Page 54 of Killian
“Not Moira or I?” asked Killian.
“We appreciate your help and your knowledge of these people, but it isourLibrary. We will make the decision on how best todefend it.”
“Mm,” said Killian. “Your confidence is inspiring.”
“My confidence is high. My trust is in limited supply. That being said,” Augusta reached into her sleeve and produced a scroll, “you have kept your word in all things, and the librarians have said that my reticence is unwarranted. They have voted to give you this now.”
“The werewolf spell?” asked Killian, gingerly taking the scroll and unrolling the papyrus. “I am surprised.”
“Well, I voted against it, but my practicality is not always shared.”
The spell looked… spell-like. It looked like it was written in Latin. He would need Hudson to tell him what it said, but his eye caught on a familiar phrase.
Pro victoria Iumentis movere u.
For victory the pack had to move as one.
“I’m not sure it will help you, to tell the truth,” said Augusta.
“What do you mean?” asked Killian,
“Well, after our previous conversation, I had the research librarians dig into our records regarding werewolves. In general, wolves are not an area of study that many pursue. Although, I suspect after your visit that there may be a surge in interest. It appears that your opinions regarding pack bonds, fated pairings and ties to specific humans were shared by both of our ancestors. Although, to be clear, other papers offer something of my own opinion that the humans in question probably have a magical bloodline in their ancestry.”
“Just because you know the mechanism of fate doesn’t make it less fated,” said Killian. “How can you believe in magic and not believe in fate?”
“Because if I wish to believe in free will then I don’t see how I can believe in predestination. They are mutually exclusive,” said Augusta. “Either all my decisions are predetermined by fate orthey aren’t.”
“What if it’s just some of your decisions? Or what if fate is on specific events but it’s up to you to do something about them.”
“Events? Events only happen because of the actions of individuals. There is no personless event.”
“Waves hit the shore. That’s an event. It’s destined to happen.”
“That’s not destiny. That’s gravity. Fate did not have a hand to play in that. I don’t know why I’m arguing about this. The point is that you have a limited population of humans on which this spell will work.”
“Yes,” agreed Killian. “But without this spell, that population is zero.”
“Yes, but we are all in agreement that neither of you should have been affected by the memory spell. You’re both Supernaturals. Your magical knowledge is not extensive and the magic you do use is not witchcraft or human in origin.”
“What are you trying to say?” asked Killian, his brow furrowing in confusion.
“We think the reason that you were affected by the memory spell is that you’re under a spell,” said Augusta. “We think it’s something long term and from the brief testing we did we think it’s centered around your noses.”
Instinctually Killian put his hand up to touch his nose. “It seems fine.”
“The results were unclear,” said Augusta. “We may be picking up on a residual spell, or something may have happened when you entered the library. But regardless, it did seem like there were some remnants around your noses. But good luck,” Augusta said, giving him a friendly tap on the arm before striding off.
Still scratching his head, Killian took the scroll to where they’d left their bags. Moira found him there still attempting to puzzle through the Latin. He hadn’t gotten much other than that thespell would require the alpha and possibly some amount of blood from multiple wolves.
“That’s the werewolf spell?” demanded Moira excitedly. She peered at the scroll and then made a raspberry of disgust at the Latin, and handed it back. “Well, we’ve got it, so at least that is something.”
“She said it might not work, though,” said Killian. “She thought there was a spell that was affecting our noses. Or at least that something might be wrong with our noses.”
“Wrong with our noses?” Moira’s face was the picture of skepticism, then she threw her hands up in excitement.
“Uh?” Killian wasn’t sure what to do with the multiple moods.
“I remembered! Jeez, that was driving me nuts!”
