"Kitty, I know you are mad at me--" Erebus sighed but Kitty cut him off.
"I'm not mad at you." Kitty said with a light tone.
"That's good," Erebus nodded, "Then you can ask him to go. I only say this because I worry that dating might be in YOUR way of the demonstration question you want to prove."
Kitty burst into laughter.
Her "demonstration question" was that she said she would prove that her feelings towards him was not a childish crash, but she KNEW that, which means Erebus mentioned it in such a subtle way to keep it from Charles.
"It's okay, I'll come back later." Erebus said and started leaving.
"What's so secret that others cannot even know?" Charles suddenly challenged him. Of course he wanted to know now.
There was little that Erebus could do to hide his intention, not since they bumped into each other.
Kitty didn't protest his question either.
"Well," Erebus sighed again, "Winnie wants to be your magic teacher."
"Ohh, that's so nice of her." Kitty didn't expected Erebus to actually have a serious topic in mind.
"And I'd like you to decline." Erebus finished his sentence.
"What?" Kitty laughed, and at the same time:
"I know what you are doing here." Charles said.
Kitty rose her eyebrow at Charles's reaction, who was staring at Erebus with a dangerous look.
"I'm asking her to not go to The Coven. She would be safe here." Erebus said with a soft but calm tone, which annoyed Charles a not.
They both knew he asked this of Kitty to keep her by his side. Keeping her safe was only part of his reason.
"Okay." Kitty suddenly said, without any question or explanation.
Erebus didn't show that he was a bit surprised at her quick consent. He prepared a long speech to persuade her. He couldn't tell whether she knew why he asked this of her.
"You are absolutely right. She needs to learn magic, but safety is a first." Charles suddenly agreed, "And there's no place safer for a magic apprentice than The Palace."
Werewolf royal family was known to be born with magic, so in their world, The Palace was THE place to learn magic other than The Coven.
Erebus squinted his eyes at Charles. It was hard for him to argue with this suggestion without revealing that he had magic, too.
It wasn't definite that no werewolf outside of the royal family could do magic, still, his parents had always warned him to not reveal that to anyone.
He was seriously considering out with his secret when Kitty said:
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"Why?!" Charles was genuinely shocked. His offer was definitely a lifetime opportunity that rarely, maybe no one, had ever had.
The royal family had the largest library of magic book collection, as well as magic items, maybe even larger than The Coven actually.
The Coven had the most recondite and ancient and powerful magic, sure. But consist of single powerful witches and wizards means that they cannot compete on the amount of magic collection with the long-standing royal family.
"I appreciate your offer, but it's too much for me to accept." Kitty said with genuine, "You gave me my mom's note, and that's more than I can ask for already."
Charles was in deep regret of giving her Lilith's notebook.
He only gave that to her to be friendly, and also, he KNEW the notebook won't be much of a help to her.
Magic is too sophisticated to learn from books. That's why ALL witch was once another witch's apprentice. That's why there's no "complete collection" of the edgeless body of knowledge on magic.
"It's not possible to learn by yourself." Charles urged her, "And I have read your mom's notebook actually, I couldn't even understand it, WITH witch's help."
"I understand." Kitty just simply said, with no explanation nor indication that the information he just provided worries her in any way.
"I think you can leave now." Erebus gave Charles a polite smile.
"You--" Charles was annoyed and started to protest, but Kitty cut him off:
"Byebye, Prince."
Erebus waited till Charles's figure disappeared into the elevator, and then turned to Kitty: "I'm glad you chose to stay."
"Why?" Kitty asked with a crafty smile.
"Because they don't have a better magic teacher in the Palace than me." Erebus said without hesitation, and Kitty didn't expect him to say "because I like you" that easily either.
"Haha, okay." Kitty laughed at his priggish appearance, "But who said that you would be my teacher?"
"You do need one, Kitty." Erebus rose his eyebrow at that. He was so sure Kitty refused Charles and Winnie to be close to him.
"I HAVE one." Kitty said with that crafty smile again, as if laughing at a joke that only she understood.
"What do you mean..." Erebus frowned and suddenly opened his eyes wide: "You can understand her note?!"
