Rose

Ch.9

                  
Weeks have come and gone. Percival and I have gotten into a routine of walking everyday after our breakfast. We eat almost every meal together and spend most of our time together. It's very odd. Usually when I spend time with Pa it's to cook or clean or help make sure he has what he needs. But here, it's different. I'm taken care of. I'm no longer a second thought.

My feelings have grown for Percival immensely. It's an odd feeling, I'm never one to make friends quickly but now I could consider him a confidante of mine. He also makes sure that I have anything I desire or if I talk of things I miss he finds the closest thing their world has to offer, for me. I feel taken care of by the staff and him.

My thoughts have slowly faded from wanting to leave to looking forward to the next day. Currently I can't help but ask for more and more books. Camille even had a few male servants move bookshelves into my room to fit the books I had asked for.

This morning I ate alone and as I was putting my black shoes on Percival had knocked and entered without waiting for a response. He certainly was into the routine for sure. I look at him and smile a greeting as I latched my last shoe and stood from my chair.

"I see you've acquired new furniture." He says pointedly as he eyes the shelves. I nod happily and point at it with the many many books on them.

"Yes, I was going through so many I asked for a shelf or two to hold the books that I wanted to hold on to. As you can see, I can't seem to get myself to part with any of them." I laugh at myself and place a hand casually on my hip. He furrows his brow and looks down at me solemnly.

"You realize there's a library here?" He inquires and I felt my eyes widen and my grin widen. I jump up and down while grasping his arm and pull him out of my bedroom door.

"Hurry and show me! This is no time to dally!" I exclaim and he chuckles at me and allows me to link our arms and teleports us there, which is really him freezing me and everything and carrying me places. When I asked him how he did that and he explained I couldn't help how silly he came across.

As we walked we went around and into the east wing, here the halls were darker, the air was dry, and there was a fine layer of sand and dust coating almost everything. On our excursions around the castle I've only been here thrice before to go to different music rooms, balconies and drawing rooms.

Finally we came upon large black and gold embellished French doors. He stops us in front of it and opens them both for me, dust blowing up from the motion and my eyes widen and breath hitch in my throat. For the first time since being here I let out a girlish squeal and run forward into the room. Two floors. The second being surrounding balconies with more shelves and the bottom floor having shelves so tall there was ladders that rolled around the room. Every wall was lined with windows and bookshelves. The shelves were an ebony wood the fireplaces and multiple sitting and desks areas around. I rush and spin myself slowly while gazing all around.

"If I'd had known it had been this easy to break that shell of yours, I'd have brought you here sooner, Etta." His smoky voice calls as he steps up to me. This was the first time he has every called me that. And I felt my body grow warm with delight. I smile at him happily and wink at him.

  "A girl must keep some secrets, Percy." I snarkily reply and go to browse the sections that had been labeled in a beautiful penmanship, however it was in a different language.

   "Percy, what language is this?" I ask as I stare at the many books upon the shelves that were also in that same language. He hums in recognition as he comes to stand behind me. Suddenly, he reaches over me and he pulls a simply green cloth book down to open and show me a page of the language.