Page 57 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

Caterina dipped her chin. “Okay, where did we leave off?”

“My father and brother were scheming to find Astria’s journals, tying my brother to an arranged marriage so he could get access to the Blood Court.”

“Right.” Caterina breathed.

Luka huffed a breath and I looked at him out of the corner of my eye—he only shook his head.

“Nol had only visited the Blood Court a couple of times—never enough that he could get any leads on who the original family was. He was trying to find ancient texts that might give any information to them, but there were none in the libraries he had access to.”

“Luka, do you have any idea who the original family was?” I turned toward him.

He shook his head. “We learned the history of them, the legend, but it never included names. None that I had learned anyway.” He leaned forward, wringing his hands through his hair. “That’s strange, isn’t it? I never realized but it’s strange it never included their names. There are family archives, located in an isolated wing in the palace in Cel Nox. I wonder if there would be any information in there.”

“Can you get us in there?” Luce asked.

“I can get in there, I don’t know if the magic has anything against non-family visitors, but it’s worth a shot. If anything I can find books and bring them out for all of us to read.”

“Is there anything else we need to know?” Kara asked.

“I don’t think so. That’s as far as they had gotten.” I chewed on the information she had given us. It was more than we had gained in our months of searching. Although I hated what it revealed, I was glad we at least had more to go off of than empty words.

Caterina sighed. “There is one more thing. Luce told me about the prophecy Hecate revealed to you. I for one wasn’t surprised a prophecy would strike someone in our bloodline. It was only a matter of time.”

“What do you mean it was only a matter of time?” Luce questioned, echoing my thoughts.

“This can’t leave this room.” She looked directly at Luka. “You understand that.”

“Yes,” We all echoed.

“Our family are descendants of Hecate.”

25

LUCIANA

Holy fucking stars above.

I was descended from Hecate.

I was related to the original witch.

“Witches tits,” I swore, earning a scathing look from my mother.

Kara remained impassive, staring at the space ahead of her. Luka was slack-jawed in his chair.

“We’re related to Hecate. Why did we never know this?” Lennox pressed.

“No one knows. The only living people who knew until this moment were me, Endora, and my mother. And now you lot.”

“But why?” Kara pressed.

“Our mother never knew?”

My mother shook her head. “No, I only found out a few years ago while looking through a book of our family tree. I assume it remained hidden because people are afraid of power.” She turned to Lennox. “Why do you think your parents hid your fourth element? Your power should have been your first sign your ancestors were those of great power.”

Her gaze turned back toward me. “Why do you think IchorMagic calls so strongly to you? Who do you think created Ichor Magic in the first place?”

My heart beat faster in my chest. “Hecate created Ichor Magic?”

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