"Where do you want to go?" asked Ben.
"The library, please."
I follow Ben down the hall to one of the many libraries in the castle. To my understanding, only four immediate members of the Pergola family live in the castle, and I don't think any of them read.
Ben told me that the King said I can only go to certain places in the castle, such as the library, garden and drawing room. I've spent most of my day yesterday hanging with Xenia in my room. She told me more about her family and her likes and dislikes. From what I learned; she hasn't really lived. I think she would thrive outside of Nygaard.
Katana's been spending most of her time with The King. Whether it be fencing, playing swords or talking about old battles, this is what Xenia told me. Later on, today, we'll all be having dinner together in the dining hall. It'll be the second time I've seen the King.
Before I know it, Ben and I are standing in front of two, tall grand doors. Guess the color, gold. On the doors are beautiful painted wolves surrounded by flowers and grass. I wonder who was the artist that designed the castle, they did such a great job. The bathroom in my room has beautiful swirls of color on the walls.
"I'll be back in 2 hours to get you, don't leave here." He demands.
"Ok." I slightly smile. The only man I've really been around has been Ben, and he's not the best company. He barely talks, and I don't think he's ever smiled before. Besides that, he's handsome. Strong jaw, hollow cheeks, black hair and tan skin. He always wears black, so slender and sleek.
He pushes open the doors for me, my breath catches in my throat once I take hold of the library. I don't even jump when the doors slam shut behind me. High ceilings, every wall has a bookshelf on it. Thousands and thousands of stories and people surround me. On the left is a desk, a pair of heels is propped up on the desk. The heels belong to a woman, I can't see her since a book is coddled in her face. The title reads, "The ancient civilization of the Khans." This library reminds me of The Beasts in "Beauty and the Beast".
A couple of tables sit in the middle, no one's in here, and I don't know why. I don't like to read, but if I had a library I would totally read.
I play with the sleeves of my mauve flower dress. Xenia picked it out for me at the market last week. She said the color would bring out my eyes, I agree with her. It's weird to not have my legs on display, I miss my skirts.
On the desk, I see a bell. I press it, the girl at the desk jumps. I don't know how she didn't hear the loud closing of the doors when I came in.
"Oh! I didn't even see you come in." I come into view with a brown eyed girl. She has short box braids that comes to her shoulders, pouty lips and a pie face.
"I didn't mean to scare you." She shrugs me off.
"It's alright. Once I get into a book, I can't seem to part from it, it sucks me in." She laughs. Her heels clank against ground as she comes from around the corner. She's shorter than me, even in the heels.
"Hi, my name is-
"Quinneth Worthingshire. You're practically a celebrity around here, everyone talks about you."
"I'm sure they do." I mumble. "Is there, by any chance, a black-haired guy in here." According to Xenia, Kai has been stuck in the library all day every day. I go by his room, but he's never there. I never knew how much he liked to read.
"Uh, yeah. He's been here for 3 hours now; it feels weird having someone in here. Some of the courtiers come in, but it's just to take a nap before they have to promenade." Her brown eyes roll. She points up to the second-floor library, a gold spiral stair case leads up there.
"I'll see him in a few, he may bite my finger off if I interrupt him."
"I never introduced myself, I'm Luci Vague." We shake hands, her many bracelets jingle around her wrist.
"Luci? Are you by any change mated to Christian?" Her eyes brighten when I mention his name, kind of how I get when Alexander is on my mind.
"He is. How is he, by the way? The last time I called him was a couple days ago."
"From what I remember, fine. He's really nice and generous, not like Aren."
"Aren is such a baby, she comes off distant if you don't know her. Just give her time to adjust to you." She coos. I see a shift in her eyes. "How's Alexander, I heard."
I try not to have my voice waver when I speak. "He's not doing well, when he was stabbed, it was laced with monkshood. From the stabbing, he's been in a coma for over 2 months."
I see her eyes gloss over as her fingers wove together. "When I found out, from Christian, I spent day and night looking for a cure. Here, follow me." She walks past the desk to the corner of the library near the skyscraper windows. Outside, snow is falling softly around us. I swear, it gets colder and colder as the day goes on, but the servants in the castle do a good job at keeping it warm. Especially Xenia, she always layers my bed with sheets and covers so I don't freeze at night. When I leave, she'll be the person I miss the most.
