“Then how did you know about them?” Ransom asked.
“My family has been the librarians for Iron Serpent since it’s initial formation back in the day.”
“But you don’t believe in their most recent mission.” Kiema made it a statement.
“Fuck no. They were straight-up psychos, especially with Ferria running things for the last decade. They started out as a legitimate magical research and inquiry colloquium. It wasn’t until the Grand Master of the early 1900s that the focus shifted from study and cataloging to kidnapping and human trafficking.” I shuddered. Some of the things I’d heard that IS was doing now had me wishing I could cleanse my soul with bleach and wire scrubbing pads.
“You knew what was happening but did nothing to stop them?” Kiema asked, fire heating her words.
“I had no choice. They held my mother captive, forcing not only my father’s compliance, but my own. She passed last year.” I still felt her loss. Not that I’d been able to see her more than once a year for most of my life.
“I’m sorry,” Kiema said. “But why were you still there?”
I smiled, looked at Ransom and Saint. I could see the understanding in their eyes. Knew they would have done the same thing. Had done it, if I wasn’t mistaken.
“Because it’s easier to take down the organization from the inside than the outside,” I replied. “Had you guys not shown up and destroyed my family’s hard work, I would have been able to save the library and shut IS down, permanently I might add, in less than six months.” I glared at Kiema.
She winced and mouthed, sorry.
I chuckled even as the anger brushed through me again. I gave her a tight smile. “I got to save my family’s grimoires and those are the only things I can’t replicate.”
“Why not?” Ransom asked.
“Magic. One of my ancestors put a spell on the books so that they couldn’t be destroyed. But neither can the spells in them be read by someone outside of the direct bloodline.”
“Crafty ancestors,” Kiema said.
I laughed. “You have no idea.”
“So, are you going to let me heal you?” Kiema asked. “I don’t really want to start this next stupid journey and not have all my people as safe as I can make them. If Anda truly did gift me her power, then I’ll be able to keep us all safe. Well, safe-ish, at least,” she said, her cheeks going pink.
“You aren’t responsible for the rest of us, you know that right?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “All of you are my family. My chosen family. I’ll do whatever I think necessary to keep everyone in it happy, well, and safe. That’s my choice, that’s my desire.”
I looked at Ransom. Studied him. I didn’t know the man by anything except reputation and a few days’ acquaintance. His takeover of his parents’ company had been splashed ad nauseum across the media reports. He hadn’t given any reason except for the fact that he believed his parents to be unethical in their business practices. He hadn’t used the limelight to badmouth them or color the public’s view. He’d done what he thought necessary and that was that.
I turned and looked at Saint. Here was a man I never wanted to get on the bad side of. Some people just carried the capacity for violence like a shroud, and this man, more than any of the rest in this family, epitomized capable violence. Soft-spoken, dry humor, and an unshakable foundation of morality, he was someone I could respect. Someone I could emulate and be happy with the outcome of that influence.
The fact that these two men were willing to allow Kiema to do this, to offer to stand as protector of their most secret selves told me more than a media blast ever could: our mate was good down to her soul. She was strong in her convictions and her capacity to love was only equal to her capacity to kick your ass.
I turned back to Kiema. The woman who’d barreled into my library with enough noise to wake the dead.
I nodded.
She smiled at me. “What do I need to do?”
I patted the cushion next to me. “Just do what you normally do after I tell you my barriers are down.”
She nodded as she took her spot beside me. “I’m ready when you are.”
I took a deep breath. I was beyond anxious and incredibly excited to finally have my magic whole again. I closed my eyes, said the words that would lower my barriers temporarily.
After the last syllable of the spell crossed my lips, I opened my eyes and looked at my mate. “Go ahead.”
She laid her hand against my arm, whisper-soft.
Chapter 5 – Kiema
I walked into Kord’s spiritual plane. It was stark and beautiful. I also wasn’t surprised that it looked like a gothic library.
“Hello?”
A low shushing sound came back to me from somewhere. “Keep your voice down, woman.”
I smiled as I recognized a younger version of Kord’s voice. I walked up the main aisle until I came to an open circle that held a desk big enough to sit at least fifty people around its edges.
A young man, probably in his mid-teens, was sitting at the desk, his nose buried in a book. “Do you have your library card?” he asked without looking up.
I chuckled. “No, Kord. I don’t have a library card. Are you going to show me where your magic is?”
The young man looked up, his black-framed glasses slipping down his nose. He pushed them back up, licked his lips. “How did you get here?” He edged to the side, looked behind me.
“Your older self let me in. I’m here to fix your magic.”
His icy blue eyes widened. “You’re her, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know, but probably.” I shrugged.
“Our mate? You’re much prettier than we thought you’d be. Thank Gaia.” He smiled, his front teeth were crooked.
“Well, thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.”
His cheeks flushed bright red. “I bet I’m pretty good looking out there.” He raised his chin to the aisle behind me.
“Definitely handsome, yes.”
He pumped his fist into the air, gave a hoot of victory.
I raised one brow. “Excuse me, this is a library.”
He slapped his hands over his mouth. Sniggered. “The magic section is over here. You can follow me if you want.”
“Sure.” I looked around the cathedral ceilings, all of the walls covered in books of every shape and size imaginable. “What’s in all these books?”
Young Kord snickered. “Every book we’ve ever read. We have an eidetic memory. If it comes in written form, we’ve memorized it.”
“But not your grimoires?”
He sighed heavily, his thin shoulders rising and falling sharply under his shirt. “No. Five-time great Grammy put the spell on those. Which is good, I guess. But we could have preserved it better in here.” He waved a hand to encompass the whole room.
I felt it then, the magic, as we moved farther down another aisle.
Kord shivered, rubbed his hands over his arms. “There it is. Just up there. I don’t like to go over there. It makes me feel icky on the inside.” He tipped his nose up in the air.
I wanted so badly to reach out and hug him, but didn’t. “Then I guess I’ll take it from here. Thanks, Kord.”