"Hahaha..." Kitty burst into laughter, "Come in, I'll show you."
Paused for a second, Erebus got into the room. It wasn't the first time he enters the lobby anyways. But he hadn't done that ever since he secretly added a protection spell on the bedroom either.
The bedroom was huge, so the easel standing in the middle didn't make the room cramped or stuffy.
Kitty took the notebook from the bed, opened a page and presented it to Erebus.
It was merely a normal note, messy and complicated in all kinds of marks except readable language. There was little clew to even begin to understand it.
"Show me?" Erebus asked.
"These are symbols marking the process of a spell." Kitty pointed to a few symbols that looked like they belong to one system, "And when I touch them in the right order, I could feel her magic flow in me, like how you showed me."
"She made her magic into a map." Erebus awed.
"Yes, and if I got it wrong, it would stop, so I know I have to start again." Kitty nodded.
"Beautifully sophisticated." Erebus said.
"And this kind of mark," Kitty continued, "They show me the effect of a spell when I try to put my magic in, in the way a spell should be of course. There are still other symbols that I don't understand yet, but!"
Kitty rushed out her huge discoveries in this week so fast and excited that her cheeks turned red and shone with an attractive glow.
"She really IS a better mentor than me." Erebus nodded, looking at Kitty admiringly: "I can still teach you the magic I know though--"
"I don't want you to be my teacher." Kitty closed the notebook, and looked at Erebus with a serious look, "Because I have to be equal to you on my own, if I ever want to be able to be with you. This is for myself."
Erebus gazed at her in silence for a while, and nodded: "I'll be waiting."
Erebus stayed there for a little longer, mostly just listening to Kitty talking about all the fun she had been having this past week.It was only after he left with a good night kiss on her forehead that Kitty was able to get around and get properly excited at his "I'll be waiting".Kitty had been feeling that Erebus cared about her more than usual from day one. She took that as pity and was grateful for it.But not anymore.
Should she call him?She's got the phone. The phone that he got her, with his number in it.Or maybe she should just text."Are you going to Mount Alaric?"Should she ask like that?She deleted the tex
"Metis, keep an eye on Kitty for me." Erebus called Metis on his way back to the office."Yes, my Lord." Metis answered, "Something happened?""Long story... also, keep an eye on the princess." Erebus sighed."Which one?" Metis asked, "The Princess came here?""The most annoying one." Erebus said darkly.
"My Lord." Metis called Erebus on his phone, "Kitty left the hotel with a huge backpack, and she got a plane ticket for Mount Alaric.""..."Instead of a plane, Erebus got on his new SUV the same afternoon.He had to make arrangements of his city before he left. He left Tartarus in charge, and he didn't take neither Menoetius nor Themis.
"How many people do you have here?" Erebus dialed Kitty's number, and put the phone on his ear as he asked the two young wolf in the car."We have only two units here, my Lord." Harrison answered. He was sitting at the front seat, "We are the unit leaders.""I see, go get your people ready and wait for my order." Erebus nodded, frowning at the busy tone in the phone, "Where is the casino?""Casino? Downtown..." Harrison and Quinlan stared at each other, having no ide
"Allura is here, too?" Uranus squinted her eyes at Erebus, "You are enjoying this, aren't you?""Why?" Erebus smirked at her, "She's not your loving cousin?""You just don't want to handle her yourself!" Uranus clenched her fist but Erebus stopped her --They were standing in her top floor "warden office", face to face, with Uranus's hand held in Erebus's.
"Where's your car?!" Uranus hinted Erebus as she kept on the phone: "When was she there? How long has she been in there? Hold your men by the entrance, I'll send someone right over!""You are not coming?" Asked Erebus as she ended the call, starting the car."I can't. That place does not welcome magic." Uranus shook her head, "You will be fine. Just take your wolf form ALL the time. You just might find her sooner with a better sense of smell.""Okay. What's with that
"Lord Erebus." A dozen men were waiting at the end of the road.It was the edge of the Blood Moon Forest.Now Erebus understood what Uranus meant by "you will know when you are there." --