Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 13

Artemis sighed as she found herself lost inside the castle. She just needed some time alone after what had happened. She felt guilty seeing the look on his face after she had rejected kissing him. She didn't know why but something had seemed to cross her mind at the last second, something that made her feel as if kissing Natsu wasn't the right thing to do. It frustrated her though as to what stopped her exactly. She was just worried about bumping into Natsu again at the moment, the awkwardness from that wouldn't be so easy to go through at the moment.

Groaning Artemis found herself at a split hallway, one end leading to random rooms and the other had a set of double wooden doors at the end. The double doors seemed to take more of Artemis's interest so the girl found herself prying the doors open. She was greeted by a library at least three stories high, books filling every inch of space from top to bottom and front to back. The brunette let the doors shut behind her as she walked forward staring at the huge library in awe. On the first floor were small areas where plush seats filled space, most likely for comfort so that one could read without having to travel all the way back to their room. The teen climbed the first set of stairs to the second floor and weaved around the tons of book cases, her fingers gliding a crossed the colorful bindings of the books. Her mind drifted off to the short blue haired teen that she had seen about five days or so ago, she lost count how many days ago it was some time ago. Artemis knew that girl had a passion for books, books from history to fantasy to comedy from A to Z. She could probably say that girl's list of favorite books was endless too. It was then that her cousin popped into mind. She wondered if Celestine was into books just like Levy was, the girl was practically raised by the short female so that would also mean that she was around a lot of books right? Her cousin . . . It was because of her letter that Artemis was even in this confusing mess.

"What am I doing blaming someone I haven't even met in my whole life yet?" She mumbled to no one but herself placing back one of the books she had picked up.

She made her way out of the maze of book shelves and found the stairs leading to the third floor. She slowly began to climb them finding that the last level of the library was rather dimly lit for it had no windows unlike the first two floors. Small candles sat on small wooden stands, flower pots occasionally placed next to them. The books that rested on the shelves seemed older than the books from the lower levels. One book caught Artemis's eye thought but it didn't help that it was left out on a podium that had wood peeling from it. Two candles rested on either side of the leather covered book. Artemis flipped the book open to find a little over half the book filled with pictures. There were picture upon pictures of Natsu and his father, Natsu as baby, Natsu as ten year old with his father, Natsu in his young teens. Artemis skimmed through the pages that appeared empty to make sure there weren't picture she had missed and sure enough on the back of the very last page was a picture of a single person, a lady with beautiful rosy pink hair and black eyes. She had looked just like Natsu and she was very beautiful.

"You know, I don't normally allow guests on this level."

Artemis slammed the book shut and spun around to meet with the red haired king. He held a candle in his hand that seemed almost out of wax by this point. He smiled at Artemis and walked closer placing the candle between the first two that had already been there. She watched Natsu's father open up to the back picture she had been previously looking at, his fingers running over it.

"I'm sorry; if you don't want people up here I'll leave." Artemis panicked and waved her hands in front of her.

"No, no, It's alright, I should've told you beforehand it was my mistake. It's more of a personal family level of our library." Igneel chuckled pulling the picture out of the book.

". . . Its Natsu's mother right? She's beautiful and she seems very nice." Artemis said trying not to pry too much onto that subject remembering what Natsu had told her about his mother.

"She was a very nice woman. Natsu probably loved his mother more than anything." The elder of the two sighed handing her the picture.

"Natsu told me what happened to her, well not specifically but still. I'm sorry you had to lose what seemed to be such a wonderful person." The brunette whispered taking the picture.

"My son was heartbroken, not to say I wasn't but he probably took it worse than I did though he's just too stubborn to admit it to himself. . . You know he really has taking such a great liking to you Miss. Elise."

"Erm. . .I know that already." Artemis sighed placing the picture back onto the book.

"I know you do but it is a shame you don't return his feelings. He had told me what happened in your room when I bumped into him on the way here. He hoped he had finally found the one he was looking for in you. When he came home from the ball in Magnolia he wouldn't stop talking about some girl he had met decorating a store on the streets. I was happy that he had felt that way." The man chuckled remembering his son's blabbering.

"I'm sorry . . . It's just that. . ."

"I'm not telling or forcing you to fall in love with my son Artemis. Love is something that people take in different ways and I'm sure you have your own path for it too. Whatever stopped you from falling for my son, whether it is because you aren't ready or you may have someone else and just not know it you had your reasons for rejecting Natsu. I just want you to know exactly why he wanted you out of every girl he's met."

"He told me it was because I was different, that I didn't seem to want him just to be queen or for the money." Artemis sighed.

"I think there's more to it than that. He wanted you probably because he sees so much of his mother in you. That's what he wanted, a girl who had the qualities of his own mother so that his kids could feel as happy as he did when he was a young boy, and you know I have to agree with him. You are so much like my wife Miss. Elise." Igneel smiled and placed the photo back into its place.

"Why is it you have to go and say such things father?"

Both Artemis and Igneel spun themselves around to find the pink haired prince staring sadly at his feet with his hands tightly clenched into fists at his sides. A look of guilt washed over the face of Natsu's father as he watched small tears slip from his son's eyes. The guilt that had seemed to subside within Artemis bubbled up again while she looked at Natsu. He lifted his head and stared straight at Artemis before turning and running back downstairs.

"Natsu!" Igneel called after him.

". . . I'm sorry . . . I don't mean to keep hurting him." Artemis chocked looking down at her own feet.

"It's not your fault my dear. I should be more careful with what I say though I wasn't expecting him to be right there. He can get so emotional when someone else besides him brings up the topic of his mother. I just hope that he didn't hear all of that." Igneel replied closing the photo album.

"I hope so too." The brunette murmured.

"We should be leaving here now. I'm sure there's more for you to be doing than sitting around our library all day."

Artemis nodded and followed the red haired male down the stairs. The silence that washed over them seemed to disturb Artemis greatly. She opened her mouth to try and strike up another conversation with the male but the noise that beat her to breaking the silence wasn't one that she wanted hear.

BOOM!

Well I particularly like this chapter though it does feel like one of the shorter ones. Oh well! Oh and by the way my cousin has started a side story to this one that I've been meaning to tell all of you about. It's called Dark Dawns, Bright Dusks. It focuses more on Artemis's cousin Celestine so if you like this one I think you'll personally like that one better. Sorry it took me so long to tell them about it Brianna! T_T