyries and what we learned. In the meantime, I paid a quick visit to Alexander to drop off my report from last night’s Council meeting, I hurried off to my next meeting, which was with Lucian. Ranulf worked quickly and sent word right after the meeting concluded, asking Lucian to arrive at the castle at first light, which was quite a sacrifice on Lucian’s part since he was a vampire. Though sunlight didn’t harm him, it made him extremely tired. Since he was ancient, even in vampire terms, sunlight didn’t affect him like it did newbie vampires.
I waited in Alexander’s office until Lucian strolled in dressed in his customary all-black ensemble with a black umbrella tucked underneath one arm and expensive black sunglasses covering his eyes.
Queen of the Lycan Page 7
