Page 56 of Claimed By Stone
“What are you doing on this side?” Seraphina asked as I climbed the stairs to the far side of the war room. “We usually do our research on the other side?”
“Yes, but this side is where our clan’s records are kept. I’m hoping I might be able to locate more information on who gave us … well, who gave us you,” I said as I wound one of her rogue curls around my finger.
“I thought we knew that,” she said as she sat on the bench close to the railing.
“We know you were from the Westerly Clan, but I thought the more information we could find, the more we could understand.”
I looked through the ledgers until I found the one that was from the correct time period. When I pulled it out, dust puffed up around it. No one had done anything with these books in along time. I laid it on the table and opened it with a thud, looking at the dates.
“Why didn’t we look here sooner?” she asked.
I sighed. “I had been so focused on the magic and how to save the magic. We are at a dead end there. I thought this might give us something. I had no clue when you’d come. I don’t ever remember the statue not being there. Now we know, so I will find out more.”
I started poring over the entries from the estimated time the clan received the statue. Seraphine curled up on the chair next to me.
“I was talking to Frema this morning about the New Year’s Feast. I’m excited. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a feast before,” she said as she walked over to the window that overlooked the gate below. “This one doesn’t look as busy as the Yule Feast did.”
“No,” I answered as I kept looking through the ledger. “That was a special Feast to announce Khuldruk and Callie’s mating.”
“Are all mating ceremonies that big?” she asked.
“No. Not that I recall anyway, there haven’t been any in decades until this one. Usually, it is just a clan celebration, like New Year's will be, but because it was our chief and it was the first mated pair in decades, Khuldruk wanted to announce to everyone that our magic had finally returned.”
I looked up at her as she had her feet tucked up underneath her, watching the orcs below. Her being safely here with me squeezed my heart. Shewasmy heart. How was I lucky enough to get a mate as wonderful as she was? I wanted to tell her. I wanted more than anything to complete the bond and make her mine completely. I just needed more information first. At that thought, I returned my focus to the ledger.
Then I found it. An entry for a statue given by the Westerly Clan, delivered to us by a man named Wolfrick.
“Wolfrick?” I said out loud. “That doesn’t sound like an orc name.”
“Wolfrick wasn’t an orc,” she answered absent-mindedly.
My head snapped up to her at the same time hers did to mine. “Do you know him?”
“Yes… I think I do. But he’s not an orc, he’s something else.”
“What is he?” I asked as I made my way to her.
“I don’t know, but I do remember him from before.”
“Before what?” I asked eagerly, taking her hands in mine.
“Before the screaming,” she answered back so matter-of-factly it broke my heart.
“What do you remember about him?”
She cocked her head to the side and bit her lip. “Not a lot. He was there when I first arrived. He brought me rock candy once. I think he might have been the one who brought me to the clan.”
“Do you remember anything else about him?”
“I don’t. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry, little flame. We know more now than we did before. We’ll figure it out.” I watched her for a moment. T
The sadness was back in her eyes, and I couldn’t bear it.
“What do you say we get out of here?” I asked.
“What? I thought you wanted to work.”
