Page 44 of Ruined Kingdom

“Sophia!” Tieni whispered sharply to me, and I looked over my shoulder to see that she was pointing out a tall building with red vines creeping up the side of it.

The two front doors were wide open, welcoming anyone who passed.

I could see from the street that it was filled with books.

This must be the place Tieni was telling me about.

“Kaine, I would actually like to stay here and do some research while you’re busy.”

He didn’t look too convinced, though.

“I want to be more useful than just clinging to your side.” I knew I had to convince him, and the only way I knew how was to reveal my one true fear: that I was otherwise useless to him.

He looked back at Tieni and then at me once more. “Fine. But don’t stray from there. I will be back as soon as I can.”

He leaned over me, kissing the top of my head before carrying on.

A handful of the footmen and soldiers stayed behind with Tieni and me.

“Does he need to leave so many people behind to watch us? Are we really in danger here?” I leaned into Tieni so that I didn't have to raise my voice.

“My dear, when you’re as important as Kaine is, you’re always in danger. There are many people here who don’t agree that a shifter should be the keeper of the Spirit of the Forest. They believe that it should be kept by the leader of every creature.” She explained as she led me into the library with the menagerie of protectors behind us.

“So, why isn’t it?” I could see there being an issue with one man holding the capability to tap into immense power if that man weren’t Kaine.

“Because then there would be war. Creatures fighting creatures for more power. But no one would dare mess with a shifter on a regular day—much less an Alpha King Blessed by Helene herself.” Tieni’s pitch changed.

I analyzed her face to find that she was frightened. “That was what happened before, wasn’t it? I mean, before Kaine stepped up.”

She blinked her eyes away from me and said, “The power that Kaine protects is a heavy burden, but he is doing good for the whole world by keeping it locked away. Being anywhere near so much power—would drive anyone crazy, which it did. Even the mortals who witnessed it went mad with a hunger for it.”

“Do you mean that the war with King Petre Magus started because of the Spirit of the Forest?”

Kaine never told me this.

Tieni finally collected herself enough to look at me and nod.

So, all of these problems were caused because of these powers… When will it end?

“Never mind that. We should spend our time focusing our efforts on finding the books we need.” Tieni was quick to change the subject, sensing that I had many more questions to ask.

I rolled my eyes, dropping the subject for now. “All right then.”

Now that I was looking at the disarray of the books, I could see that finding what we needed wasn’t going to be a simple task.

“Maybe there’s someone we could ask?—”

As I was talking, a slug-like creature slithered across the aisle right in front of us, and didn’t notice. He was mumbling to himself as he was tossing books about after looking at only a few pages. “No—that’s not… Hmm… No. That’s wrong, too.”

“Hello?” I called out to him gently, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

“Excuse me,” Tieni said a little more forcefully, but still he didn’t respond. She looked back at me with a strange look.

He was getting farther away from us now.

“Oi! Do you run this place?” I waved my hand in the air, hoping to get his attention if my voice failed again.

The creature jumped, giving a short, sharp shriek and sending all the books in his arms flying and tumbling to the library floor. “Good heavens! I don’t have anything. Please, don’t hurt me!”

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