Of all the things Quirin had expected to drop out of his son's pack, it was definitely not for it to be a trashy romance novel, the kind he knew his son's girlfriend was into. He frowned a little bit, leaning down to pick it up.
He studied the cover. The Warrior and the Wizard.
"Varian?" he called out, "what is this?"
Varian stopped in his tracks and turned around. Immediately, he wished he hadn't. For in his father's hands was the book that Varian had... Erm, borrowed from Cassandra. His face flushed a little as he snatched the book from Quirin.
"Varian..."
"It's an acquired taste," he shot back defensively, "one that... That I seem to have developed."
He cradled the book to his chest, almost protectively. He still felt pretty embarrassed. Not that he had done anything wrong, necessarily. It was just... Only Cassandra knew about the "Night of Trashy Romance Novels." Even then, she was unaware of his... Current fascinations with such a genre of book.
"Varian," Quirin said again, shaking his head in disbelief, "The Warrior and the Wizard? Really?"
Varian gave an awkward, short chuckle, scratching the hair on the back of his head, as was now habit. "Yeah... It's one of Cass's favorites."
And one of mine, he thought, but didn't say.
It had been one of his first glimpses into the genre, and it also held some meaning to himself and Cassandra. For one, she was his warrior, very similar to the character of Justine. Next, if you were to replace "magic" with "alchemy," then Varian was quite clearly the wizard: misunderstood and yet unafraid, willing to help as much as he possibly could. Heck, they even had a Black Knight with Sir Joseph, a man whom Varian hated so deeply still...
The similarities- and thus the significances- were extremely uncanny. It kind of unnerved Varian, but he never let on.
Quirin gave his son a quizzical glance. "She never seemed like the type to read books such as this."
Varian sighed, trying not to get frustrated. "Maybe if you just took the time to get to know her, Dad, maybe then you'd realize that there's so much more to her than you could ever possibly imagine. More than even I know. But... I do intend to spend the rest of my life figuring it all out."