Page 83 of Mysteries, Menace, and Mates

What are you hiding?

When they opened it, Jake recognized the writing immediately. “This resembles theMissal of Godwin,” he told Orsini, who joined him, staring at the top sheet.

Orsini’s breathing caught. “That’s because it was probably written by him.” He grabbed a tablet from the table and scrolled. “Look. This is what we have.” He showed them an image of a similar yellowed sheet of paper, covered in writing.

Jake peered at it. “That’s what you showed me, isn’t it? The one that’s real.” When Orsini nodded, Jake turned to Seth. “TheMissal of Godwintells us that Ansfrid…. Wait, let me see if I can remember this right.” He closed his eyes, and in his head, he heard Orsini’s voice from more than thirty years ago, translating the document from Latin into English.

“‘My Lord Ansfrid is beloved of his people, counting among those he loves both humankind and versipelli.’That’s Latin for shifters, by the way. Then it went on,‘But Lord Ansger shows his countenance to versipelli alone, shunning the company of humans.’”

Orsini beamed. “Your memory is phenomenal. Now look here at the number in the top corner. One. But this new sheet has the number two. This one cameafterthe page we already have from theMissal. So whoever originally got their hands on theMissal of Godwin, they only took the first page.”

“What does it say?” Jake demanded.

Orsini took the sheet in his trembling gloved hand and read in silence. His mouth fell open, and goose bumps erupted on Jake’s arms. At last Orsini lowered the sheet, his eyes wide. He gazed at Seth and Brick.

“All those years ago, I showed Jake a document purporting to be Ansger’s condemnation of his brother’s belief that shifters and humans were equal. The basis for the rift between shifters, in fact. The very act that caused the Gerans and Fridans to exist. Jake said it didn’t feel old enough to have been written in the time of the brothers, and when we dated it, he was proved right. It had been produced in the early twentieth century. Butthis…. Thisprovesthat document was a forgery.” Orsini’s voice rang with triumph. He peered once more at the ancient paper. “This tells of an accident that befell Ansger. Godwin writes that Ansger went out riding and did not return. They searched for him, but to no avail. Then after seven days, he was brought to the home he shared with his brother.” Orsini’s eyes gleamed. “A human brought him, the same human who had found him when Ansger’s horse threw him. He’d tended to Ansger’s wounds, taken great care of him, and nursed him back to health. Godwin writes that Ansger was extremely grateful.” He paused and read further. “The physician who treated Ansger on his return said that without a doubt, Ansger would have died if not for the human.”

“Ansger being so grateful doesn’t mesh with the idea of a guy who’d think all humans were the lowest of the low,” Seth observed.

“I would agree.” Orsini smiled. “Especially since Godwin goes on to say Ansger and this human—Elric, that was his name—grew to be the bestof friends.” His face flushed as he continued to read. “Oh. I stand corrected. They weresomuch more than friends.”

“They were lovers?” Jake stared at Orsini. “Sonotas averse to humans as that forgery would have us believe.”

Orsini nodded. “It doesn’t say how long they were together. Maybe that’s something we’ll find in the rest of this, or else in the other caskets. But it does relate a conversation between Ansger and Ansfrid. Listen to this.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, I’m paraphrasing, because Godwin uses fifty words to say what could be said in about ten. Ansger admitted he was wrong to shun the company of humankind and that Ansfrid had the right idea all along. Humans and shifters were meant to dwell side by side with each other, and that when the prophecy came to pass, shifters would be free to step into the light and show themselves, and there would be peace in our world. And by ‘our’ I mean shifter society, not the world at large. At least, Ithinkthat’s what it means.”

“Prophecy? What prophecy?” Jake gaped. “Doyouknow what Godwin was talking about?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing.” Orsini frowned. “It sounds as though he’s talking about humans learning of the existence of shifters.”

“So something’s supposed to happen that will bring this about?” Seth gazed at the sheet in Orsini’s hand. “Does it say what’s in the prophecy?”

“Has anyone else still got goose bumps?” Brick rubbed his arms briskly.

Jake chuckled. “That makes two of us. I’ve had them ever since we opened the first casket.”

Orsini perused the sheet, then read the next, and the next, until he’d gone through all the sheets in the casket. He sighed. “It goes on about feasting, the weather, riding…. Boring accounts of Godwin’s stay with the brothers. There’s nothing else in these documents that mentions a prophecy.”

Jake glanced at the three caskets whose contents they had yet to examine in any great detail. “Maybe what we’re searching for is in those.”

Seth grinned. “Then let’s start looking.”

JAKE WASbeginning to feel as though he was on a wild goose chase. They’d gone through two of the three remaining caskets, whose documents appeared to have been written in the thirteenth century. Thus far therewas no mention of the brothers, a prophecy… in fact anything that was of any interest. Orsini was delighted, however, and told them even one of the caskets represented a lifetime of research to keep shifter historians and scholars busy.

But none of it helps us get any nearer to knowing what Godwin was talking about.

Jake could understand why Theron had kept the rest of theMissala secret. Peace? Humans and shifters living side by side? That didn’t fit the Geran agenda. Instead, they’d manufactured an artifact to show just the opposite, a reason for the split, the beginnings of a chasm between Fridans and Gerans that they sought to widen.

So why did Theron hide the Berengar caskets?

“Only one more casket left,” Brick commented. “If it’s like the first two, it might contain recipes, or something equally unimportant.”

“Hey, some people mightwantto know what shifters ate back then,” Jake teased. His humor served to mask his own frustration. What they’d discovered in that first casket was groundbreaking, and if they could share their knowledge, it would rock the shifter world to its foundations.

He and Brick removed the final lid to reveal yet another tied sheaf of papers, not as thick as the first bundle. Orsini unraveled the knot with care, then read the first sheet.

Jake noticed the change in his breathing instantly.

“What is it? What have you found?”

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