Tobias’s POV
I followed Uncle Thefros down into a long, rectangular chamber hidden beneath the Priory—his private library. The air grew cooler with each step, carrying the scent of old parchment and candle wax. Every inch of the stone walls was lined with towering wooden shelves, crammed with leather-bound tomes, their spines cracked with age. There were no windows, no decorations—only a single galley table running down the middle of the room, flanked by worn benches and lit by modest reading lamps. It was a space designed purely for quiet study, and reverence.
“These two shelves here are all about the mate bond,” Thefros said, gesturing toward a pair of bookcases halfway down the room.
“Lore, case studies, theory. Everything we’ve managed to preserve.”
I nodded, pulling down five boo
