The Chalice of Ascension

Ciarán

I don't mind teaching the girls magic and self-defense, but the thought of them joining the fight.. I don't want anything to happen to them, especially Lili. It would be a cruel twist of fate to lose her now, considering she's my mate. Mate, I never thought that would be a word I would use for myself.

"I'll show you the library now." I tell her as I grab her hand. Her eyes light up as she smiles at me. A breathtaking sight, nearly stealing all the breath from lungs.
"I love libraries, the smell of old books, the silence, and I just love to read!" She says, buzzing with excitement, I can feel it vibrating through her all the way into me. I wonder if she knows I can feel everything she feels or if she can even sense the bond herself.

"Haha, well, there will be plenty of books for you to read.. and smell." I tell her. "What do you usually like to read?" I ask. "Well, there's Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, True Crime, History, Mythology, Biographies.." She starts listing pretty much everything, and I just listen and chuckle. "So you pretty much read anything? Do you have any favorites? Other than LOTR, of course." I ask her.
"I do enjoy a good romance novel, especially period pieces and fantasy." She answers as she looks away. "Yeah? Who is your favorite author?" She just smiles and says, "I like many authors, but my all-time favorite is definitely Nora Roberts."

"She writes a lot of period pieces, but she also does a mixture of fantasy and magic as well." She continues. I love the sound of her voice and the glow around her when she's happy or excited. I wanna know everything about her. I smile as I think about all the time I'll get to spend by her side. She suddenly stops talking and says, "I'm sorry, I just keep rambling on. It's probably annoying." I stop walking and pull her closer, "Don't ever stop talking to me. Nothing about you or anything you have to say is annoying."

She just stands there, looking up at me. So close I can feel her breath and heartbeat quicken. "You could talk about the most random nonsense, and I would gladly listen." I tell her. She smiles at me again, and I can't stop my eyes from dropping to her lips. "Thank you." She says softly. Her scent surrounds me, inside and out. As much as I wanna pull her into me and kiss her, I know she's not ready for any of this. I'd never force her to do anything, either.

I just nod, rubbing my thumb against her hand, and start walking again. We come up to the double doors leading into the library, and I push both of them open wide. I walk and turn with my arms stretched out wide, "Welcome to the royal library." I tell her. She laughs and then looks around, her eyes widening. "There's so many! It's just row after row of books!! I feel kind of like Belle!" She exclaims, running over to one of the shelves. "I guess that would make me the beast then?" I ask coyly.

"I don't know, are you?" She replies with a smile. I walk up behind her and whisper into her ear. "If you wish me to be your beast, Mo Cuishle, then I am." Her body trembles as my breath caresses her skin. She inhales slowly and looks over her shoulder. "Where are the books on Gaelic?" She asks, her breath shaky. I smirk and lean in, "Second floor." With a wink, I grab her hand and head for the stairs.

Walking through the aisles, I glance over to Lili. She has her head tilted back in awe, floor to ceiling bookshelves, jam-packed with books and tomes. This is probably going to be her favorite room in the whole palace. "Here we are." I tell her as I start pulling some books out. "There are a few different books to learn from. This one is a dictionary with English definitions. Some of these give you multiple sentence examples to show you how and when to use certain terms." I tell her.

She looks at the books, then up at me and smiles. "Thank you, I'm really excited to learn... now that I'm thinking about it. Pops could have taught us, but he didn't. I wonder why.." I shrug, "Who knows. Let's go see Minerva so we can get these checked out for you." I start walking, books in hand. "Oh, are there books on runes magic in the library?" She asks. "Yeah, they're locked away in a different part of the library. We don't have to worry about those right now, I'll have them pulled later for us."

"Hello, Minerva, we need to check these out." I say as I walk up to the desk. "Ah, Ciarán, good to see you again. Who do we have here?" She asks, looking over my shoulder. "This is Lili. She'll be staying in the palace for a while." I answer. "Hello, Lili, it's wonderful to meet you!" She addresses Lili with a kind smile. "Hello, nice to meet you as well. This library is amazing!" She says. "Oh? I take it you're an avid reader then?" Minerva questions. "Oh yes! I love to read." Lili answers her. "How stupendous! I do hope to see you around!" Minerva says, jotting down the book titles.

We say our thanks to Minerva and leave the library. Lili reaches over and grabs the dictionary from the top of the stack, and starts looking through it, tilting her head as she reads through various words. "Let's get these to your room so you can have some comfort and privacy while you study." I say. "That would be nice. How far is it from the library?" She asks. "Not too far actually just across that courtyard there and a few floors up." I tell her.

We make our way through the courtyard. There's a massive tree in the middle and various plants blooming all around. "What a beautiful tree! The whole palace is stunning, really, and full of life!" She says as she takes in her surroundings. "It always has been for as long as I can remember. Áine and I used sit under this tree to study." I say.

"So you two used to live in the palace?" She asks me. "Yeah, Queen Nia didn't just welcome us into her city, but her home as well. Our parents were also close with her." She looks back at the tree as we ascend the stairs. "What was it like, growing up here?" She asks. "Well, seeing as how she adopted us, we had to take private lessons to teach us proper etiquette for royals, but we also had tutors that taught us all sorts of other things. Similar to what they teach in your schools back in the mortal world. Of course, there were also magic and combat classes as well." I tell her. I don't think I've ever talked to anyone this much, except Áine and Affi.

"Combat classes??" Lili asks me. "Yeah, we had to learn how to fight not just for ourselves but to be able to protect the ones we care about. We never knew if there was gonna be another war or not."
I say. "Oh, that makes sense. You seem to have lived quite a busy life here. It must have been stressful at times."

"It could be extremely stressful, yes. It was worth it in the end, though. Plus, I had my secret spot I could sneak off to when I needed time alone." I tell her. "Ooooo, the super secret hideout." She says, barely able to contain her laughter. God's she's adorable. I laugh and shake my head, "Yep, no girls allowed. Unless you're a good girl for me, that is."

She looked at me and blushed but said nothing. I chuckle as we make it to the fourth floor. "Alright, your room is just down there on the right." She skips ahead and opens the doors with a gasp. "It's gorgeous! There's a balcony too!!" I laugh thinking to myself how easily excited she gets, cute. It's amazing how happy I am just from being around her.