Page 16 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Three

And when I woke up two hours later, he was still asleep wrapped around me, with Epsy draped across his neck like a fur scarf, snoring gently.

Chapter

Hayle

“I think we should start our research over in that dark corner between the shelves,” I murmured into Avalon’s hair.

“I’ll start by studying the way the current youngest daughter of the Baron of the Ninth Line blushes when I stick my tongue deep inside her p—” She slapped a hand over my mouth, her cheeks flushed, but I could smell her desire. She liked the idea.

“Stop. The Librarian scares the shit out of me, and I don’t particularly want to bring her wrath down on our heads.” Her eyes flicked around, like the woman in question would just appear. “Besides, we have to wait for Vox.” When I frowned, she shrugged. “His rule, not mine.”

“What do you mean?”

Someone coughing politely behind me had me looking over my shoulder.

The Heir to the First Line moved like a ghost. It was irritating.

“She means that she’s a virgin, and while ultimately, the choice is hers, always ”—his tone dared me to argue—“I thought that perhaps it would be best if her first time was with someone who could give her the commitment she deserves.”

Avalon crossed her arms over her chest. “And I said that if I had to choose, then I would choose both of you.”

My brain was emitting a low hum of white noise.

The beast inside me rose up to take the reins.

I picked her up and set her on my lap, kissing her with more ferocity than I’d intended, but she met my lips with her own desperate need.

The primal part of my brain was ecstatic that she would only ever be mine, that I would be the first person to taste her and that one day, long into the future, I would be the last person to taste her too, Goddess willing.

My hands gripped her ass, kneading the firm flesh. If I lifted her a little higher, I could drag her pants down and push my fingers inside?—

Vox kicked my knee hard, and I pulled back enough to growl at him. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking behind me.

A throat clearing had me going still, and Avalon stiffening in my arms. “Mr. Vylan, Mr. Taeme, and Miss Halhed. What a surprise to see you here in my library. Together, at that.”

Dragging my face from Avalon’s, I set her on the bench seat beside me and turned my most charming smile on the Librarian. She was a no-nonsense woman, but I hoped my charm would get us all out of this predicament. “Librarian, you look lovely tonight.”

She rolled her eyes. “Save the charm for someone else, Mr. Taeme. What do three Heirs require inside my library this late at night? I can assure you, there are better places to have an illicit rendezvous.”

She was watching us intently, but I had a feeling she was also teasing us. I didn’t have a lot of experience with the Librarian, especially not being subject to her hawk-eyed glare.

Luckily, Vox was used to his charm not working, mostly because he had the personality of a wet socks most days. “We are merely here to research, Librarian, of that you have my word. We are researching the historical magics of the genealogical Lines. For a research assignment.”

The Librarian didn’t blink. She stared at the Heir to the First Line in a way that would have gotten her head removed if she’d been staring at the Baron. Giving her head a small shake, she sucked the back of her teeth. “I see. I’ve got some texts prepared. Stay here.”

She disappeared, and Avalon slapped my arm. “I can’t believe you got us caught making out in the library. Fuck, if looks could flay, I’d be fileted on the floor right now.”

I nuzzled her neck, unable to get enough of her. I wanted to fight her battles, wage her wars, and fuck her senseless. I wanted to be her everything. “Nah, she totally bought Vylan’s pretty lies.”

Vox slapped the back of my head. Once upon a time, that would have ended with my hands around his throat, but it was hard to find anything close to animosity when Avalon was pressed against my side.

Rolling his eyes, Vox sat down too. “They weren’t lies. That’s what we’re here to research.” He quietly told me of their suspicions. About magic potentially creating the bond between us, that maybe there was some ulterior motive to the feelings that bubbled between us.

I could see his point of view. It felt too right, too familiar, like life had been lining us up to take the fall and we’d been moved into position like the pawns we were. But I also knew that what I felt for Avalon was greater than magic.

Though maybe this new-found tolerance for Vylan had its roots in magic. That would make sense.

Staring between the two of them, I decided to take a leap of faith.

“It’s definitely a magical bond between me and Avalon,” I said softly, my eyes catching on Avalon’s wide pupils and holding there, like I was drowning in their deep blue of her irises.

“The Third Line believes we are the favored children of the Goddess, mainly because we have been gifted with soulmates. We call them our Soul Ties, the other half of ourselves. Our one true love. We know them viscerally, deep in our chests.”

I gripped her hands as her lips parted. “You’re that for me, Avalon Halhed. When I say I’m yours until the day my heart ceases to beat, it’s because it belongs to you, and every pump of the muscle is at your whim. There will never, ever be anyone else for me.”

The heaviness of the declaration sat between us like a mantle she didn’t know what to do with. She looked like a deer, caught in the sights of a hunter.

I leaned forward, brushing my lips across hers. “I can hear your mind overworking, Avie. There is no pressure for you to love me back like that. Not yet, anyway. I’m also okay that I might never be your all or nothing; I think I’ve proven I’m very good at sharing.”

Her cheeks turned scarlet, and Vox cleared his throat.

“The First Line is aware of the Third Line’s belief in Soul Ties, Taeme.

We’re aware of a lot of things. Like not only can you command your beasts, but you can converse with them.

It’s what makes them amazing spies. You can also see through their eyes. ”

I froze at that last one—that was another tightly kept secret. What else did the First Line know? Did they know we could shift?

