Xander's POV:

The strumming of Doe's guitar filled our room as she ran through the individual notes of some random sheet music I found instead of just focusing on cords.

I've learned that she gets into this 'zone' type mindset after sitting down into that round stool with her instrument and can go hours on end with it if she so desired.

Practicing the sheet music until she could do it perfectly with no breaks, then eagerly flipping to the next one to start all over again.

She was picking it up insanely fast.

The only thing she needed my help with was the occasional question and making sure that all of the strings were tuned correctly.

I'll let her get comfortable with the instrument itself before trying to introduce her to the mess that is music theory, but even with that, she'll probably pick it up in no time.

Through this as well as... other things had brought to light that she was just a very fast learner when it came to things she truly wanted to know more about.

Fast and committed.

She worked well with that guitar and looked great with it too.

Throughout the days, I've realized that she bites the corners of her lips whenever she's deep in focus.

The deep focus that got thrown off from the sound of a note didn't match up with the rest.

Which ended a relatively long streak of only correct notes she had.

Usually, if she wasn't sure of where the note was, she'd pause and make sure she got it right before playing it.

She let out a confused and disgruntled grunt, peering closer to the sheet music.

"The D's are sharp in this key signature," I reminded her.

"Oh right," She whispered, mostly to herself before correcting her previous note.

She carried on for a few seconds before stopping again, turning her head to where I was sitting on the side of the bed.

"Before I forget again, I've been meaning to tell you that I finished that book," She said.

"Oh yeah?"

It took her a while, but with all that was available to her now, I wasn't expecting her to just read all day anyways.

For the past days, whenever Nico and I were busy, she'd go hang out with Khloe and Marcus. If I wasn't, then she'd sometimes hang around me and work with her instrument or something.

Lily was still working on setting aside some time for the lessons Doe had wanted, so that wasn't a consideration yet.

It was usually towards the end of the day that I'd see her get any reading done, but that never lasted too long until she joined me in bed.

Just the thought crossing my mind got a rise out of me...

"What'd you think?"

"It was," she took a moment to get the right word, "Interesting," She settled with, her eyes straying from mine for a second.

A fair enough conclusion for a book about a topic she knew little about.

"Entertaining at least. I could see myself reading it again someday."

Not to mention the little show she put on after reading a certain scene in it...

I gave her a nod, hanging my legs over the side of the bed.

"Do you want something similar for the next one? Or something completely different."

"Similar," was her immediate, and unquestioning response.

I fought back my smile, the flurry of books I was aware of flashing through my mind, now with the added knowledge that she often took notes from these pages deeper than I initially would have guessed.

"I'll be right back then," I spoke, raising to my feet.

I had a few that might be a good match already in my room but wanted to give her a couple to choose from, some of which were in the library.

Her playing began again as I stepped out and walked to my destination.

I was still reminiscent of this place and walked normally most of the time when I wasn't rushing to get back to Doe after an event of some sort.

I passed a few of the slaves as I did, most of them purposefully avoided eye contact with me.

All except for Marcus that passed me with a smile and a wave, catching the confused attention of the few boys a little bit behind him.

I returned the gesture, of course. That strange feeling in my chest didn't appear when it was just him.

He seemed like a very nice individual. I got absolutely no bad vibes from him whatsoever just... That nagging feeling every once in a while.

Pushing open the doors of the library, I quickly began my search in the place I knew best.

I've read... almost every single book lining these tall, oak shelves, and my memory of most of them we're impressively still there.

Now... which one would she like.

Most of these were romances between two vampires, but I knew there were some between two humans somewhere in here.

Perhaps that would be more... in her league... I guess.

And maybe it was time to include something with some more heavily intimate scenes in it.

I felt like she was getting closer to calling in that offer I made to have sex with her.

Or maybe that was just my uncontrollable imagination jumping to hopeful conclusions.

Every time I have her close like that, our bodies pressed to one another with her hands wandering over me is still closer in my mind to her calling in that favor.

I drew in a very long breath, easing away the sudden racing beat in my chest.

The tingling in my lips and fingertips, craving to feel her.

Dammit...

And now on top of all that, a slow-building pressure in my fangs to top it all off.

I was going to need some fresh blood here soon as well...

Another 'perk' of being a royal that I was being reminded of.

I tore away my attention and forced it back onto the books in front of me.

My fingers skimmed the spines of each one, glancing over titles and remembering whatever I could of each one.

It took about a minute before I found one that checked all of the boxes I'd made.

The books were so tightly pressed beside one another, that when I went to take the book of choice, five more books decided to come out with it.

I scrambled to try to catch them, but failed and instead had to deal with the unnecessarily loud thud each of them made as they hit the floor.

Time must have made it so that the books were oddly stuck together.

"Shit." the word left my mouth in a quiet hiss while I bent down to clean up my mess, tucking the book I planned to keep under my arm.

Quiet footsteps approached me, but I didn't register them until I had picked up the last one.

The familiar redhead stood at the end of the shelf I was attending to.

Her presence caused me to freeze, partially freaking out due to the fact that I had no idea what her reaction to me would be.

I knew Doe hadn't yet filled her in on the entire truth yet.

According to her, she needed to 'schedule it a week in advance since it'll take her three hours to get through it all.'

This was the first time we'd been alone together since...

Well, Doe was technically there when that happened, but it felt like it was just Khloe and me.

It was like I wasn't sure how to present myself, mixed with the weird feeling that I just got caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing.

Which wasn't true, but I was blushing like it was.

"Oh uh- Hey Khloe, what's up?" I decided would be a good start, moving intentionally slow as I placed the last book back to its place, and rubbing the back of my head.

She didn't look scared at all, which was a huge relief, just kind of... curious.

Her lips parted, yet stopped as soon as her eyes shifted down towards the book I had under my arm.

Then she laughed of all things, cutting it short with a hand over her mouth.

It wasn't a malicious or teasing one, more like a knowing giggle aimed towards this book.

The sound caused a relief I wasn't expecting to get out of this interaction.

I don't think people can laugh like that in front of people they view as threats.

Maybe Nico did tell her something or at least rid her of any initial worry when it came down to me specifically.

But regardless, it seemed that she might have read this book before.

I fixed my awkward posture, glancing down to catch a glimpse at the book she held against her torso.

I caught the title just a second before her arm moved to cover it, seeing her back straighten.

Oh, I knew that book. It was actually one I had on my shelf in my room.

Though I was surprised by her liking in it just because of how raunchy it was in a couple of the chapters.

And the embarrassed look that replicated mine from before told me that we were both aware of that.

Dang Khloe, I never would have figured you were into that sort of thing.

It's always the quiet ones... I guess.

Except now it was like a standoff between two people who'd caught each other in a semi-embarrassing situation.

"Ok listen, I didn't see you here, and you didn't see me here. Deal?" I offered a remedy for both of our sakes.

"Deal," She accepted with a nod, holding her book a tad closer.

A smile overcame me at the strange, but somewhat casual nonetheless interaction with someone I was completely sure hated my guts.

"Good," I sighed out, making my way toward her to get back to Doe.

"See ya around then, Khloe," I beamed, ruffling her hair the same way Nico used to do to me as I passed her.

She didn't flinch under my touch or anything like that.

It didn't make the guilt from that night disappear by any means, but it did make me feel better for her sake.

I'll give her a proper apology soon.

Maybe after we've interacted enough for her to know that it was genuine.

But for now, I had to retrieve a few more books from my personal collection for Doe to choose from.