No, I still had time, and I could figure this out.
Dris was on my team. Now I needed to get a broody warrior to sit down and have a chat with me. He could fill in details about the princess and what happened. I doubt that if his love was being encased in onyx, he would let it happen if he was nearby. He knew things . . . things I needed to know.
Getting Rune to open up was going to take time . . . and trust. “In time,” I told myself, trying to project the best in this complicated situation.
I wanted a real day off to walk around Crysia and see the shops and the people. I wanted to stroll in the woods, watching the creatures that lingered there. My thoughts flashed back to the noise at the waterfall yesterday. Maybe having someone go into the woods with me would be a better decision than trying to go alone. Danger could be lurking to eat me in one solid gulp there.
The sun was high, and my stomach growled. It was getting used to this eating-on-command thing and was making up for lost time. Jostling the books against my chest, I stood awkwardly and limped toward the kitchen for the bread I had smelled earlier. Another ball would be happening tonight. The Fae loved to party. The kitchen was busy, and I barely managed to grab some fruit and bread before being nudged out of the way.
Tonight, I had more important things to do, so I didn’t even bother offering to play wine girl. The head servant would have run me ragged, anyway, and my leg needed rest.
It was odd not having an escort walk me around, but I assumed they knew by now I wasn’t going to do anything, or maybe Celestine had spoken up about my little freedom. Whatever the reason, I was grateful to walk where I pleased in the palace.
The belt around my waist was the first to go after setting my plate next to the bed. I attempted to get cozy for my date with these books. Once my pants were off, the long-sleeved dress that cut at my hips and became a point by my knees was my only attire. My thighs and legs were on display but no one was going to see them, and this would make putting Rista’s salve on my leg easier.
The fire danced in the hearth, keeping my small room warm, and I had extra pieces of wood ready to throw in when it started to dwindle. The bread and fruit appeased my stomach after I’d taken my time to savor every bite, while enjoying the view out the window. I saw people walking around the city’s cobblestone roads. The market was busy, and kids played in a field nearby. It looked heavenly, and as much as I wanted to be like the Fae, going to the ball in their fancy dresses, I’d rather spend my time with the common folk, sampling the various foods from the market below and meeting the artists and vendors who stood by their merchandise. One day I would get to visit that part of the kingdom, and I would live out my fantasy of experiencing all this kingdom had to offer.
I settled in my bed, my back against the stone wall. I placed the records book on my lap and the nature book to my left. That way I’d be able to go back and forth and examine the name of each core and its innate energy.
“Let’s see who the oldest Fae is.” I lifted the cover and flipped to the first page of Crysia’s birth records.
Celestine’s family was at the top of the list. Her grandmother, Magrithia, with a moonstone core, continued to breath the glorious air for the past 5,522 years. According to Tor’s stories, Fae were immortal, but it still shocked me to see the numbers written down collectively.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The moon was high, and the Fae below danced like morning would not approach their party.
The Fae continued to fascinate me with their nature cores. There were owl, rabbit, lion, elephant, rose, and oak tree cores inside a Fae’s living essence. Every person had the personality of each core inside them, along with powers had magic remained. Around 900 years ago, there was even a dragon core to a man in a neighboring kingdom. According to the book, the man was deceased and had no relatives. Wouldn’t it have been cool to meet someone who had the essence of a dragon inside him?
Tor’s family had either gems or a wolf line inside them, with a rare person chosen every few centuries to have the essence of a werewolf. The nature core’s book explained it was indeed very rare, but could travel down bloodlines, as with a dragon core.
The gem cores were my favorite. There were so many kinds, along with their different energies. The queen’s diamond was the strongest, and no other diamond had been born inside another Fae. Other kingdoms had rubies or emeralds but not diamond. King Lachan had an obsidian core . . . powerful but nothing like his queen. She knew no equal power in this realm. However, I believed in balance, and everything had an energy that needed an opposite or a match to keep the world moving.
I wished I could have found out Tor’s history from him personally, but I had to look at his name in the book. Torin Wolfstrom, age fifty-three, nature core turquoise. It fit the man I had come to know. He always radiated truth and protection. He grounded me in ways that made me feel safe. All of that was part of his essence in his core, his very blood. Turquoise was a protection stone, the definition of Tor. Despite being significantly older than me, he still looked young. I thought about the lies and omissions he made to keep his identity from me. Why didn’t he tell me the truth?
I forced myself to move on from the sting of his secrets. I loved him, and I could forgive him once he was safe. Since his brother’s details were right above his, I read about Rune’s core. Surely it had to be a rotten apple, except what I found was shocking. Rune, 202 years old, had two cores, a rare occurrence even Tor and the queen did not possess.
A tiger’s eye gem marked him as a royal like his brother, its essence rooted in strength, patience, and determination, which fit the general perfectly. Everything Rune emitted and showed in his personality came from that core . . . patience to wait for a love encased in onyx for twenty years, loyal and hopelessly waiting against all odds. The strength of that wait alone was hard to imagine, but in the week I’d known him, it fit him perfectly. He was a protector and true to those he cared about. Nothing would stop him from getting what he wanted.
Rune had both gem and wolf cores, but not just any wolf . . . a werewolf core.
Dots lined up in my head. I wondered if he scarred himself while becoming a werewolf. His personality was prickly and feral. People usually gave him a wide berth, and he wasn’t very welcoming. They knew what he was and feared him, not only as a skilled warrior but because of his rare werewolf core.
I wondered if I asked him about his dual cores, if he would answer me honestly. Then I laughed thinking of the answer. He’d probably say no and tell me to do more arm exercises.
Princess Nyx had an amethyst core. Her hair and body matched the coloring of the purple gem. Some Fae took after their cores in appearance. She displayed the amethyst’s properties of peace, stability, and calmness. Maybe I needed to go around her tomb when Rune pissed me off. Then my thoughts drifted toward the onyx.
No one in the book had an onyx core, which continued to befuddle me. Who helped the queen protect the princess if it wasn’t the king? His core was black, but there were subtle differences. Obsidian was like volcanic glass; onyx was a simple gem. Its energy was protection, quieting, and strength. If I hadn’t just read that Rune’s gem core was a tiger’s eye, I would have leaned toward his core being onyx. It made sense that he would be the one to work with the queen to protect his love. However, if it was his strength, then he would be able to reverse what was done.