"I took off every single book from the shelf that talked about poison and healing. I read so much my eyes were bloody red, and my back was bent at a grotesque angle. Through all the reading, I found nothing. I wasn't shocked though; these were books written by men in the 1500's." She slaps her hand on one book, dust flies up.
I almost tear up from hearing that while I was off, scared out of my mind for Alexander, his friend was researching ways to save his life. "This is- is the nicest thing I've seen anyone do. Thank you." I say with genuine love.
"He's my friend, death is not an option for Alexander Germani." Behind her I see a stack of books, the spines are red with intricate designs on them. They look familiar, I don't know where I've seen those symbols, but I know them.
"What are those books?" I asked.
She follows my finger pointing at the books. "This is nothing just- just some reorganizing, that's all. Please, don't touch the books they're extremely delicate." She said, fumbling over her words. There was something about the way she jumped to clear the air, I wonder what she's hiding. What is in those books that's so important, even I can't read them. "Let's go down here, shall we?"
She presses a gentle hand against my back, directing me to the middle of the library, between the chairs and in front of her desk. Her body stands in front of mine, guarding me from the books, I follow her lead.
"I didn't give you the proper introduction." Her arms span out, "Welcome to the Adalwolf Library."
"Adalwolf?"
She starts walking past the many bookshelves, I follow behind her. "There are four libraries in the castle, while the biggest one is in the center of town, opened for the public. The castles libraries hold the most sacred text in werewolf history. Written by the most influential Keepers of their time, such as Adolphus, Conri and Fridolf. Oh, Fridolf is my favorite. He was the first Keeper on the scene of "The War of Son's". To answer your question, all the libraries are named after a King or Queen. This one is Adalwolf, while the other three is called Bernulf, Meghyn and Accalia. The public library is named after our Kingdom, Nygaard."
"Do you run this library yourself, so are their others?" I ask, she starts to push a cart filled with books. As she talks, she stacks a couple on the shelfs.
"Yes. Part of working to become a Keeper, our job is to run one of the libraries. I chose to work this one."
"Why the Adalwolf Library? Was there something special." She turns around to me, book is held in her hand mid-air.
"When Christian's mother was on her death bed, I wanted to help her, find a cure. So, when I came here to study, I specifically selected The Adalwolf library because it holds everything on cures, medicine, healing and tribal practices on recovery."
"I thought, she gulps, "if I worked here, I could find a cure and save his mother. For hours, like with Alexander, I stayed up all night trying to find something, once I thought I found the holy grail, she was already dead." A tear trickles down her cheek. I grab a napkin, which is coincidentally, on the cart and hand it to her. "Thank you, I want to have all the information on medicine, if I can help someone, I want to have the knowledge."
"Does Christian know this?" She shakes her head. "That's the sweetest thing you can do for a person, Christian's lucky to have you as a mate."
She wipes up her tears, getting her composure back together. "Let's get on another topic, it's too early to be crying. So, yes, this library has all the information on medicine and even mystical potions. Accalia library is on the history of Nygaard and all the people that have lived here from the moment of its existence. Meghyn's is all for geography and Bernulf is information on other kingdoms and packs in and out of our region."
"That's a lot of libraries. My town only has one, and it's pretty small."
"Wow! The human world is so different than ours, one library is barbaric." I let out a wry laugh. Humans don't really read, so it's not much of a problem. When I went in the past to check out books, there was only five people in there. 3 out of 4 of them were on the computer playing video games or watching movies.
"My schooling is almost up; I loathe the day that I have to leave here. I like living in Nygaard, everything is big here, and the parties aren't that bad."
"When do you leave?"
She stacks two more books. "A year. But I'm thinking of staying longer."
"What about Christian?"
Frown lines form on her face, "I haven't told him. He'll obviously support me, but we've been away for far too long. It's not fair to him. Please, don't say anything." Her eyes plead.
"You can trust me." I cross my heart.
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