"What the hell are you talking about?

" Roman muttered, barely hiding the growl in his voice.

But the wolf sitting next to him did not even bother hearing his reply. He was in his own world, still reeling from the laughter.

"So that's your type huh? Silver hair and blue eyes and big breasted?

" He waggled his eyebrows.

"Wait a minute. If you take those breasts out of the equation, then the other things are just a bit too similar to you.

"

"Is this your narcissism acting up again? Oh my God, this is just too good. Ba ha ha ha!

"

He was laughing so hard that he had to clutch his stomach. Even his eyes glistened with tears.

"Shut up, you bastard. Stop spouting nonsense.

"

Roman shook his head in annoyance. He was furious but he didn't have any words to refute the idiotic person's observations.

Not wanting to encourage this any longer, his elegant figure shifted into a white lycan silhouette the next instant.

He gazed in the direction where Sylvia had run away and then let out a low growl before disappearing, dashing into the thickets.

Isaac smirked and following Roman's actions, he also shifted into a dark maned grey wolf and disappeared, his laughter still ringing loudly amidst the silence of the night.

Finally, the small lotus pond returned back to its former peace and tranquility.

Meanwhile… Inside the palace…

Sylvia panted as she ran, going as fast as she possibly could.

She clutched the edges of her flowing maroon evening gown in her hands and dashed ahead without caring about anything else.

She was headed straight towards the huge library in the castle.

And by the time she reached it, her thin silky silver hair was in a mess. It had become all sorts of tangled, getting caught in the sharp protrusions on her jewelry.

But Sylvia looked like she couldn't care less about it.

She paused at the entrance of the library, catching her breath for a second, and then walked into the vast chamber, her steps surprisingly not as urgent as before.

There was a subtle hesitation in them.

Her long eyelashes fluttered and her fingers wrestled with each other as if she was too nervous to continue.

Nevertheless, Sylvia wandered into the huge library, towards the bookshelf in the right corner.

She paused every now and then as if she was deeply thinking about something, dreading to step forward, but ultimately she knew that she had no other choice.

Tonight she had to confirm it one way or the other.

Even a small flickering flame of hope could be dangerous and cause soul-crushing pain when it eventually burns out.

So she was not going to nurture it. She was going to see whether it was true or not and face the reality head-on.

Even though one option meant that she had a chance while the other meant that she was only forever doomed to be weak and useless.

Sylvia shuddered. To remain weak and useless all her life… that was her worst nightmare.

She braced herself and stopped in front of the bookshelf.

Her fingers hurriedly ran across the spines of several books, searching through them for the one book which she had spotted previously.

She only vaguely recollected it but she was sure that it was here.

"Affinities… Affinities… Astral affinity… Here it is.

"

She quickly took her hand back as if the book was a snake that was about to strike her.

Sylvia gulped. She let out a deep sigh and then once again reached forward to grab the book in her hands.

Her body slid against the shelf behind her, flopping down onto the marble floor and she propped the book open in her lap, not bothering to take it to the table beside her.

She brought her knees close to her chest and her silver hair spilled on the pages as she quickly started turning them one by one.

"Astral affinity… a rare affinity…

" Her lips parted, her eyes widened and her heart was pounding deafeningly in her chest.

"There are several different methods to efficiently absorb astral energy and the affinity requirement is not high.

"

"One can consume plants and beast meat…

" Sylvia skipped over the lines and turned to the next page.

They were first talking about people with low astral affinity and that was not what she was here for.

Her eyes scanned the next couple of pages quickly, before finally stopping and lingering on a few lines.

"High astral affinity… extremely rare… able to absorb astral energy directly from the stars.

"

"When pure astral energy floods the body, it cleanses all other impurities and even mana.

Sylvia's breath quickened and she closed her eyes trying to calm herself down.

She then opened her eyes and read the same few lines again and again.

It was just as she had thought! She almost couldn't believe it!

Ever since she had visited the affinity testing room with the patriarch, she had a feeling that something was amiss.

She knew what it was to be completely oblivious to the mana in the air. She had already experienced that feeling all her life.

But what she felt now was definitely not the same.

She might have gotten the white color as her affinity test result, but there was no way that she didn't feel the presence of the thick mana swirling in the air.

No matter how much she tried to understand the affinity results and accept the reality, there was a nagging feeling at the back of her head that she was missing something, something very important.

Things were definitely not as simple as they looked. She was sure of it.

Sylvia closed the book and placed it down on her side.

The lines in the book had been vague and there wasn't much information available about astral affinity.

But it was enough.

She finally had something to hold on to and to start from.

And all she needed was that… just that small ray of light… just that one single way out of her pathetic miserable life.

*******************

Please check out my new book for the werewolf contest and let me know what you think about it.

Marked By The Alpha King