AS I TOLD the rest of the group of our recent findings, about Thrinfex, and Kole being my student, they all just listened with wide eyes. Nobody voiced any questions.

I know many questions were running through their heads and I promised that I'd answer them later, but for now, we needed to help Evander.

The quicker we find Laventhorpe, the quicker we can get the King back, back home.

Now, Arius was guiding us into the castle's underground archives, where Evander works.

As we walked, I half expected it to be down the same hallway I met Leland and all of Kavan's men, but instead, we went the complete opposite way and down a longer and slimmer flight of stairs.

Arius lit a torch and held it out in front of him, dimly illuminating the spiral staircase ahead of us.

The walls and stairs themselves were carved out of a single slab of stone, but it was cracked and brittle. Small bits of life rose from the cracks of it. Each foot step echoed off the dark walls and down the pathway.

We reached the bottom, only to be met with a large steel door. Light from torches inside seeped around the crack at the bottom of the door. The shadows of the room's occupants danced across the floor in front of us.

Arius reached for the door and knocked. There wasn't much force behind the action, but it wasn't needed. It clanged and echoed across the heavy metal door and stone walls around us.

I watched as a single shadow grew underneath the door and the sound of footsteps became evident. A loud clunking sound, gears turning as the door was unlatched, then the door was pulled open. Evander stood at the door, his face molded into a calm expression.

He opened the door wider, "Welcome to the Archival Library."

We walked in and I couldn't help but be amazed by it. The library had about forty shelves, each reaching up to twelve feet in the air. From my spot in the entryway, I could see another flight of stairs going down to a second level that had the same layout. Large tables were lined up end to end down the middle of the room.

We all were struck with shock but quickly recovered at the sound of the rest of the group coming up the stairs.

Mèabh and Kingsley had a book in each hand, Willow and Blakely-Rose walked behind them with piles of rolled up maps filling their arms. They set down all their gathered materials on one of the large tables and began walking our way.

"How's the search going so far?" Prince Grey asked, curiously. He spoke to the group, but the question was obviously pointed in Blakely-Rose's direction.

Mèabh shrugged as she dusted off her hands and set them on her hips, "Well this library is huge and there's the section we need to search through occupies almost half of it. This is just what we could carry."

"So this is how the Library works," Evander begins, "It's all sorted in alphabetical order. There are multiple L sections - upstairs and downstairs - that we need to look through. The Laventhorpe territory will be in one of the L sections."

"We should split up into teams of two." Arius suggested.

I nodded, "That's a good idea."

"Me and Kingsley!" August exclaimed, his eyes aglow with excitement.

Kingsley chuckled and nodded, "Sure thing, Lieutenant."

"Grey and I can be together." Blakely-Rose volunteered, a light blush covering her cheeks. Grey smiled and walked to stand next to her.

"I'll team up with Arius." Willow says. Arius agreed.

"And I guess I'll keep this gargoyle." Mèabh said, bumping Evanders hip with her elbow.

"Great." Evander grumbled under his breath.

She laughed, "Oh please. You love me."

All he did was roll his eyes but they softened when he looked away, and slight pinkness became evident across the bridge of his nose.

"So that leaves us." Leland said to me in a hushed voice.

"Fine by me," I shrugged, returning his comment at normal volume, "Let's get started."

Kingsley stepped forward just as everyone began to disperse, "Actually, I need to speak with you."

She glanced at the remaining two boys who stood there clueless, looking at us. "Alone." Kingsley clarified, annoyed.

They laughed uncomfortably as they realized the situation and walked away.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"Koa disappeared after you left." she started in Japanese, speaking in hushed tones, "I decided to follow him. And I did for as long as I could but I ended up losing him. Usually if someone leaves I wouldn't care but he did it so slyly and at such a pivotal moment. Somethings going on, but I have no idea what."

I nodded, taking in all the information she told me, "Okay. Thank you for telling me. I'll see what I can find out."

She nodded, bowed and walked away to join August in the book stacks.

A loud bang rang from the door that caught all our attention.

I walked towards the door and opened it. A soldier as well as Queen Aria stood at the door. The soldier gave me a small bow in greeting and I smiled back.

"I have some news." Queen Aria said happily, "We got invited to attend a coronation."

My eyebrows rose at the news, "Whose?"

"Prince Zakariah's of Ecrin." She answered.

That's right. Kingdom of Ecrin, which is ruled by King Derry and Queen Marianne. They are the king and queen with 14 children. Prince Zakariah was to inherit the crown soon. I guess time really flew by. It seemed like yesterday that Queen Aria had told me of their family.

"When is his coronation?" Willow asked, "Are we all invited?"

"Yes, yes! Everyone here is invited. His coronation will be held in two days time, so I suggest you all prepare for our departure tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night? But we just started. We'll never be finished by then" Mèabh said.

"I know, I know. But I think it's good that this is coming up, don't you think? You all can take a break. You've been at this non-stop for weeks" Queen Aria said, trying to reason with us.

"We just had a two week break retrieving two other members." Grey sighed, "We don't need a break, we need to be searching for our father."

"Do you not care about Father?" Evander spat at his mother, "We are doing everything we can to find him, working day in and day out, running around like madmen on some wild-goose chase, and you want us to go to some coronation. Do you honestly think I-"

Evander was quickly shut up by his mother, "Of course I care what happens to your father!" She bellowed, "But you are forgetting that finding him is not your job!" She continued sternly. "You are a prince! You have other priorities, and I will make sure you see to them even if it means I have to drag you there by your ear!"

"And for the rest of you," She continued in a kinder manner, "I appreciate your dedication to finding my King, but our Kingdom has not had such good news in a long while and I would greatly benefit from your support at this event."

I felt myself nodding my head in agreement. The two princes, all three for that matter, had to go for diplomatic reasons, especially if the King was not to be attending. It was the last place the King was seen before he was taken. It would do the investigation a world of good to familiarize ourselves with the area. If I was going to go, it made sense for the syndicate to go with me. Their different perspectives offered different observation skills.

Willow was royalty. His family would probably request that he attend anyway. Arius, August, and Leland had been incorporated into our little group rather well. They were practically honorary members of the syndicate at this point. It made sense for us all to go, even if it seemed like a waste of time on the outside looking in.

It also wouldn't hurt to have the extra manpower to protect the remaining members of the royal family. The Kavan Guard had already proved inadequate and incapable. They were making progress, but they were still ill-equipped for this type of mission.

Evander opened his mouth to protest again, but I cut him off with a raised hand.

"We will be ready to depart when you are, Your Majesty." I concluded.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

Sup babes! So i lied lol

I didn't post last friday, then i said i was going to post on saturday and I didn't.

So yeah sorry.

and this was going to be a double update cuz i need catch up but i'm lazy

Thoughts >

Feelings >

Random >

How is your day today? Was it bad? Good? In between?

QOTD: who wants food rn?

I do.

Burritos...

enough said.

Double Memes!





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