All she could find were tales that skirted the edge of what happened.
She found stories of before—of the Age of the Valors, when knights always won, good always beat out evil, honor was always rewarded, and fairytales always ended happily.
Then there were the tales of after—the Age of Great Houses, which often flickered and changed to the Age of Great Curses as she read.
One volume, A History of Famous Beheadings, had an entire chapter on the Valors’ deaths, but it made no mention of the Valory Arch.
An excerpt read:
The author went on to curse the names of all the original Great Houses: Fortuna, Slaughterwood, Merrywood, Redthorne, Hawkleaf, Casstel, Bloodgrave, Verita, Ravencross, Darling, Havok, Bellflower, and Acadian.
Acadian was Apollo’s surname, and reading it made her picture him, sitting atop his hunting horse, battling against the curse, and she wondered where he was at this moment. She was uninjured; therefore, she could assume he was unharmed, at least physically. Emotionally, what was this all doing to him? The first night he’d been awake, when she’d seen him in the garden, he’d already seemed like a different prince from the one she’d married. He’d been wounded and haunted. A little of that wouldn’t destroy him. But what if this curse went on too long? Who would Apollo be then?
* * *
The following day, Evangeline decided to read more about the Great Houses. There were thirteen original Great Houses, and they had gained the most after the fall of the Valors, which made her wonder if they had been involved in sealing the arch and hiding the stones. Especially as the stones were magic and possibly provided some measure of fortune to whoever possessed them.
She decided to look into House Slaughterwood first, since LaLa was marrying Lord Robin Slaughterwood. Unfortunately, it seemed there were no book spines mentioning House Slaughterwood, or if there were, the story curse had altered them. It did that a lot.
The next House she researched—House Merrywood—turned into Bitterwood as she read. Although nothing about this Great House or its namesake village seemed bitter.
Merrywood the village was said to be a charming township built in a forest, home to enchanted square fairs, magical foxes, and a trio of semi-infamous scoundrels who were all said to be charming and handsome and nothing but trouble. The trio was composed of Prince Castor Valor, Lyric Merrywood—son to Lord Merrywood—and a cocky archer.
The archer was given no name, but Evangeline immediately wondered if this was the Archer from The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox.
“Find anything interesting?”
She startled at the velvet voice and dropped the volume in her hand. It fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
“Sorry I frightened you.” Chaos leaned easily against the opposite chair, clad in leather armor that perfectly outlined all his sculpted vampire perfection, and she knew he wasn’t sorry at all. He was entertained that she had jumped. There was a soft, unexpected crinkle around his eyes, giving just a hint of something human.
But Evangeline still remembered when his eyes had not appeared human at all, when she’d looked in them and seen death.
The vampire angled his head, his gaze leaving her to study the pile of books on her table. “You’re reading about the Great Houses?”
“Yes, but there’s one House I haven’t been able to find any books on. Do you have any volumes on House Slaughterwood?”
“There’s nothing worth reading about House Slaughterwood. They’re just a bunch of spineless brutes.” Chaos strode to the shelf and retrieved a book with a dusky lavender cover.
“Perhaps try this one.” He handed her the volume he’d just taken from the shelf.
It was a slender thing, wrapped in a thick black ribbon and embossed with gold foil.
The Rise and Fall of the Valors: Beloved First Royal Family of the Magnificent North
The title twisted as she read it, some of the letters turning into branches, others transforming into weapons and making Evangeline a little dizzy.
The first page of the book did the same. The letters and words kept flickering into other things, as if the tome were so excited someone had finally picked it up that it didn’t know what to say.
“This one seems a touch overeager—” Evangeline broke off as she looked up to find Chaos had already left. And it seemed he wasn’t the only thing that had disappeared from the library. After setting the book he’d handed her aside—because the words simply refused to settle—she reached down to find the volume she’d dropped when Chaos had first entered.