Brushing aside images of what I want to do to her tonight, I return to the text I’ve been reading all morning, The Secrets and Stories of Velmara. The section where Genevieve found the information about Mazus’s line—the Vicants—forcibly taking the throne from the Andomers has proven most illuminating. Not only did the Andomers rule Velmara, but they have their own prophecies about a prince who will bring light in the darkness, uniting peoples or realms, depending on which oral history is being detailed. It could be an iteration on the prophecy of the Thayarian Queen, derived from the same stories but branching at some point in history for different peoples. But they’re not quite similar enough to make that likely.

The Andomer line is strong, and this prophesied prince is supposed to be the strongest among them. I can’t help but draw connections to Prince Hawthorne, who’s rumored to be the strongest light channeler at least in living memory. Laurel has never given much credit to the prophecy so many believe is about her, so I’ve rarely studied it, not wanting to poke a still-sore wound. But if Hawthorne is the Prince of Andomer in the prophecy, and Laurel is the Queen of the Thayarian prophecy, then the two of them are surely connected in some way. I told Laurel I suspected Mazus wanted her and Prince Hawthorne to meet, and these revelations only heighten that suspicion.

I’m pondering the possibility that the prophecies about Laurel and Prince Hawthorne are connected when a servant arrives with a roll of parchment, sealed with Mazus’s signet. Sighing, I take the missive from her and open it. Mazus has requested my presence in three evening’s time for another dinner and has apparently already dispatched servants with my attire for the affair, indicating this is not a request but a summons. Not that I had any delusions otherwise.

I return to my research, frustrated that I’m beholden to the King’s whims, but with a renewed sense of urgency, hoping to find something useful by the time we meet. I return to translating The Traditions of the Fae. It’s been slow work, and I’ve had to take breaks from it to maintain my sanity. I’ve been working on the section on fae religion, but after reading more about Prince Hawthorne’s potential significance in Andomer lore, I decide to return to the passages on mates, a question percolating in the back of my mind.