Avalon was tense in my arms. “Soul Tie? Those are the right words?”

I couldn’t decipher the expression on her face. Why was she suddenly so pale? “Yes. It’s kind of like soulmates, but more. Our souls are tied together.” I squeezed her tighter. “Avie, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “I’ve heard that term before. In my dreams.”

What the hell did that mean?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask, because the Librarian reappeared, a stack of books in her arms. Vox raised an eyebrow. “You retrieved all these books this quickly?”

The Librarian sniffed. “It’s my job to know what the inhabitants of Boellium might need, before they even know they need it themselves.

” She laid the books gently on the table between us.

“The library in Boellium has been here for a very long time. Long before this was a war college. Long before the Line system. Some say even before Ebrus was named. It has its own magic, older and stronger than many would give it credit for. I belong to the library, not to the college.”

With that, she left. That was super fucking weird, but okay. No wonder the Librarian freaked Avalon out.

Vox sat at the table, shifting Avalon until she was pressed beside us both.

He ran his fingers down the spines in front of us.

There were general titles, like Genealogical Lines of Ebrus, Magic on the Continent , and even The Story of the Goddess , which was a children’s book parents read to their kids before bed.

But also there were more specific histories of the Ninth Line, even though that wasn’t what we’d asked for.

Did the library know that’s what we wanted? Or did the Librarian know more than she was letting on?

I found my fingers drawn to an older history, the dark-green leather spine cracked, and the embossing worn. It was familiar in a way that I didn’t understand. Had I seen it before? I pulled it toward myself and opened it.

An envelope fell out, addressed to the library at the Hall of Ebrus.

It was stamped on a date we all knew far too well.

The day the First Line had grabbed power, assassinating the entirety of the Second Line in a coup that echoed through the history of Ebrus.

We’d all fallen into line after that. None were strong enough to stand against the First Line.

As I opened the envelope, a single sheet of paper fell out. Something about the gently curled script was also familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on where I’d seen it before.

The Ninth. The Ninth. The Ninth.

What did that even mean? The words reverberated through my head, like the knelling of a bell.

Setting it to the side, I looked at the book in my hand. It had a family tree scrawled by hand inside the cover, the different branches spreading across two pages. Someone must have been filling it in, because Avalon’s name was there, beside her siblings.

Flicking through the pages, I skimmed the text about her ancestors, their powers, and anecdotes of their deeds, both good and bad.

Whoever had written and maintained this book didn’t pull their punches either.

Stutgord Halhed’s gambling addiction and eventual hanging was written about, right below Reginald Halhed’s heroics in the Battle of The Coast against the Vylans of Fortaare.

This was before the Baronies had been assigned Line numbers, before we’d become a cohesive, governed country, back when there were borders and squabbles over land.

There were accounts on how strong the Halhed family’s precognition abilities were, how their foresight had won battles and filled their coffers.

There were pages and pages of much the same thing, following the timeline of the country from when democracy had come to Ebrus, the end of wars between families.

And then something changed. The Ninth Line, known for producing only sons, had a daughter. Ellanora Halhed. The Jewel of Rewill. The First Daughter of the Ninth Line.

She had pages dedicated to her. About her power, which surpassed that of her ancestors. About her suitors and her predictions. Her disappearance. The speculation over her death.

I looked back at the note that had fallen out of the front of the book.

The date in the corner was months after her supposed death, no return address, just the name ‘Ellanora Halhed’ in cursive.

My brain went round and round in circles, and I didn’t realize I’d dragged Avalon back onto my lap and was rubbing my cheek reflexively on her arm until she buried her fingers in my hair, scraping her nails gently against my scalp.

“What did you find?” she asked softly.

I pushed the book in front of her. “Just that your ancestor disappeared, then sent a letter to the one place guaranteed to survive the First Line coup, months after she was gone. My gut says it’s important.”

The Ninth. The First Daughter of the Ninth Line.

I flicked back to the family tree, following the branches down, finding all the daughters until I got to Avalon. The Ninth Daughter of the Ninth Line. That had to mean something.

“Maybe it means something. Maybe it doesn’t,” Vox answered, and I realized I’d been speaking out loud. “I don’t think it’s any secret that the Ninth Line doesn’t have this level of precognition now.”

Avalon snorted. “Not even close.”

It continued to niggle at the back of my mind, but I finished flicking through the book.

When I got to the paragraph on the death of Avalon’s mother, she halted my hand.

There was a portrait there, and I realized that Malina Halhed had looked almost exactly like Avalon, except where Malina had been blonde, Avalon had the deep brunette tresses of the Halheds.

The scent of her distress burned my nostrils, and I held her closer. Avalon ran her fingers over the image. “I look like her. I’ve never seen a picture before…”

I hated her father more than ever at that moment. Roman Halhed was living on borrowed oxygen. “She’s beautiful,” I whispered into her hair, and Vox reached over, gripping her fingers and twining them with his own.

“We’ll remember her now. She won’t be erased,” he told her solemnly, and our gazes clashed over the top of Avalon’s head. I knew our thoughts on the Baron of the Ninth Line were in sync. His time as Baron was coming to a very sudden, very bloody end.

Any doubts I had about this little arrangement with Vox were erased. Avalon deserved the whole world and all the love I could give her, even if it was his.