Chapter 75 The Note That Shouldn’t Exist
ASHER
The soft glow of dawn spilled through the tall, arched windows of the Grand Library, stretching golden fingers across the polished marble floor. The silence was thick and reverent, broken only by the occasional crackle of candle wax or the distant shift of ancient tomes settling on their worn shelves.
I stood in front of the west wing’s forgotten aisle, where books older than the Academy itself lined the wooden shelves, some barely holding together despite years of careful preservation. The brittle pages of the volume in my hand had my attention. its spine cracked with time and its ink faded slightly.
Another page turned under my fingers–slow, deliberate, searching.
Then à voice cut through the silence.
“You refused to attend the overnight survival trial even though your name is cleared,” Alpha Instructor Jude said evenly. stepping into view, his silhouette tall and sharp against the rising light. “Now, you’ve spent the entire night in the library. breaking curfew and rules.”
I didn’t lift my gaze. My thumb brushed the corner of the next page as I flipped it calmly, eyes scanning a line of jagged symbols that seemed to pulse beneath the candlelight.
“I already explained my reasons, Alpha Jude,” I replied, my voice quiet but resolute. “You suspected all four of us during the murder incident, and cleared only three names. I understand that Dante’s lineage makes him untouchable. The Academy is likely under pressure from his pack after his death. But the way Seth Darven is being treated. I find unacceptable.”
Alpha Jude stood still for a long moment, watching me, I could feel the weight of his gaze, trying to read more than my
words.
“For that boy you are willing to put your future on the line, you’re not friends with Seth Darven,” he said finally. “You weren’t even close. So where is this sudden concern.coming from?”
Silence stretched between us like a drawn bowstring.
But in my mind, I was no longer in the library. I was back in that vampire den as vampires chased us through the darkness Seth’s soft hand in mine, warm and firm despite the cold, never letting me go. We were pressed together in a crevice between rocks, his beauty stealing breath from my lungs.
My wolf lived that moment once again in my mind when I saw something that I could never forget.
“I was the team leader in that trial,” I said slowly, “as the team leader I want all of my team members back and running in the Supreme Alpha Race”
Jude’s expression didn’t change, but I could tell he was measuring something behind those cold eyes. “That boy has chosen to challenge Alpha Hugo’s decision and went to prove himself. His destiny is in his hands now and will be decided in a few hours However.” His gaze dropped to the open book in my hands, then drifted to the stack beside me. “Is he also the reason you’re suddenly interested in ancient languages?” he asked.
My hand froze. From that distance he could tell the book in my hand was ancient?
I finally looked up. Our eyes met.
“Alpha Jude,” I said, voice steady, “can you read the ancient languages?
He nodded, “Over the years I have learned it through the English translation”
“What about the languages that haven’t been translated into English? Can you read them?”
“No one can,” he answered, frowning faintly Any language we’ve been able to decipher is already translated and archived. The rest well, some say they’re just gabberish Symbols from extinct tribes. Unreadable.”
My lingers curled around the spine of the book i held, its cover thick and dark, the scent of dust and time heavy in the air- vums fragile pages, tucked carefully like a secret, was a note. The note that I had secured. The note that I had ripped from that wolf’s throat after he swallowed it contained the secret that led to Finn’s broken curse. The handwriting was thin. Not Tragmented Wenten in steady, deliberate strokes But was not found in any ancient book and no one could read it
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Chapter 75 The Note That Shouldn’t Exist
Bur Seth had just read it.
Like it was nothing.
+8 Pearls
Then…” I asked, more to myself than to Alpha Jude, “is it possible someone can read a language we don’t even know exists?”
He shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
With that, he turned and walked away. “Leave the library quickly. Only this once will I pretend that I did not see you breaking the rules, his footsteps echoed down the aisle until silence reclaimed the space.
But I stood there, unmoving.
My eyes fell again to the note. My mind returned to that moment–Seth understanding them, his expression too calm, too familiar with the unknown.
Suddenly, the silence in the library felt less like peace–and more like a mystery.
“Then why could Seth Darven read it?” I murmured under my breath.
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
I gently closed the book, sliding the note out from the pages, Seth’s beautiful smile and melodious voice that slipped once in the trial.
“Seth Darven…” I whispered under my breath, “it’s not what I am thinking, right?”
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