Chapter 57

Jasmine's POV

Next morning I woke up to extreme warmth. I groggily opened my eyes and saw that I was tangled in the sheets with Axel hugging me. I was facing him and my cheek was pressed against his chest. In that moment I realized two things. One, it wasn't a good idea to sleep in his hoodie, two, he was shirtless. This was the first time that I saw him shirtless and he had really nice abs. I was practically drooling while he was sleeping like a baby. I looked at the bedside table and the clock showed 9:17 a.m. which was a reasonable time to wake up. I've been sleeping approximately for twelve hours which was close to my record. I didn't want to wake up yet, but I had to use the bathroom and didn't have a choice. I tried to pry his hands off of my waist, but it was an impossible mission, so I tried wriggling out of his arms and he stirred in his sleep.

"Go back to sleep. I don't even remember when I had such a good sleep." - he said in his raspy morning voice.

"I have to go to the bathroom and I suggest you let me go."

"Fine, but come back to bed after you finish your business."

I avoided looking into the mirror knowing that I'd see a bird's nest on my head. Few minutes later I climbed back into the bed and Axel hugged me again. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I just laid there enjoying the silence and peace. There was a knock on the door and Macy's head popped out from behind the door.

"Oh, you're awake. I was here about half an hour ago looking for you, but the two of you were still sleeping and the gentleman downstairs said that he'd wait until you're awake."

"Yeah I just woke up. And who's downstairs exactly?" - I asked as I successfully climbed out of bed.

"He said his name is Aaron and his grandfather sent him."

It clicked that he must've been the old man's grandson. I still called him old man because I forgot to ask his name and he didn't tell me either. I was excited and I forgot about the tiny little fact that I just climbed out of the bed. I was still in sweatpants and a slightly crumpled hoodie with tangled hair and fuzzy slippers. I realized this when I found myself standing in front of a young man, he was around my age. He was looking at me with his mouth wide open and looking uncomfortable.

"Good morning! I'm sorry about my appearance, I wasn't expecting visitors so early in the morning."

"My Queen! I apologize too for staring. I came here to accept your offer and I'm honored to work with you. My name is Aaron."

"You can drop the formalities as we'll be working together from now on. Just call me Jasmine or Aryana, I guess. The latter is my name given by my birth parents, but my adoptive parents named me Jasmine. Let's sit down and talk."

"Okay then Aryana. I'll call you by your birth name then. When my grandpa told me yesterday the information I immediately agreed to it. You can trust me, I'd never betray you. Your brother already checked me out by reading my aura, but you can investigate further."

"That won't be necessary, I believe him, you and your grandfather. You can't tell anyone what I'll tell you now. You're going to be my right hand man. I already know who betrayed my family all those centuries ago. It was Hector's ancestor and now he's continuing his plans with Cecily. He doesn't know that I've already discovered the truth. I don't have evidence, that's why he's still the head of the council. I need to keep him close. Sadly I can't be with him all the time. Your task is to stick to him like glue all day and report back everything when I wasn't present. Can you do this?"

"Of course Aryana, but how can I stay by his side without raising suspicion?"

"He'll be your teacher. I'll tell him to teach you personally because of your young age. If I find someone else as reliable as you he or she will share this with you so you won't be overwhelmed by all this. I'll dress up appropriately and we'll leave to check how many people took up on my offer."

Twenty minutes later we were standing in front of the castle. Before leaving I popped a piece of toast in my mouth and gulped down my coffee. To my disappointment nobody was standing outside and the guards said that nobody came either. They still had two hours until the time was up. I told Aaron to go home and enjoy the little time he left from freedom. After the elevator ride the guards standing in front of Dimitri's bedroom told me that he was in the library and I had no idea where it was. I asked a maid for help and she showed me the way.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Morning Jasmine! I'm looking for information about how to make permanent invitations to the realm for your family and friends."

"Did you find anything?"

"Not really, but it's connected to Vasileiou blood that's for sure. I'll research it more, but I need more time."

"There's no rush. I'll ask Ares and Calypso too. Maybe one of them knows more about the topic."

"All you need is a drop of blood from you and from the recipient of the invitation card. The magic will recognize both parties and let the owner of the card in without difficulty."

“Thanks Ares. These times I'm glad that you're inside my head."

"No need to search more. Ares told me how to make the invitation cards. When we go back, I'll make one for the others. Only a drop of blood is needed from me and the recipient and it's done."

"I expected something more difficult, but okay. No need to complicate things. How is the search going for council members?"

"So far there are four including Hector. I'm still waiting until noon for the others and Aaron's grandfather is helping me too. I know how to track Hector's every movement and Cecily is taken care of too. Aaron will be spending every minute of the day with Hector and report back after sunset."

"Can you trust him?"

"Yes. Ares checked his aura and let him come inside the pack house so he's okay. I hope some candidates will accept the position."

As I was waiting I looked around at the library and found many books. Most of them were related to politics and medicine. I was walking between two shelves and I noticed an older looking book. I pulled it out and opened it. There were old stories written in them, so I didn't put it back and sat down next to Dimitri on the couch. I didn't read the stories, just skimmed through them, until one caught my eye.

"The Queen was betrayed, the traitor escaped with the crown. For years the Queen looked for him with his brother's help, but came back empty handed. She was devastated, but she had to let go of the crown. It disappeared and was lost forever. There were no witnesses. She refused to believe that the traitor was her own brother even though everything pointed towards him. She trusted him too much and that was the cause of her downfall."

"Dimitri, I found something, read this."

"Where did you find this book? It comes from the old times, before the books were burned."

"It was on one of the shelves."

"It seems like not every book was destroyed, but nobody noticed it. I might be wrong, but from the previous information it seems like the Queen's brother was the culprit. If he was her brother that means you and Hector are related. He and Cecily are your relatives."

"That's what I thought too, but I still don't understand the story. If the Queen's brother had the crown why didn't he take the throne?"

"I think he couldn't take it, because the crown's owner has to be a woman. I traced down his bloodline and from the records we have there was not a single woman born until Cecily."

"Then why didn't she take the crown? Or can it be that only the direct descendants of the first Queen can be Queens? That would mean that the Queen and his brother were half siblings. That's the only logical explanation for this situation. Then again, how did they know I exist? There was zero contact between the demons and other supernatural races."

"What you're saying can be true. So far that's the only explanation why she couldn't declare herself Queen. The crown didn't recognize her as its owner. We're one step closer to the truth."