Chapter 35

The library is in a chaos when we arrive.

Books litter the ground on one side of the room where one of the shelves had collapsed during the storm. Before Arden and Xavier rush off to assist a few other guards in replacing the shelves that had collapsed during the storm, they get me situated seated next to the librarian so I can help her sort through the piles of books that need to be re-shelved.

The librarian is the same robust and energetic female I had met the last time I was here with my guards-who I learn is named Marta- and my time passes quickly with her. She has a kind, rosy-cheeked smile that puts me at ease as she shows me the best way to alphabetize the piles of books that the shifter guards continue bringing to us.

"Does this happen every time an earth storm happens?" I ask her, gesturing to the massive pile of books we still have to sort through and reorganize.

"Heavens, no," Marta says, as she stacks a book in one of the piles across from us, "And thank goodness for that too. Last night's storm was particularly bad for something like this to happen."

Across the aisle from the table we're sitting at, two shifters work together to re-hang a colorful tapestry back beside the crumbled shelf it had fallen next to. When it's hanging back against the wall, I study the woven image that the colorful threads intertwine to create while I work. The tapestry depicts a horned male locked in an embrace with beautiful dark haired female with pointed ears.

Something about the image strikes me and before I have the chance to think about what I'm saying, I blurt out, "That woman in the tapestry, she's an elf, isn't she?"

Marta doesn't seem startled by my observation, simply smiling softly up at the newly hanged tapestry, "Yes, she is. It's a beautiful piece of art, wouldn't you say? It's one of my personal favorites."

"It is," I say, admiring the striking range of colors again. Whoever created it had to have been a skilled artist, "I'd heard that shifters and elves were allies throughout history, but I didn't realize how close."

It's not a common thing for different species to form interpersonal relationships. From what I've always been told, most classes tended to stay within their species. I've heard courtiers around the Seelie palace gossiping about those with any sort of interest in trolls or the mer folk as anomalies. But ever since the war between the fae and the elves, and the elves departed, our collected knowledge of the elves has dwindled.

"Oh, yes," Marta says as she smooths out the wrinkled pages of a book in her lap, "back in the times before the elves retreated behind the walls of Elfhame, Bonds between elves and shifters were celebrated because they led to powerful and long-lasting pairings. Even more so than Mated pairings."

My hands slow where they're reaching for another book, and turning to her curiously, I ask, "A Bond?"

"Shifters don't usually get married in the typical sense of the word," Marta explains to me, "Most of the time, partners or pairings go beyond just attraction, but an underlying draw to one another that defies explanation. In a biological sense, it's a sort of pull that draws partners together who will create the strongest magical offspring. But, more than that, the Mate pull is a sort of magic in the purest sense of the word."

Something about what she's saying makes my cheeks heat, and as I set another book in its appropriate pile I peek up from under my lashes to make sure that there's no one else nearby listening in on our conversation. Damion had told me that shifters have a better hearing than other species, but even still I don't think think that anyone is close enough to be overhearing our conversation, thankfully.

"So shifters feel a draw to each other beyond normal attraction?" I ask Marta carefully, trying to make sure I understand what she's saying.

"Yes, it's a pull to a certain person that's hard to describe. We refer to strong pairings like that as Mates. Years ago, though, it was also discovered that shifters can feel that pull beyond other shifters but to some elves as well. Those pairings were revered because they were said to have a stronger pull toward each other than even Mates and were known to create the most powerful combination of offspring. We call those types of pairings between shifters and elves, 'Bonds'. Bond couplings were said to reap benefits from each other that not even Mates do."

While she speaks, my eyes are drawn yet again to the tapestry hanging across from us. A shifter and an elf. A Bonded pair.

"Those types of pairings were rare," Marta continues, "but also revered among both of our kinds. That's one of the reasons our people maintained such good alliances with the elves through the years. Anyway, after the war, when the elves retreated to Elfhame, those types of pairings became obsolete. But there are many of us who hold out hope that the elves will regain their strength one day and return to the lands."

We continue sorting through the books in a companionable sort of silence. Every now and then, my eyes drift up to the tapestry across from us as I consider Marta's words. It's hard to believe how much about shifters that I'd never been taught. How much about many other races of creatures that I'd never learned. What I do know is that the fae were the ones who instigated the war between the elves years ago over a dispute of land. It's because of the fae and that war that forced the elves to retreat back to Elfhame to recover their people and their magic.

I'd always been taught that the war had been because of disputes over land. But I can't help but wonder if my grandfather instigated the war with the elves, did he know that he was also putting a stop to Bonded pairings like this? That it would in part weaken the shifter's bloodlines and their alliance with the elves? The thought sends a sick feeling gnawing its way through my gut. Because as much as I don't want to believe my family would do something like that, I also know that a person's quest for power can have them rationalizing just about anything.