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Chapter 703 The archives of the Silver Flame Coven (1)

　　Talia stood in front of Damon and looked at him seriously. "Damon?"

　　"What do you mean?"

　　She didn't want to provoke him, but she wanted to make sure he was OK with the current situation or if she needed to make some adjustments. Damon was a seasoned Alpha who was used to making calls for himself and for the whole pack, yet since they left the human realm, he took the back seat and Talia was calling the shots.

　　"I mean… coming here, the ceremony, the talk with Evanora, I decided that we should check the disappearance of Yasmin's father. There are probably more, but you got the point how all these I decided on my own. Are you OK with it?"

　　Damon caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Thank you for thinking about me, kitten. Trust me, if I am not OK, I would let you know; but let me confirm now that I don't mind. I admit that this is new to me, but I don't hate it. If I'm going to treat you as my equal, I need to see what you are capable of. What's a better way to do it than to let you spread your wings? Show me how high you can fly. So far, you've done wonderfully, and I am eager to see what else you can do. If you bite more than you can chew, I will be right here to support you."

　　Talia teared up. Can he be any sweeter? "You are the best."

　　"I am", Damon said right away. "Aren't you the lucky one?"

　　"I am", she responded and got on her toes to kiss him on the lips. "Thank you for everything you are doing, Damon. I love you."

　　Damon smiled. "And that, my kitten, makes me the lucky one."

　　Without breaking the kiss, Damon's hands moved to her buttocks, and he gave her a squeeze before lifting her up.

　　Talia's legs wrapped around Damon's waist right away, and she smiled into the kiss when she realized that he was walking them to the bed.

　　…

　　After lunch, Talia, Damon, Yasmin, and Axel went to the archives in the company of two high-ranking witches who introduced themselves as Serena and Feya.

　　As Yasmin said, the archives were open to any witch of the Coven, but Talia had a feeling that Serena and Feya had a task to keep an eye on them.

　　Talia wondered if Evanora thought they came to steal stuff or to ruin books. Or were these two just watchers who will report to Evanora what their group of four will do? Did they know that she can communicate via mind-link with Axel and Damon?

　　When they passed through the massive double doors made of dark wood, the newcomers paused to look around.

　　Talia imagined archives to be a dark and dusty place where books and parchments were thrown in piles, but this was different.

　　Rows of shelves stretched as far as the eyes could reach, and books and papers were neatly organized.  Along the middle were several long tables with benches on the side, and there were papers and pens ready for note-taking. The place looked like a library.

　　To add to the cozy feeling, long windows allowed for plenty of sunlight, and there was no dust or stale air. Witches obviously took care of this place.

　　"Nothing is off-limits", Yasmin said for everyone to hear. "I want to check what kind of maps we have for the area we are going to investigate tomorrow." With that, Yasmin disappeared among shelves.

　　"Are you looking for anything specific?", Serena asked Talia, Damon, and Axel who were just standing and observing the space.

　　Axel responded first. "I want to see if you have documents about interaction with other werewolves. My pack in particular."

　　Serena nodded in understanding and gestured to the right.

　　Axel followed after Serena while looking around. There were thousands of books. Tens of thousands.

　　"Are you admiring our collection?", Serena asked with pride in her voice.

　　"Yes. I appreciate how everything is kept in optimal conditions."

　　"Of course. These are precious. Once a sheet of paper gets stored in here, it's in the protection of the Coven. Anyone can take it to read and research, but it can't be taken out."

　　Axel now understood the purpose of the tables they left behind. It's for witches to sit and read. Considering that they were locked up in this realm for centuries, and they were not connected to the human realm where books can be mass-purchased, he had to ask… "From where did you get this many books?"

　　"We write down everything. You can find books about someone's life, research, plants… anything."

　　"But not about portals.", Axel said.

　　Serena paused. "Right. Not about portals."

　　Axel thought how some things don't add up. "If books can't be taken out from here, how come records about portals are missing?"

　　Serena cleared her throat. "That… You will need to ask the high priestess."

　　Axel realized that witches were hiding something about portals which made him wonder if Evanora was trying to lock them up in this realm on purpose. Was she behind the closing of the portals?

　　Axel shook off those unpleasant thoughts. He was here to get more information and coming up with conspiracy theories won't do anyone good.

　　"Here we are." Serena's words got Axel's attention. She was gesturing toward the shelf on their right. "From here onward, are records about our sisters interacting with outsiders. As for the ones that mention werewolves..." Serena waved her finger and murmured chants, and a few books lit up. 

　　Axel frowned. "Just those?"

　　Serena looked at him like he asked something silly. "We don't address your kind as werewolves. If you want to read about creatures that can shapeshift..." Serena's finger moved and nearly a hundred books lit up. "Keep in mind that if a shapeshifter didn't change shape, it would be categorized as human. So for the books that mention outsiders taht are humans..." With another wave of her finger, almost all the books Axel could see lit up. 

　　"I understand", Axel said while looking helplessly at densely arranged books on the shelves. This will take forever!

　　Yasmin warned him that witches are devoted researchers who love to write down stuff and keep it in the archive. They have a board that features top-ranking witches based on who contributed the most content and also rankings on the most popular books. It's a serious competition.

　　Their archive contains personal diaries, musings, funny moments, as well as information on monumental events, research, and recipes for making anything from relaxing teas and mouthwatering desserts, to deadly potions, and they also have instructions on spellcasting and historical documents.

　　Axel guessed that there will be a lot to go through, but this was beyond his wildest imagination!

　　Axel gave himself a pep talk. Even if he reads only a book or two, it will be better than nothing. But there was no way to figure out which one of these books will have something useful. What if he wastes his time reading a diary of a frolicky witch who spent her days talking to frogs?

　　Axel steeled his resolve and reached for a book. He needed to start somewhere.

　　---

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