Chapter 28-The true heart

Chapter 28: 28-The true heart

Present night~

Luan headed to the library. Unlike the noisy academy, the library remained untouched by panic. Ancient silence lived between the endless shelves and lanterns floated peacefully through the air.

The enchanted twilight coating the building made it impossible to tell whether dusk or dawn waited outside.

Luan stepped inside. His footsteps echoed softly as he walked directly toward the restricted archives. His mind replayed everything he had overheard earlier.

Princess Varitreya, Addessa, Lumi, and Zolani were bounded to one mate. Their conversation after leaving the arena was ever in his mind. The words repeated themselves over and over.

"The moment she screamed... my body had already decided she was worth destroying everything for."

"We all felt it."

"I was worried the bond would force an intervention, and it did. This can’t continue."

"Four hearts... one mate."

Luan frowned. "What exactly are you, Maisa?"

The redblood had just shown up, and already, she was making a mess of everything. He found it hard to believe that the Queen of his heart and his twin sister were bonded to the same vampire.

Just thinking about how such a relationship would work made his head ache. A redblood zinging with more than one vampire was truly unheard of.

And he feared for the fate that awaited Lumi and Addessa when the palace finds out the Princess is bound to a redblood... a girl at that and won’t be able to continue the bloodline by producing an heir.

He began pulling books from the shelves to red more and understand the strange bond. He pulled books such as ancient bond records, royal mate traditions, the heart’s awakening, bloodline compatibility, and forbidden mating rituals.

His blueblood speed turned reading into something almost supernatural. Pages blurred beneath his fingers. One book, two, five, ten, twenty...they were a piece of cake to him.

His eyes devoured paragraphs faster than most low-ranking vampires could finish a sentence. He found nothing. Every single text repeated the same rule. A vampire has one destined mate.

Never two, three, four, and certainly never five. Hours passed unnoticed, and frustration slowly replaced curiosity.

"There has to be something..." He reached for another shelf, and when he still found nothing, his shoulders slumped. "This doesn’t make sense."

Several aisles away, two figures hidden beneath black cloaks stood perfectly still. Neither showed their fac or made enough noise to attract attention.

Luckily for them, the library’s ancient runes prevented enhanced vampire hearing. Their whispers remained trapped between the shelves.

"The situation is becoming unstable," the taller figure folded their arms.

"I know," the other spoke.

"The arena incident wasn’t supposed to happen," the first speaker sounded irritated. "The Master spent years preparing this." Their voice lowered further. "Finding the True Heart wasn’t easy. Turning her wasn’t easy, and getting her into Veris Academy wasn’t easy."

A long silence followed. The other figure didn’t utter a single word. He simply shared in the disappointment in silence.

"Everything was calculated. From Maisa’s turning, the bond awakening, the academy, and the four mates. Everything."

The second figure sighed. "None of us predicted those blackblood fools. The challenge happened too soon, and we didn’t account for it to happen."

The first figure clenched their fist beneath the cloak. "I don’t care. They nearly ruined decades of planning," their voice became ice. "Nothing else goes wrong," they said stern.

The second nodded. "It won’t."

"Good."

A pause settled between them. Then the taller one spoke again. "The Ashbourne boy... take care of the next phase very well."

The second vampire understood immediately. "I’ll make sure he finds it."

They separated at thar moment. The taller one disappeared into the shadows while the other silently moved through the maze of shelves.

Luan remained completely absorbed in another dusty manuscript. He never noticed the cloaked figure approach from behind him.

With elegant precision, the stranger slid an enormous leather-bound tome onto the exact shelf Luan would be searching moments later.

It looked impossibly old. Its black cover had faded with age and gold stitching held together, cracked leather. No academy catalogue number decorated its spine. Instead, only four engraved words were written in bold caps.; TRUE HEART SIRE BOND

The cloaked figure disappeared as quickly as he came as though they had never existed.

A few minutes later, Luan sighed heavily. "One last shelf... then I give up," he said. "If I stay here any longer, I’ll turn into my bookworm nerd of a sister."

He reached upward. His fingers brushed unfamiliar leather that forced him to pause. "...I haven’t seen this one."

Slowl, he pulled it free from the shelves. Dust drifted into the lantern light that caused him to sneeze. His eyebrows rose as he read the cover of the book. "’True Heart Sire Bond?’"

His pulse quickened. "I’ve never heard of this..." he paused, having a bad feeling about the book.

He opened the first page, and within ancient handwriting greeted him. His eyes widened with every sentence.

"In exceedingly rare ages, one soul may awaken as the true heart..." he read. "The true heart does not bind to one destined partner... rather... it draws several hearts into a single living bond..."

Luan froze. His breathing stopped. "No way!" He exclaimed in shock. That was describing the situation with the redblood and the student council.

He turned another page. There were illustrations and sketches of flowers. Five interconnected hearts, one royal, blackblood, blueblood, mixedblood, and redblood.

Exactly fiv from every vampire bloodlinee. Luan looked around the empty library. Nobody seemed to notice. His heartbeat accelerated.

"This... This explains everything." His grip tightened around the ancient book. "I have to show Princess Varitreya."

Immediately, he snapped the book shut. Without even checking it out through the librarian, he tucked it securely beneath his arm. He couldn’t let any vampire see and get curious to start snooping around.

Before he figured out what fate awaited his twin and her friends, the book stated secret, and so did his findings. He wasn’t ready to gamble with their lives.

His blueblood instincts took over. In a blur of supernatural speed, he shot out of the library doors. He went past sleeping dormitories. moonlit courtyards and silent towers.

His destination was already decided, the royal palace. With his father as the queen’s advisors, he had an invitation card that opened the gates of the palace for him, in case he needed to talk with his father.

At that moment, he was glad thar his father had such reach or they’d be in trouble. If that book contained the truth... then everything happening around Maisa wasn’t an accident, and if that was true, then the Princess needed to know before someone else discovered it.

He moved quickly and stealthily, making certain not to draw any attention as he moved.

"I will help you through this," the wind carried his whispered promise. But Luan didn’t know who he made the promise to: Was it Lumi, Addessa, or the princess? He had no idea.