Roses on Fire ~ The Tale of Roses and Thorns 2.
Chapter 17~ A night in the library

Adrastos was right, the library was filled with interesting books. They spent hours in the library, reading about magical creatures and the people of Sanctuary. At one time, they found a diary that belonged to a late apprentice of Hiwaya.

“You know, I feel kinda bad for reading it.” said Ivelle to Adrastos at one point.

“Why?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

“Because these are her very own thoughts. Her secrets.” she explained, looking at him.

“But it’s interesting. And she’s most probably dead now, so...” he waved the diary in his hand and started reading out loud. ”One day I will leave this place, and I’ll never come back. Never.” he started turning the pages quickly.

“What are you doing?” asked Ivelle, trying to suppress her laughter.

“It’s a boring part.” said Adrastos still turning the pages.

“That’s nearly the end!” exclaimed Ivelle.

“The endings are always the most exciting.” he said seriously “And didn’t you just say that you felt bad for reading the diary?”

Ivelle boxed into his arms.

“Ouch! That hurt.” said Adrastos laughing “Let’s see what do we have here.” he grinned and started reading again ”Gavril said he’ll take me to Etalia, that we’ll live there forever. I believe him. Elves don’t lie. At least that’s what they say.” Ivelle stopped laughing. She froze. Gavril? That was her father’s name too.

“What?” turned Adrastos to her.

“Gavril was my father.” she whispered staring at the diary.

“What?!”

“Gavril was my father’s name. That can’t be a coincidence.” she said standing up.

“But this journal is more than 300 years old!” he said incredulously “It’s older than me.” he added.

Ivelle snatched the journal from him and turned to the first page.

"This diary belongs to Cyneburga, ” she started reading out ” daughter of Valdemar and Cyrille. Apprentice of Hiwaya.” she stayed silent. “It wasn’t written by my mom.”

“Or maybe it was.” said Adrastos jumping up. He started his way through the infinite lines of books. He stopped in front of a shelf with extremely old-looking books and took off the one that looked the oldest. They went to the nearest desk, lit the candle and sat down.

"The Royal Families of Prigon?” she read out the title.

“Yes, it recorded the rulers of Prigon, ever since the kingdom was founded. After the first war, the king died without an heir and the Rule of the Regents began, and the elders brought this book here to protect it.”

“Rule of the Regents?”

“After the war between the two Alliances, it was all chaos in Prigon. The forests turned into deserts, the king died and there was no heir. The nobility chose a regent to rule until the kingdom is stabilized and is ready to have new king. But they never chose a new one, and the rule of the regents went on.”

He started looking up the names, and after like twenty minutes he stopped.

“Here.” he said pointing at two names. Ivelle bent over the book and started reading.

"King Valdemar, first-born son of King Ebenezer and Queen Salette. Married Cyrille.” she kept on reading.

"Imogen the White. First-born daughter of King Valdemar and Queen Cyrille. Died at the age of 12. It doesn’t say how. Adeena second daughter of King Valdemar and Queen Cyrille. Married Lord Aramis, a knight of Abonwan, at the age of 16. Cyneburga daughter of King Valdemar and Queen Cyrille. Was sent to Hiwaya to study. Disappeared at the age of 18.” she looked up at Adrastos “I still can’t see the connection.”

“Cyneburga studied at Hiwaya to become a sorceress. It’s logical that they taught her how to stay young. Then she met Gavril, decided that she wanted a different life, and ran away with him. That explains it.” Ivelle thought about it. That sounded logical, but still. Why would she ran away? As far as she knew her father was noble. They could’ve got married. Noone would’ve stopped them. She covered her face with her hands.

“It’s so complicated.” she sighed.

“I think that you need sleep.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep after that.” She motioned at the book. “My mother was a princess.”

“Come, let’s go back to your room. Get some rest, and we’ll try to replace out what happened when you wake up.” offered Adrastos pulling her up. She nodded slowly and let him take her back to her room. Her head was aching from all the mysteries.

What happened after they left the library was blurred for Ivelle. She couldn’t remember the way to her room, nor the leaving of Adrastos. All she knew was that at once she was changing into her nightgown and was ready to go to bed. She took a last look at her appearance in the mirror. She was dishevelled, her skin was pale, and there were dark circles around her eyes. This is what a royal was supposed to look like? Most certainly not.

With a sigh she turned away and crawled into her bed. She pulled the blankets on her head and tried to shut out all the things that happened to her. Her thoughts were swirling in her head.

Finally, she managed to fall asleep. Into a restless and bothered sleep. One nightmare came after the other, she dreamt of her mother and father, their death and saw again that strange dream with the dark forest, Adrastos and Áedh.

When she woke up in the morning, she was more tired than before. For a while she was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. A loud knock interrupted her thoughts.

“Come in.” She said sitting up. A woman, around the age of 40 entered the room. She wore a richly decorated blood red dress.

“Are you Ivelle?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Alkmene, and I hear you want to know more about your mother.” She said closing the door behind her.

“Yes.” answered Ivelle, jumping to her feet “Do you know anything about her?”

“Plenty. I was her friend.” she said with a giggle “Get dressed and meet me in the library. I’ll tell you everything I know.” she said walking to the door.

" Thank you.” smiled Ivelle. Alkmene nodded her head and left the room.