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Illia spent the next couple days avoiding her father by going to the winter court library. It was smallest library of any court but she loved it nonetheless with its large white vaulted ceiling and strange white and blank diamond shape floor tiles. To its massive two story level black bookshelves that spanned the entirety of the library. In the middle of the entrance room stood a tall marble stair dedicate to her grandfather who Illia had never met but according to her mother he was a prude. That being said, Viviane thought everybody was a prude, she would say it was half the fun to be the only sensible one in court. Long wooden tables sat on either side of the statue with matching chairs for school children to do their homework. In the right wing of the library sat the same black two story bookshelves but instead of the tables, two large black couches sat facing each other. In between them sat a glass coffee table with various sized pies of books stacked upon it. A grey rug sat snug in the middle of the room, under the couches.
To the left of the entrance way was her fathers office. It was mainly used for meetings with other courts or if Illia wanted to be left alone by the library staff. A matching grey carpet adorned the floor, the same book shelves extending to even tin the most sacred of spaces sat on the outermost wall. A large oak desk sat to the right of the room, facing the windows to the front of the building. Two black chairs sat diagonally in front of the High Lords desk. A small string sat to the left of the black double doors, connected was a bell that rang through out the library. To most library goers, this would be heavily annoying but Kallias tried hid best to not disturb the peace of his people, for the most part. Painting's of her father and her family hung behind the desk. A small couch sat facing the wall, about a foot away from the door. A fireplace mirrored the small black couch. This room had always been Illia's favorite and whence became High Lady, she hoped to rule from here rather than the throne room. She shut the door behind her, making sure her cerulean blue cloak didn't get caught in the door.
Illia wore wore a matching cerulean blue jumpsuit with a small fold at the bust and a belt of the same color. Matter of fact, her who outfit was the same color, even down to the scrappy heals. Illia made her way to the opposite wall, where the bookshelves sat. She grabbed a book on Hybern's history before taking her heels off at the foot of the couch. With book in hand, she pulled the fleece-lined blanket off the back of the couch and curled up. Eventually falling asleep to the sound of the crackling fireplace.
Kallias didn't sleep much the previous night. He could be High Lord, he'd been High Lord a while. Being a father was difficult for the man who had ice for veins. He could see his breathe in the bitter cold of his court. The snow crunched beneath his brown fleece-lined boots. No matter how far he walked, no matter how long he made himself freeze amongst the snow. His thoughts of his daughter finding her mate couldn't escape him. She wasn't old enough. She was barely 60 and now she was tied to someone for the rest of her immortal existence. Worse than that, she was tied to an Illyrian warrior 10x her age. One who served a different court. Kallias couldn't breathe. His lungs inhaled all the frigid air they could possible consume, even then he struggled to wrap his head around the situation. The cauldron chose them and yet they had nothing in common. He wondered how they met, if he was kind to her, what kind of life they could have together. None of it made sense to him.
His talk through town was met with the smiles of his people. Some stopped and bowed, others just waved. Kallias only enforced bowing in a professional setting, not so much when himself and Illia were casually in town. The High Lord was out to get some food for the house considering his daughter hadn't gotten any the day before while she was frolicking around with that winged thing she referred to as a mate. Kallias teeth ground together as he thought about that particular male. Kallias made his way to the library with his basket filled to the brim in hopes to escape the cold. The large oak doors squeaked as he pushed them inward. Sere, a small fae who was as old as the winter court and the current librarian, greeted the High Lord.
"Come in, come in" she ushered him in faster so she could shut the large doors.
"Good afternoon Sere" Kallias said as quietly as possible to avoid disturbing the studying younglings.
"was there a family reunion nobody told me about?" she mumbled half sarcastically. Kallias scrunched his eyebrows together before it dawned on him. His wife was with Roken, They were training the army in new defensive moves.
"Illia is here?"
"She's been huddled up in your office for hours, she was asleep on the couch when I last attended to the fire. I believe she fell asleep reading a book again."
Kallias nodded his head in understanding before making his way to the black doors that had been the same since his childhood. He shook the chill from his bones and opened the door. There she lay, the child that he was robbed of watching her grow. His child. Curled up on the couch, she looked as small as the day he left her. He shook his head free of the thoughts that were creeping in. Thoughts of Amarantha and the terror she caused, worse thoughts of the younglings that were slaughtered in cold blood by the High Lord that made Kallias skin crawl. A High Lord that was calling for a meeting with the rest of the courts. They'd received a letter this morning from Rhysand detailing the urgency of the meeting. Kallias couldn't shake the chill the crept up his spine at the thought of his daughter being in the same room as those monsters. To be fair, Kallias wasn't much better himself.
He took a couple strides to his desk where a pile of papers strewn about. Most being battle strategies. He could feel the tension in the air, the wind chill nipped bit harder than usual. Whatever happened he preyed to the mother that they'd make it out alive.
Long time no see ;D Its a couple days late but Happy Valentines Day! Theres going to be a little bit of a time jump next chapter (2 weeks) so buckle up because the meeting is fast approaching and Illia isn't ice cold for nothing.
