Page 38 of Queen of the Crimson Throne (Queen of Blood and Stardust #2)

38

LUKA

I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Every sound had me turning my attention to the door.

I knew it was a one-night thing, but it didn’t keep me from hoping she’d walk in my door again.

It had felt so good to have her in my arms again. Although now I’d crave it every night. It had been so long since we’d shared a bed, it was easy to fall asleep alone before. But now—with the scent of her still lingering in my sheets…

I snaked my hand underneath the sheets, giving my cock a long hard stroke.

I jerked up at the sound of a knock at my door.

Goddess above, of course Lennox would interrupt me the moment I decided I needed to take the edge off.

“Luka!” Lennox’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“I’m coming.” I quickly adjusted myself before making my way to the door, halting when I found not only Lennox at the other side of the door, but Luciana as well. Perhaps I should have put clothes on. Having Luciana see me in nothing but my undershorts wasn’t what I had been anticipating.

The witch raised a perfectly arched brow as she scanned me. “Is this how you greet everyone who arrives at your door?”

“It’s how I greet guests who knock on my door in the middle of the night.” Lennox avoided my gaze, looking at the door frame instead. Besides training, I hadn’t seen her since I about came in my pants after putting socks on her feet.

“I found something,” Luce continued.

“And it couldn’t wait until morning?”

“I was under the impression time was of the essence. Or am I misinformed.” She rapped her nails against the door frame.

“Fine. I’ll get dressed and meet you all in my study. Unless this is so urgent I don’t have time to get dressed.”

“Put some clothes on, princeling. Lennox might enjoy seeing so much of you but the rest of us have no interest.”

Lennox’s mouth fell open, but before she could say anything Luciana gripped her wrist and pulled her down the hall. “Enough of this, let’s go.”

I smiled after them for a moment before returning to my room to get changed.

Several minutes later we were all gathered in my study, all but Luciana looking like they’d rather be back in bed sleeping. She had even managed to transport Kara back from Alethens for this special midnight meeting.

“Alright Lucy, what was so important you had to wake us all in the middle of the night? And not in a good way.” The witch glared at Nico.

“I found something.” She took the halves of the book from her bag. I shuttered at the presence it evoked. Even I could sense its power, it raked down my skin like invisible claws.

“Nothing I’ve translated so far has been of any use, but I did manage to translate a name.” She flipped through the pages until she came to the one she wanted .

She pointed to the symbol on the page. “Galtain.”

“Galtain,” I repeated.

“Does the name ring any bells?” Lennox asked.

“No.” I scrubbed my hand over the back of my neck. “But I might know how to find out.”

Sneaking into my grandfather’s office was a stupid fucking idea.

A stupid fucking idea that I shouldn’t have even brought up in the first place.

But once I brought it up to Lennox, there was no going back.

My grandfather possessed the Populus, the book containing all of the families who ever lived in the Blood Court and where they resided along with their family tree. He prided himself on keeping it update and maintaining the Blood Court’s rich history. If we could get access to the Populus we could look for the Galtain family and see if it could help us figure out how they were related to Hecate’s book.

However, my grandfather was out of town for the next week. After much debate it was decided we would sneak into his office to search for the Populus instead of waiting until he came back. I floated the idea of sending him a letter asking for permission, but Luce’s argument won out. We needed the information sooner rather than later with mine and Lennox’s wedding date quickly approaching.

So we were breaking into my grandfather’s office, which would be fairly easy, there was only one obstacle standing in our way: Lorenzo.

Which is where Luciana came in.

Luciana was going to occupy Lorenzo for as long as she could by playing the role of a visiting heir over lunch. Lorenzo loved “taking the place” of my grandfather while he was away. He was overjoyed to find out he got to host our visitor .

The moment Lorenzo left the dining room, Luciana would let us know through the crystal Lennox wore around her neck.

I stood behind Lennox as she painted a symbol using her blood on the door of my grandfather’s office, a spell Luciana had taught her last night to unlock doors.

Her blood hissed on the door before disappearing in a mist as Lennox whispered the spell under her breath.

“Here goes nothing,” Lennox muttered. Her hand twisted the knob. It clicked faintly before opening.

“Good job, Sweetheart.” I placed a hand on her back as I guided her into the office, closing the door quietly behind us.

“Where do we start?” She looked around the office.

“Why don’t you begin with the shelves and I look through the desk?” My grandfather’s office was small, the only furniture in the room was his desk and the bar cart, hopefully, that would make it easier to find what we needed.

Lennox dipped her chin and headed toward one of the bookshelves that lined the wall.

My grandfather’s desk was a mess. Empty glasses and half-smoked pipes littered the counter along with papers.

I scanned the documents, looking for anything of significance as well as the Populus.

Reports from cities across the Blood Court lined the top along with general reports from his correspondents.

I moved to the drawers next, sifting through drawer after drawer of random shit: pens, scraps of paper, half-smoked pipes, and spools of thread, I was ready to give up when I came to the bottom drawer. Underneath the bottle of alcohol and shards of glass from a broken decanter was a black-bound journal, tied closed with a leather strap.

The Populus.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Lennox, I found it.” I removed the leather strap and flicked through the book as Lennox looked over my shoulder. I flipped through the sections until I came to the letter G. Her lavender scent invaded my nostrils as she leaned over further, strands of her hair brushing against my neck.

I returned my focus back to the Populus as I continued to flip through the pages but found nothing. I flipped back to the beginning. Flipping each page carefully, making sure I didn’t miss it, but nothing.

There was no family named Galtain in the Blood Court.

“Fuck.”

Lennox stood straight again. “Well, at least we can check it off, they’re not in the Blood Court.”

I leaned back in my grandfather’s chair, running my hand through my hair. “Yeah, but now we have six other courts to search.” I reached for the Populus again, as I picked it up papers slid out from inside, falling to my feet. I reached for the scraps, my eyes scanning over the words as I shuffled through them. “Holy shit. Lennox.”

“What?”

I swallowed, looking up to meet her eyes. “I think my grandfather knew your father and brother were looking for the journals.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because my grandfather has their research.”