Sorry it's taken so long for me to update! (Although no one is probably reading my story now.) sob, sob I wish I could respond to all the reviewers but I'm in a rush right now so I just say thank you to everyone who bothered to review! And here's chapter 8.

Piper was not in the room when Raoul opened his eyes. The curtains had been pulled open, a thick shaft of sunlight wafting across the floor. It was entirely silent like a tomb but Raoul was used to it. Sitting up in bed, he noticed a figure moving across the snow-covered grounds of the castle. He leaned on his elbow to look out the window and caught a glimpse of auburn hair flashing in the sun.

It was Piper. He could tell even from the distance by the smooth graceful movements and the auburn hair. She threw back her head and twirled around, her hands lifted to the sun. He watched her as she moved across the grounds until she was out of sight, startled by the curiosity he had felt when he saw her.

He leaned back in bed, his head tilted to the ceiling. He felt the unmistakable presence of Tovu and frowned slightly. He did not feel like dealing with the slavish Tovu.

"I see you are awake, master," said Tovu.

Raoul said nothing.

"The girl was out and about without your permission," Tovu said scornfully.

"Her name is Piper," Raoul found himself saying and flinched inwardly. Why had he said that?

It was obvious Tovu was surprised. The man was silent for a long moment and then as if on cue, the door burst open and Piper came in. Raoul looked over at her. The turn across the grounds in the cold had made her cheeks turn a most delightful shade of pink and even Raoul could not ignore the way her eyes were shining. She hung up her wool cloak—Raoul noticed how painfully thin it was—and poured herself a cup of tea on the platter Mrs. Lamphrey had brought in.

"I hope you're feeling well this morning," she said and her voice sang. Raoul frowned; how could the snow do this to someone? He had always loathed the snow, hated the way it isolated him even more. But he loathed spring as well, and summer and autumn. No season ever made him feel complete.

"May I ask where you went this morning to make you feel so elated?" he asked, each word sharp and biting. He knew full well where she had been but she wasn't to know that.

"I took a turn across the grounds," she said, taking no note of his tone as she unwrapped her scarf and set her mittens on the table. Her mittens were in as bad a shape as her cloak and her scarf was in tatters. "I hope you don't mind."

"Why should I? I care nothing for what you do."

He was in a particularly argumentative mood today, Piper knew that much. She could see it in the flinty steel of his eyes and the set of his shoulders. She wondered what had caused him to become so loathing of everyone and everything. Perhaps he was embarrassed about last night and his nightmare while he had been writhing in his wolf form.

Still, something about his stubborn refusal to automatically hate everything had awakened something in Piper, a bravery and heedlessness that made her want to sing and dance through the castle. She had met someone worse off than she and her nature made her want to help him.

"We are paying a visit to the library today," she said and saw his mouth tighten.

"We?" he asked coldly.

"Yes. You and I. It is far too grand a day to be spent in bed."

"I refuse to accompany you."

"You haven't much choice," she said and with a little smile on her face, brought forth a pair of crutches. "Your hurt leg is hardly an argument now and you have not a single excuse as to why you shan't come with me."

"I will not hobble ..."

Piper leaned over, her arms underneath his and with a heave, brought him to his feet. He flailed for a moment before clutching the nightstand and he fixed her with a glare that would have frozen the marrow of her bones before. But the snow had made her curiously giddy and she laughed softly.

"Here are your crutches, Raoul," she said and she did not notice the look that passed across his face when she spoke his name. The steel of his eyes softened imperceptibly and for a moment his face was wistful, longing. Then it disappeared as he snatched away the crutches.

"This is absolutely humiliating," he muttered. "I do not even like the library."

All of the servants wisely stayed out of his way as he and Piper walked slowly to the library. Piper ignored the resentment on his face and the short, terse answers he gave to every question. When they finally arrived at the library, Piper opened the great wooden doors and let out a small gasp.

She had not been expecting such grandeur. When Mrs. Lamphrey had told her about the library she had been imagining a small, quaint room torn apart by the current occupant.

The imaginings were false. The library was well over three stories tall with a huge chamber extending the height and breadth of the library. Thousands upon thousands of books filled every available space and although they were dusty, the library was very well kept. Soft chairs gathered around a fireplace and huge floor-to-ceiling windows (some stained glass) lined the whole side of the wall. Windowseats allowed one to sit and read while the snowflakes fell and a cabinet full of fine china stood in one corner.

Slowly, Piper ran her fingertips across a few of the titles, letting her lips caress each name. She left Raoul, who was watching her with a very odd look on his face. As he slowly passed the shelves, a tentative finger reached out and touched a single book as if he was afraid it would break. Piper appeared suddenly at his shoulder and his hand flew back. She looked at him curiously and lifted the volume.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain," she read and looked up at him. It was then she noticed the odd, intense expression in his eyes. "I have never heard of it," she said.

"It has not yet been written," he said.

Piper was puzzled. "If it has not yet been written, why is it among your books?"

His eyes skimmed across the hundreds of shelves. "Every book that will ever be written is here," he said.

She turned the book over in her hands. "And this is one of those?"

"Aye."

"May I read it to you?"

His head snapped up and the expression in his eyes plainly showed his suspicion of her sincerity. But Piper was in earnest. In this library she had seen more humanity in his behavior than in the whole time she had known him thus far.

"It is long," he said doubtfully.

She laughed lightly. "I assure you, I have the time. Come." Distrust in his eyes, he followed her to the fireplace where he sat in one of the soft chairs. She sat on the floor, her skirt spreading out in a circle around her. With gentle fingers, she opened the book and read the opening words, soon becoming immersed in the world of Tom, Huck, and Becky.