Mosaic Windows

Chapter 20: Roman's In Denia- Oh Nevermind

Roman was happy that Guinevere came with his dad and brother because the walk back to town was longer than he realized. It still took half a day to get back home since Remus and Nico were walking, it just would have taken longer if Roman was walking as well.

He had to admit, it was nice to be back home. Though... his room felt smaller, and there weren't nearly as many colors as there were in the castle. The only flowers they had in their yard were wild flowers, daisies and dandelions. Every window in the house was completely see through, no colors. The floor was wooden, not stone, and the wallpaper was plain.

And the house was much louder than the castle, but that was just because Remus was there. Oh did Roman miss the silence... anything was better than his brother's voice. He has learned long ago that it was impossible to ignore it.

"So, what's your relationship with that dragon?" Remus asked, shimmying his shoulders. He was sitting at Roman's desk, and at this point Roman expected him to be there. His brother must be curious about the castle and the other three.

"We're just friends," Roman told him as he climbed in bed. The sun was down now, and there was no time to go to the library.

"Is he single?"

"You aren't seriously thinking of dating him, are you?"

Remus shrugged. "You're not dating him."

"First off, why would you want to date one of my friends? Second off, how do you even know if he's gay?"

"He's got the vibes. Is he gay?"

"I-" Roman paused for a moment. He didn't really want to answer that truthfully, though it's not like he would be putting Virgil in danger if he did. However Virgil still might not want just anyone to know. "As far as I know, no."

"Oh my gods, you're so crushing on him."

"What?!" Roman's voice was higher than he meant for it to be. "I am not! Where did you get that from? We are just friends."

"You can crush on a guy and still be friends." Remus picked up a pencil and grabbed a piece of paper. Roman watched as the graphite left trails against the brown sheet.

"Okay that's true, but I really don't have a crush on him. He's a cool guy, and I like hanging out with him, but I don't have a crush."

"Boring, you need to get a better taste in men then. Or... lower your standard. Either way, he would be a catch. Do you think I have a chance?"

Roman laughed loud. "You? Oh you are so not his type. Too much energy for him. He might be royal, but he's a very introverted and simple guy."

"Ah, I see. Guess you don't have a chance either then." Remus glanced at him before he continued his drawing.

Roman opened his mouth to argue that he might, but recognized the trap. "Guess I don't. Good thing I don't like him."

Remus smiled to himself as his brother glared at him. "That's a good thing I guess," he repeated as he continued to draw.

~~~

The stairs to the library were thankfully not as tall as the stairs in the castle, so Roman didn't have trouble going up it. However he still had to slow down while his brother took the steps two at a time.

"So what is it we're looking for here?" Remus asked.

"Any books on dragon witches," Roman reminded him.

"Yeah yeah I got that, but I mean why? Whatcha trying to find out? Some sort of spell?"

"Something like that."

Remus spun around to turn to him, walking backwards with ease. "Are you sure you'll find something for that? All of these books are written by humans, there's not a single one that is written by a dragon witch in this library."

"Well it's not like there's a shop that has a spell book written by dragon witches in this whole town. I just have to hope that there's something."

"And what type of spell are you looking for?"

"Does it matter to you?"

"I'm just curious, jeez." Remus spun around again and opened the library door.

Roman bit the inside of his cheek. He doesn't normally hide secrets from Remus, but Virgil's trust with him is already shaky. It would be best not to tell anyone, even Remus, the dragon witch's secrets.

If Janus found out that Virgil was a human cursed into a dragon witch, how would he react? Would he become less aggressive, maybe even want to help? Or would he use this information to his advantage, see it as a weakness to exploit.

Not that it seemed he needed to. He did something to take away Virgil's power. Maybe it had something to do with that arrow, something was tied around it. A couple of days after the attack, when they went back out to the garden, the arrow was gone. Roman had also noticed the small blade Virgil had on his hip when they went back out to the garden.

Roman beelined straight to the non fiction section. He has researched a bit of magic for his stories before, so he knew where to start. Thankfully he brought the list of books that Virgil has, he barely had time to finish it before he went home the other day.

Remus was next to him, and Roman had him carry the books since he couldn't with the list in hand and the crutches under his arms. When they had a big enough pile, they went to the nearest table and Roman started skimming through the books, falling back into the pattern he had formed during his time at the castle.

His twin went to the fiction section and grabbed a book. He came back and started reading in silence, though he would alternate between bouncing his knee and tapping his fingers. It wasn't too distracting to Roman, it actually got rid of some tension.

Keeping secrets from him was weird, even if they weren't his secrets. Virgil being gay however... Roman felt very defensive when Remus brought up the idea of dating him last night. Part of him already knew why, but he didn't want to think about that right now. For now, he wanted to help Virgil.