slamming against my ribs so hard my head spun. I pivoted and came face to face with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
“Holy mage.” My eyes widened as I took her in. Silvery blue hair fell to her waist in a cascade of soft curls. I knew from the way she carried herself and her golden cloak that she was a mage. A high-level one.
The room I’d ducked into wasn’t a room at all but a grand hallway leading to what looked like an even bigger library—of sorts. Bookshelves lined the walls with domed twenty-foot ceilings and stained-glass inlay. It was beautiful.
And I wasn’t supposed to be here. “I … well … you see—”
She waved her hand at me as if she didn’t want me to speak and reached for my hand. Pulling it up to her face, she traced the lines in my palm.
“You opened the door?” she asked.
Her expression showed no fury or menacing power, more just a quizzical nature, so I relaxed a little.
“Yes … ma’am. It was unlocked.”
She winced. “Do I look old enough to be called ma’am?”
I grinned and shook my head. “Sorry. Miss?”
She nodded, dropping my hand. “That’s better. Now, who are you?”
I swallowed hard. “Nai, of Crescent Clan.”
Her gaze narrowed and seemed to run the length of my hair. “Crescent Clan?” A strange look of shock? Surprise?—something I couldn’t quite place—flickered across her face, and then it was gone. “You really shouldn’t be in here—”
Someone cleared their throat, farther down the hall, and a book snapped shut.
I frowned. “What is this place?”
She chewed her lip as if mentally wrestling with something.
With a snap of her fingers, a little table appeared with a chair on either side. The quality of the stained wood was excellent, the surface completely unmarred of graffiti or even nicks or pen marks.
Several books sat on the top, and my eyes widened when I realized they were a stack of yearbooks, the six missing ones from the shelf.
But how did they get in here? And why? Did she know I’d been looking for these only minutes ago?
She looked down at the book and then toward the door. “You must go now.”
Okay … was that code for “Take the books with you?”
“So … can I borrow these?”
Another sound like the flapping of wings came from deeper down the hall, and her gaze sharpened. “Go!”
I grabbed the six books, spun, and pulled open the door, praying to every deity in all of history that the king and high mage would be gone.
Stepping into the Alpha Academy library, I sagged in relief to find I was completely alone.
Thank the mage.
My mind reeled with the conversation Kian and the king had had but mostly with the secret library and the silver-haired mage I’d met. This school held more secrets than a beach had sand.
Pushing all of that from my mind, I sank to the ground between the aisles with an overwhelming need to see pictures of my father. I missed him so much it hurt.
Thumbing through the top book, I found that it was my uncle’s graduation year. My father was two years younger and would have been a second year.
I flipped through it until I spotted my uncle smiling in his cap and gown, and a lump of emotion filled my throat. My father stood right next to him, holding bunny ears over his cap. He had his other arm around my Uncle Mackay. Mackay had the same lithe build and the same wide-set, pale blue eyes that both Dad and I had. What would he say if he were here now?
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I stared, and my throat tightened.
“Miss you, Dad,” I whispered, running my fingers over the page. My uncle and father were the best of friends. They did everything together growing up and never had the typical alpha sibling rivalry. I flipped through the pages, stopping when a group photo caught my eye.
My stomach dropped.
I knew it! I knew my father would never lie to me.
There was Dad, in a suit, at some party, grinning ear to ear. But my uncle was grinning like a lunatic, his golden-blond hair tousled and messy. Uncle Mackay leaned to the side, off-balance, pulled by another young man on his left. I stared, jaw gaping, at the young man … the spitting image of Rage, except this version of him was laughing, arm around my uncle like they were the best of friends. Dark black hair, green eyes,