Love Athena

Chapter Twenty Two

The king shot out of his chair. “Did you say Ezra Celsbor?” Camila handed her tablet to the king. His eyes flitted rapidly across the screen before he sat in his chair slowly. “It really is him. Forgive me for the theatrics. I haven’t seen my dear friend in over a millenium.”

“Wait. Wait. Who’s Ezra Celsbor?” Prince William asked, peeking over his father’s shoulder.

“You don’t know him by that name. He’s the one I call Rookie. He joined the Hunters when he was seventy-four.”

The Queen furrowed her eyebrows. “Rookie? I thought he was dead.”

“He disappeared after a mission. We searched for him for decades but to no avail. So we assumed but to think…” The king’s hands clenched around the tablet. “I have failed the Hunters.”

“There was no way for you to know if he didn’t want to be found,” the queen said.

Camila glanced at the queen and saw that she was alread staring at her with a raised eyebrow. “Her Majesty is right. He has been acting as a Beta in a small, rural, somewhat nomadic pack in Russia. There is hardly an information about the pack in the kingdom database.”

“Is that normal?” Prince William asked with a frown.

“No, it is not. I’m working on having more information sent to me.”

“Oh, cut the crap,” Prince Alexander snapped. “She’s only been knowledge keeper for six years.”

“Right, you weren't able to complete the ritual. If only you had become knowledge keeper when you were of age,” the queen said sadly.

“What ritual?” The prince asked.

“There is a ritual done during the inauguration of a new knowledge keeper in which the knowledge from the previous keepers are transferred to the new one to ensure preservation of knowledge that isn't documented. For the ritual to be carried out, the minimum requirement is the knowledge keeper being a hundred years or older.

“On the night my master was murdered, she had hastily passed her mantle to me without due process, leaving me with a position and no other help.”

“That means you had to read from scratch,” Prince William said.

“Exactly.”

“How horrible. I can't imagine–”

“Black magic?” the king suddenly exclaimed, interrupting William and steering them back to their initial conversation.

Prince Alexander made a hum of agreement. “Sure seemed like it. There was a magic circle and everything. It seemed to muddle his mind or something.”

Camila nodded once. “A memory exchange spell. One that switches the knowledge and personality of two living creatures, wild beasts included. While it is not explicitly forbidden even among the witches, it had such adverse effects on the caster that most people steer clear of it.”

“Why use such a spell? What on earth are they after?” The queen muttered. “Oh…I see. The Interspecies Hunters. No one knows Sueret more than they.”

“We’re the only two alive,” the king said with a pained expression. “It was either he or I but…I am the king.” He let out a sigh. “Where is Rookie?”

“At Wisdom House,” Camila replied.

The king smiled. “The wind spirits would be delighted.” He stood, dusting imaginary lint off of his body. “I wish to see him.”

“Your Majesty,” Freda called out from behind the door of the throne room. “May I come in?”

“Of course. You knowledge keepers basically live here at this point,” the king muttered.