Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 46: Everyone Knows Except Thorin

Chapter 46: Everyone Knows Except Thorin

"How did you find this place?" Riona asked, in awe as she inspected her surroundings.

The dimly lit room was spacious enough to be a small library. Bookshelves were attached to all the walls, including the one that also served as the door. There was a small desk right in the middle with no chair. Two sofas were placed near the fireplace.

"I didn’t. Puck did."

She scanned through the unfamiliar books as Thorin kept talking. Some of the books were in foreign languages that she didn’t understand.

"An item in this room belongs to a werewolf," he revealed.

"What item?" Riona turned around, interested.

"A werewolf wrote a book, and somehow, that book ended up here. I’m guessing your king was suspicious of the content; hence, he felt it was better for him to keep it here. This way, no one can get their hands on the book."

By this time, Thorin was already holding a thick, golden book. There was nothing special about the book except that nothing was written on it, not even the title.

"That book? It looks ordinary to me." She creased her brows.

Thorin placed the book on the table. He grinned widely as if he was showing her a treasure. "It may seem ordinary to the naked eyes, but this book is actually locked with a magic spell."

"Werewolves can use magic spells?" Riona was more surprised by the fact that werewolves could use magic than to learn that the plain book held a secret.

"Only those who are enlightened, but yeah, some of us can." He shoved the book towards Riona and continued, "Anyway, only werewolves can open this book."

Riona raised an eyebrow. "How did you find this place again?"

Thorin chuckled, leaning his back on the edge of the desk, and crossing his arms. Now he finally got Riona’s attention.

"This book has a particular scent that is inviting to werewolves. Vampires might not be affected, but we furry men are. It lures werewolves to come. After he got inside this room, it was rather easy for Puck to find this book because of the scent."

The Alpha traced the surface of the book with the tip of his fingers. He took a deep breath, held his palm hovering a few inches above the book, and said intangible things.

All of a sudden, the book emitted a bright golden light and swung open. Her upper body was almost pressed to the desk now as she concentrated on the contents of the book.

She began to read the content with eagerness.

"The book says—"

"Isn’t this just a love story?" Riona straightened her back, disappointed with what she found. "What’s this story got to do with my mother and me being the rightful heir to the throne?"

Thorin blinked several times. Riona couldn’t understand why he was wearing that idiotic face.

She exhaled and said, "Excuse me, can you wipe that dumbness from your face? I can’t really stand it."

"Wait, you can read this?" Thorin’s index finger touched the paper.

Offended, Riona put her hands on her waist. "What? Did you think I’m illiterate just because I wear servant’s uniforms all the time? Of course I can!"

Thorin’s silence and that persistent beweildered look on his face only intensified Riona’s anger. She leaned towards the book and read aloud.

"When I stumbled upon this place, I was fascinated. Not by the sheer size of the castle, but by the beauty that lady possessed. Could anybody be that beautiful? It was my first time seeing someone so lovely that I wanted to run and bite her. But I suppressed the urge."

The Alpha turned to the book and read the content, verifying Riona’s words. He gasped, which made Riona even more confused.

"You—" Thorin stopped his words there. He took a deep breath and changed expressions several times. He murmured to himself, "Alright. Hmm... Is this normal?"

Finally, he composed himself and said, "I haven’t read the whole book, but I stumbled upon something interesting."

Thorin flipped the pages to a particular one and scanned through the words. His index finger stopped at one paragraph, and he told her, "Here, read this one."

She did as she was told, not because she was obedient, but more because she wanted to see what this Alpha werewolf was up to. Since earlier, he had been acting strangely.

What if the whole thing was one big trick he pulled? What if he secretly sided with Lisbeth and purposely did this to distract Riona from the petition and Nightwarden?

"I asked her what her name meant. She told me, ’Amara means eternally beautiful.’ It was meant as a joke, but I was so enchanted that I just stared at her in silence instead of laughing along with her. Involuntarily, I remarked, ’I agree.’ Then I realized that I had fallen into her trap. How could I fall for her—the future queen of the Kingdom of Eira?"

Riona raised an eyebrow. "Is this what you call evidence?"

This person must have been referring to Riona’s mother, Amara, but her name was only mentioned once.

She felt second-hand embarrassment seeing the great Alpha werewolf of the Wintertooth pack humiliate himself like this.

Thorin clicked his tongue in frustration and smacked the book with his finger several times. "It says here, ’the future queen’. The future queen! That means your uncle wasn’t supposed to be the king."

If this strange diary could be called evidence, then yes, let’s just say that King Valentin was not supposed to sit on the throne. But then again, Riona’s mother had died.

Riona exhaled. She wasn’t sure if she could tolerate his stupidity any more than this. "I know that! Everyone in this kingdom knows. But my mother had died, and ultimately, the throne fell to my uncle. That’s the correct order of things."

"No, that’s not the correct order of things!" Thorin denied rather passionately.

"If your mother died by murder, then it disqualified him to sit on the throne. He should have been the temporary guardian of the rightful heir, which should be you."

Unexpectedly, Thorin blurted out some logical theories. He was right about the law.

In the Kingdom of Eira, the Heir Apparent was chosen not only by blood but also by the king himself. Once this person was named the Heir Apparent, nobody could stand in the way, except death.

To be more specific, a natural death. Meaning that death by murder or suicide would not be acknowledged.

And if the Heir Apparent was murdered or killed themselves, it was customary for their direct descendant to inherit the throne.

Only if a direct descendant didn’t exist could the Heir Apparent’s siblings take the throne.

"Once you came of age, you should have taken back what is rightfully yours to begin with. Isn’t that how the law in the Kingdom of Eira works?"

But his extensive knowledge of the kingdom’s law wasn’t what caught Riona’s attention the most. Instead, it was...

"Wait, did you say murder? You mean my mother was murdered?"