Chapter 160

Theodore’s POV

I was searching the archives’ computer for anything related to forehead bands when my phone rang. My phone screen showed, “Aunt Lillith”. Adding her to my contacts with the title of “aunt” was partially an affectionate and respectful decision, but mostly it was to avoid Eva’s wrath in case she saw someone with a feminine name was contacting me.

I was not looking forward to leaving Henosis. Thankfully, this was only day three of our trip, and we still had most of it ahead of us.

I glanced at the empty chair across from me. Violet and I had considered splitting up in different areas of the library for a divide and conquer approach, but we were still looking for any opportunity to stay in each other’s company. This trip was out of necessity to search for answers we needed, but it was also the only time we would see each other for who knew how long.

Though with the danger of Owen finding out about her pregnancy between Olivia Bronson’s unreliable character and the fact that Violet would start showing in a month, we only had that month to sort everything out. Theoretically, that meant we’d be back together in a matter of weeks.

Or dead.

My ringing phone drew me out of what would have likely spiraled into terrifying thoughts, and I answered my aunt’s call. “Hello, Lillith.”

“Theodore! I’m so very sorry I missed your call earlier. Everything alright?”

She sounded out of breath.

“Yes, I just wanted to let you know we found one of the answers we were looking for. You had mentioned that you would do your own research, and I didn’t want you to waste time trying to figure out how someone might not know they magic until adulthood when we already figured it out.”

I lazily scrolled through the list of books on the computer screen that my search had pulled up.

“Oh, splendid! So, let’s see then, you’re still wanting to find out how to prove who cast a fake mate bond spell and how to reverse it?”

“That’s right.” A title in my list caught my attention: Crowns of Shame – A Complete History.

“Alright, thank you for letting me know. I have to attend to some runaway sheep now, but I’ll look into it. I hope to see you once more before you leave!”

After promising to at least say goodbye to her, we wrapped up the call. I noted down where the book with the intriguing title was located and headed into the stacks behind me.

This was the part of researching where Violet and I still had to be out of each other’s sight: going to collect books. My mate was around here somewhere, having gone off to find a few books of her own.

We had divided the work into me researching how to undo the bond and Violet looking for how to prove who cast the spell. So far, we weren’t finding a lot about the spell in general, not to mention the specific questions we wanted answered. It was why I had taken a little break to search for information on our forehead bands.

It was the least time-sensitive answer we needed, but I was hoping the answer would be easy to find, and that little win would stoke our waning hope.

Double checking my location in the stacks with what I’d noted down, I scanned the titles on the shelf in front of me until I found the one I was looking for. Pulling out the book, I remembered how the High Priestess had briefly referred to our forehead bands as crowns. It was that memory that had tugged at me when I first saw this title.

Violet sensed my excitement down the bond. Find something? Hopping the answer would be yes, I flipped to the introduction, the much-needed hope fluttering in my chest as I read.

“From their temple origins to their violent renaissance in the Bloody War that birthed Henosis, Crowns of Shame have a complex past mixed with hope and cruelty alike. Despite its variety of intents and shapes, one thing remains the same throughout its history: the scar-tissue that defines it.”

I flipped through the book, deterred by the word “scar-tissue”. I stopped at a page with a grotesque image of a man on his knees as someone carved a line across his forehead.

I sighed. Nope.

My disappointment was mirrored down the bond.

Trying not to let it get to me, I returned to the computer. Violet wasn’t back at our table yet, and I took a second to hold my head in my hands. Now that I knew Violet’s magic was unstable – and threatening her life – my fear was harder to stave off.

Something tickled the back of my neck, and I looked up to find wildflowers falling on me. At first, I grew concerned, knowing that Violet manifested magic when her emotions became overwhelming, but the cascade of flowers moved to my left, dragging my attention with it.

They began to fall more intentionally on the floor next to me until they formed a heart shape on the ground, followed by an arrow through it. Flowers continued to fall at the arrow’s tip, moving along in a trail in the direction the arrow pointed. I watched the flowers until they gathered at my wife’s feet.

I met her gaze where she was leaning against a shelf of books, smiling at me adoringly. This hadn’t been an uncontrolled blast of power. It had been purposeful play.

I returned her smile, and as I rose from my seat, the flowers all disappeared with a quick sweeping motion of Violet’s hand. I strode over to her, following the ghost of a path where the flowers had been. I gathered her in my arms, reveling in the giggle the motion emitted from her.

I kissed her deeply and slowly, perhaps savoring every moment in fear that our remaining kisses were numbered. I pulled away as little as possible to say, “I’m so proud of you.”

She stole one more quick kiss. “For what?”

“Your magic is coming along quickly. The more control you have over it, the less likely it will slip out at an inopportune moment. You’re so smart and talented and hard-working.”

I kissed her some more, my hands bunching up the fabric of her shirt as I pulled her closer.

Violet laughed out of the kiss. “Well, it is also much easier to wield here. Using magic within a magical land is like swimming in water as opposed to using magic back home, which feels like swimming on land.”

It was my turn to laugh at her simile. It was an exaggeration, but an entertaining one. “Maybe more like swimming in a pool versus swimming in the ocean with the salt water that makes you more buoyant and the current that helps you out.”

I moved my hand to lie over her heart, my mother’s token cold beneath my hand. I remembered the feel of that same token around my mother’s neck as I held her while she died.

I couldn’t let the unstable magic take Violet from me, too. In such a short amount of time, she had become my whole world. I wondered if Violet’s wolf spirit fled her body, if mine would follow.

Better to be dead than have our souls separated.

I kissed her forehead tenderly. “We should get back to our research.”