Page 16 of Whispers of Wisteria
“And… you stole… from me?” I was offended. What kind of lackluster security measures had I put into place? “How?”
“Never mind that now.” He waved his hand, dismissing my question.
No, I really did mind.
Brayden moved to his knees and opened the book. “The first couple chapters are about your origins, a breakdown of fae powers, and the basics of how quintets work. We’ve already gone over most of this. But then it moves on”—He ran his finger down a finger-smudged page—“where there’s a list of prophecies. Some have already been fulfilled. They’re marked in the book. I’ve put a sticky in here”—He pointed to the yellow paper—“where you’ll find the whole dragon prophecy.”
“Is that the rest of the book?” There was still quite a bit of reading after the marker. “Just prophecies?”
“Nah.” Brayden flipped forward a few random pages and moved it more fully in front of me. His curly hair fell over his eyes mischievously. “There’s also a lot about fae customs.”
“Customs?” I breathed, and a sense of foreboding filled me. This topic, again.
“It’s a general overview of culture.” Brayden sounded shy, and his knee began to bounce. “It’s an introductory book you created a long time ago. They say you’ve always been curious and like to learn things for yourself.”
Did they now? Though it’d make sense—if this were like reading a diary I’d written, it wouldn’t feel like someone else telling me about my life.
It’d feel like…
It’d feel like everything was no longer spiraling out of control around me.
Still…
“What culture?” I frowned down at the grotesque image. “Is that a goblin eating a human?” It totally was.
“Don’t worry too much about every chapter.” Brayden quickly flipped forward through the book. “Most of these things are outdated anyway.”
“Brayden,” I said, and a nervousness began to crawl over me.
Brayden watched me with wide-eyed wariness, and his voice shook a little when he replied, “Yes?”
“Why are you and Dr. Stephens suddenly talking to me about fae customs?” I moved my finger over the book’s pages, vaguely noting that it felt warm. “We’ve barely had time to cover what I can do. Aren’t I supposed to be learning how to use my abilities?”
“Yes,” Brayden replied.
But I pressed onward. “I’d think, then, that culture would be one of the last things to talk about since I’m not going to the fae realm anytime soon.”
Brayden leaned back. “Well, Mu created our realm. So you should probably feel some connection…”
He was telling the truth, but not entirely.
“Is there any personal information about Mu in here?” That, probably, would help me feel a ‘connection’ other than reading about gruesome traditions that—the first occasion I could—I would definitely be addressing.
“No.” Brayden frowned. “There are other books—about family lines, history, personality analysis, and past lives. I have those here.” He pulled out two more thick books, laying them beside the first on the table. “But I figured you’d want to start with the prophecy.”
My chest swelled. He did understand. Trying to figure this out on my own would have taken ages.
Meanwhile, Brayden was giving me something that I hadn’t been able to find before—a way to more fully understand myself.
“There’s a lot more between the public and private archives,” Brayden said, green eyes shining in apology. “And Uncle Caleb and I have been trying to find your private journals and diaries for years, but we haven’t—”
He stopped as I slipped out of the chair and threw my arms around his neck. Maybe it was the medicine making me emotional, or perhaps it was because it was that time of the month. But I didn’t want him to feel guilty when he’d been trying so hard.
And even more than that, he’d already helped me so much.
No one had ever taken my research seriously before.
“Thank you.” I pressed my cheek against his clavicle. “You didn’t have to.”
