THE FAMILIAR SCENT of musty books and leather-bound volumes greeted her as Clara pushed open the heavy doors that led to the castle's library. Unlike the king's private study, the library was home to well-varnished bookcases on which stood numerous books on varying subjects. Though the vastness of the place and the endless stretch of cases would have been inviting under normal circumstances, it served to be a cause of daunting concern at the present moment as Clara's mouth fell agape in shock.
A listless exhale left her as she muttered beneath her breath, "How am I going to start this?"
"Start what?" Marek asked. "Is there something particular you're looking for?"
She shrugged.
"Not really. I thought I'd come here to do some research, actually . . ."
She trailed off at the end of her sentence, glancing at the section headings of the bookcases she passed, some of which contained weird symbols she'd never seen before. Her initial pursuit was proving increasingly difficult by the second.
"Research?" Marek echoed. "Unless you have a specific topic you're looking for, it's impossible to find anything in this library."
Turning to him, Clara said, "Do you know anything about agreements or contracts made by demons?"
Marek pondered over the question for a moment before asking, "Is this about Prince Adric and the marriage proposal?"
When she nodded with a hint of dejection, he sighed.
"I'm sorry, your Highness, but I don't know much about agreements or contracts."
"What about the Cains? Do you know anything about them?"
Clara was only too eager to find out what she can, especially if it meant she'd somehow find a loophole out of having to marry the dastardly prince. And perhaps securing some information on the enemy might offer her a foothold to progress in her research.
"The Cains are big on keeping to themselves. Not much is known about them in these parts and things that we do know are largely unfounded upon. I can't separate the truth from the baseless rumours but there's been hearsay that the Cains had two sons—princes sharing the same day of birth."
"Twins?"
Marek shrugged.
"No one has seen the mysterious brother, and that's if he exists. Not to mention how the prince himself doesn't speak of having a brother. I'm inclined to believe there's nothing more to it, just some hubbub to mystify a family already shrouded in enough mystery as it is."
Clara couldn't help but agree with him. Besides, she didn't think the existence of another prince in the Cain family would do much good in altering her current predicament. There didn't seem to be much weight on that front.
"Do you not know anything about agreements?" she tried once more when her earlier route resulted in nothing concrete.
Marek hummed in thoughtfulness before saying, "Why don't you ask Lord Jae? He makes deals with humans on the Surface all the time. I'm sure if anyone knows anything about contracts and agreements, it'd be him."
The idea seemed appealing at first, but the longer Clara and Marek sat next to each other in Jae's empty office—awaiting the arrival of the demon himself—the more she could not disregard the discomfort gnawing at her. Something was amiss.
"This feels rather odd," Marek whispered in a hush, seemingly voicing similar concerns.
"What's wrong?" she asked, hoping he'd give her some form of clarity to her unspoken thoughts.
YOU ARE READING
Obsidian's Reign ¹
ParanormalClara Avery was a normal human girl. Or, at least, that was what she'd been made to believe. And yet amidst the dying flames of her ruined car, the few boxes of her personal belongings, and her relentless bad luck, Clara has something far more valua...
