As Camila entered the royal family's private dining room, her eyes met the Crown Prince's. Their earlier moment of intimacy flashed through her mind for the forty-third time in the past five hours. She quickly ducked her head, bowing while Anders, the king's private secretary, announced her presence.

Astonishing, the prince whispered in mind link.

Her knees nearly buckled at the single word.

She was in a black V-neck short-sleeved high-low dress that Freda had suggested on a hunch that she was going to be asked to stay for dinner. She had disagreed but upon seeing his reaction, she was glad she had finally given in to her assistant's pleas.

"Miss Allard, join us for dinner," the king said, pointing to the only empty seat at the table.

She almost sighed with relief. The seat was between Prince Alexander's twin younger siblings, Prince William and Princess Adelaide.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for having me," she said, ensuring to school her expression and ignore the heated gaze of her mate.

She had accepted it; they were mates. There was no other plausible explanation for the unseasonable attraction between them.

"You look beautiful, Camila," Prince William said, glancing at Prince Alexander from the corner of his eyes.

Immediately, his brother growled.

"Alex, honey, is there a problem?" his mother asked him in a soft tone that contrasted greatly with the amount of power she possessed as the strongest individual in the wolf kingdom.

Upon meeting her mate, she relinquished her throne as the monarch with royal blood to avoid a lot of politics and societal demands. Instead of the king remaining as prince consort, she elevated him to King making him an equal and sometimes, a higher power. At 2506 years old, having ruled for 1253 years, she was ready to retire.

"William should not flirt with our guest. It may cause her discomfort," he gritted out.

"You flirted with the Norwegian Alpha's mated daughter last week at dinner," Adelaide pointed out.

"I've matured since then. Besides, I didn't know she was mated," he replied, frowning.

"Matured in a week? What kind of...", Adelaide bit back.

"Enough! Now, you're causing her discomfort and embarrassing yourselves. My apologies, Camila. It seems my children in their twenties are still growing," the King said.

"It poses no problem, Your Majesty. About the scroll you sent earlier..", she said, reminding him of the reason for the meeting.

"Ah yes, Alexander's training. I understand that you may require at least a week to prepare?" he asked.

"Negative, Your Majesty. We can commence tomorrow," she replied.

"Tomorrow? Don't you need time to prepare something along the lines of coursework of study?" he asked, shock evident in his voice.

"Yes, I have prepared all the required information. You can view it and modify it as you see fit," she said pulling out her tablet from her bag.

She made to stand up but he waved her down, signaling Anders to receive and deliver the tablet.

"Camila, I am afraid I do not know how to operate your device. What do I do with this?", King Lucian said, holding the pen up.

His words were expected. Older paranormals were not familiar with technology.

"You use it to move the screen and write, Your Majesty," she explained.

The king nodded and touched the screen with the pen. When it lit up so did his eyes.

"Aleks, you have to try this. It's fascinating."

The king handed the tablet cautiously to Queen Aleksandra.

"Oh my, it is wonderful. Luc, the little squares open up," she said, showing him the screen.

"Now, you're embarrassing us," the princess groaned and dropped her head on the table.

Camila could see how it could be embarrassing but she found the interaction endearing as well. She began to imagine more bickering-filled, embarrassment-evoking meals like this with five of them.

They would be family.

She quickly shook her head, dispelling the thoughts.

Focus!

"No wonder the children are always staring at these things. Anders, you have to get us ours," the king said.

"Of course, Your Majesty," Anders replied, pleased by the childlike joy of his charges.

"My apologies, Camila. Your device is very fascinating," the queen said with a smile.

"If you would like, Your Majesties, I could get you two tablets of my design," she offered.

"No, we won't want to bother you. Anders can get us...", the queen started but her younger son cut her off.

"Mother, stop. Miss Allard's technology is the most sought-after in the world. That device in your hand is one of seventeen, the other sixteen in the hands of kings and dignitaries who paid millions for them. So, if she offers you for free, you take it. Quite frankly, I am a bit jealous", William explained and huffed before returning to his meal.

"Camila, do you want to give us without charge? We can pay for it, you know," the king said.

"No charge. I could get them to Anders tomorrow," she turned to Anders who nodded enthusiastically.

"Now that is settled. Let us return to the matter at hand", King Lucian said then frowned at the tablet screen before turning to Prince Alexander at his left, who had still been staring at Camila.

"Move," the king said. "Camila needs to sit here."

The prince jumped and turned to his father puzzled, then to Camila who was on her feet. Only then did Prince Alexander register what his father had said. He stood up but before they could cross to each other's seats, Prince William sat in Camila's leaving the two empty seats next to each other.

