Ahcehera's fingers brushed over the spines of the ancient books, her eyes scanning their titles in the dim morning light that filtered through the palace library's high windows.
She had come here alone, her thoughts tangled from the night before, searching for any hidden knowledge about the mate bond, about its origins, its power, and perhaps, its undoing.
Her fingers stilled on a leather-bound tome with no title. Something about it called to her, an inexplicable pull. When she opened it, a rush of silver light consumed her.
The library vanished. The floor beneath her shifted, and when her vision cleared, she was no longer in the palace.
Instead, she stood in the heart of an ancient forest, surrounded by towering trees whose silver leaves shimmered under an unseen moon.
A breathtaking mansion loomed in the distance.
