Throne of Hearts (girlxgirl)

Chapter 14

Sorry for the delay! I've been working on another little project and life is just lifen' if ya know what I mean. But here you go lovely folks. Thank you so much for reading, voting, and commenting. All of it means so much to me! ❤️

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Castle Library. Silva, Ahigarth

Rhys

With Rose becoming busy over the last week with preparations for the Summer Celebration and Lord Lucian's arrival, I used any free time I could find to make use of Wishborne's large library. Rose isn't alone very often these days so I was able to assign a guard here and there in the evening to take my place while I studied in the library. 

I've spent long evenings sitting in one of these leather chairs and reading about war, battle strategy, and royal etiquette. And while my knowledge grew, I was short on sleep and even worse, I was performing like shit in training. 

Just this morning Sir Weston called me out on my sloppy footwork, embarrassing me into focusing harder for the rest of the session. 

None of that stopped me from returning each evening, like tonight. 

Wishborne Castle is the third largest castle in Ahigarth. The Kingshire in the Central Kingdom was the largest, followed by Castle Black in the Northern Kingdom. But I didn't care about any of that. To me, Wishborne was massive and had the largest collection of books I'd ever seen. There were so many books packed into this huge space, with two floors, almost completely packed. I could read battle strategy for an hour and then switch to a cheesy romance novel until I went to bed. 

Tonight I was exploring a new section, a darker corner near the far end of the library. I hadn't bothered to examine the books there yet. Because I ran into more eye-catching books between the library entrance and this dark corner. 

"Wow," I breathed in awe. My fingers hovered above decorated leather spines, embossed text written in fine silver. 

These were books about ancient Ahigarth magic. Etheri magic. Etheri magic hasn't existed in at least 200 hundred years. Forced out by the first Emperor of Ahigarth—The self-proclaimed First Emperor gave his four pieces of land to his four trusted men, birthing the five kingdoms of Ahigarth. The first Emperor gave those men permission to build and create cities on stolen land. 

Every once in a while, I would hear a rumor float through town about some stranger person who could wield magic, but most of the rumors were hard to take seriously. It depended on whether the storyteller was drunk or not. By the end of the day, everyone forgot all about it and moved on with their day. I never forgot though. All the stories or tall tales stuck with me whenever I heard them. 

I love the idea that there were people who stood on this land before me and could move things with some unseen force. Magic has always fascinated me. 

One book specifically caught my eye, so I pulled it from the dusty shelf to examine it closer. I ran a finger over the embossed leather cover, reading the title. How strange...I swear I can feel...energy emitting from this book. But that can't be. Books are paper and ink. I hesitated to open the cover, fingers frozen on the edge of its dark brown leather. 

I was so focused on examining the book that I failed to hear someone approach me from behind. A light tap on my shoulder startled me. I spun and met amused hazel eyes, the brown and green blending together like a dark forest tonight. Rose's eyes were enchanting this evening. 

I let out a soft sigh, relaxing. "You frightened me, my lady."

"It's just me, little ole Rose. And it's just the two of us here. It's past midnight," she said, eyes twinkling. "Should I be concerned that you didn't hear me? Or that I frighten you?"