Camila looked at the younger prince as he continued his meal with a small smile on his face. Judging by his actions, there was a 38% chance that he knew her status with his brother. He gave her a long, slow wink. That chance increased to 80% immediately.

As soon as she sat beside Prince Alexander, the atmosphere was electrified and began to feel warmer. Her hand under the table inched closer to his. When they touched, her hands flew to her lap and he looked down, feeling tortured that he could sit next to his mate but not touch her.

She shot down the pull and turned to the king. The king, oblivious to the incident, handed her the tablet jovially.

"Your Majesty, this document contains a specially designed curriculum for his highness. I took into consideration his grades from high school and his reports from his private tutors-" Camila said but her mate cut her off.

"You looked at my grades?" he exclaimed.

The queen snorted under her breath but his siblings outright laughed. Camila and the king ignored him.

"His grades suggest relearning of concepts taught in his high school and post-graduate learning. I have included them in his new studies," she said, pointing to the topics to show the king.

"So in other words, his grades are terrible," his sister wheezed out, still laughing at her brother's slack-jawed expression.

"Certainly, they are below expectations," Camila replied.

"You too?!" Prince Alexander exclaimed again.

"Your Majesty, for that reason, the course extends to thirty-one weeks, closer to eight months, if the prince ensures to sleep at the right time and report to the archives every morning," she finished.

"He will. Won't you, Alex?" his father said, raising an eyebrow at his eldest son.

"Of course, Father. When am I required to sleep?", he asked, his question directed at Camila.

"My observation of your current health vitals state you sleep between the hours of 1 am and 4 am and get an average of four and a half hours of sleep every day. For effective learning, you are required to sleep between six and seven hours every day and report at 7 am," she said, not looking at him.

"B-but..but...," the prince stammered.

"But nothing, you will do as Miss Allard says. If I get word that-"

A loud siren rang through the palace, interrupting the king. The siren that rang only during situations that were risk to national security.

A guard burst into the room almost immediately, halted when he saw the occupants and bowed. "I apologize for the interruption, Your Majesties. There is a situation at the border that requires the archivist's attention."

Camila looked at the three-inch heels she was wearing before running out of the room, the prince hot on her heels.

.//.

Queen Aleksandra broke down in tears. Prince William took a sniff, turned around, and said that he was heading to bed. Princess Adelaide threw up at the sight.

It was gruesome.

At the Northern border of the royal pack, there lay pieces of the bodies of wolves arranged as if to be a sort of display.

As shifters returned to human form when they died, the patrol guards immediately identified them as regular wolves but that did not make the sight any disheartening. The forest wolves were their kin.

"How did they get past the border? It is impenetrable," the king said, holding on to his tearful mate, more upset at the fact that she was crying than anything else.

Camila walked to the border marking, looking for something, the prince right behind her.

She hoped she did not find what she suspected.

Today was a day she hoped not to be right. As usual, she was.

Unfortunately.

"Cursed magic," she whispered and everyone turned to her with their breaths held as if daring her to repeat the unspeakable word.

"Cursed magic," she said louder.

"That is impossible, girl," the king's Beta Adam said in a condescending tone.

"I apologize, Beta Adam but this is no time for your prejudice against my age. The facts speak for themselves. The cursed runes are present. There is evidence of destruction, that is the dead life forms, not just the wolves but the plants right outside the border. They are all dead. Nothing but higher magic can dent the border that the most powerful witches in the world made. If this was regular magic or even black magic, there would be a louder presence. There is no other explanation," she finished and was greeted with silence.

Cursed magic was something every paranormal younger than two thousand years old had only heard in stories. It was part of their history, something that had been wiped out or so they thought.

"It can't be. Not when we have finally achieved peace," the queen muttered sorrowfully.

"I am an archivist, your Majesty. We prepare for every situation, theoretical and practical. I have translated the runes. Only cursed magic bearers can do such powerful ones without dropping dead," Camila said and looked back at the bodies.

Another translation jumped at her.

"The ancient language of the knowledge keepers," she said and the queen looked up at her, then at the ugly sight.

"You are right, it is the forgotten language. I know the last symbol. It means knowledge keeper. It was on the door of the archivist when my grandfather was king," the queen said slowly.

All eyes turned to Camila who stared blankly at the pattern that she had seen appear on her master's desk six years ago two months before she died.

"Camila, what do the rest mean?", the king asked her.

"We are coming. They mean, We are coming," she said.

They joined the two parts in their heads.

No one will hurt you, the prince roared in her head, barely keeping his outward anger at bay.

She ignored him.

We are coming, knowledge keeper.