Author's Note: Hi guys! I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who favorited/followed/reviewed the first five chapters of Sub Rosa! It was much more than I had been expecting, and, needless to say, I'm awfully flattering. I'm happy you guys enjoy Sub Rosa as much as I do, and I hope you will enjoy this next chapter just as much!
Also, I updated pretty quickly, and I don't want to falsely raise your hopes that every chapter will be submitted this fast. I've got finals in about a week, so it should be a little hectic until then, but afterwards I will be able to dedicate a good amount of time to finishing this fanfic. :)
Exhausted, frustrated, and generally moody, Lux lethargically made her way to Jarvan's study. It had been a long week for the mage. Talon had been everywhere on the rift, seeing extra time from his debut, especially against Lux, because he seemed so effective. And it was true. There was little Lux felt she could do to stop the assassin. She often lost, finding herself at a miserable 20% win-rate against the Noxian.
The only saving grace was that the assassin didn't say much. He'd offer the clever worded taunt from time to time, always drawing a blush from her cheeks, but beyond that, she was never forced into conversation with the man. He kept to himself outside of the matches, and within a couple of days, things had relatively gone back to normal for the mage.
Sighing, she pulled open the door to Jarvan's study, finding him perusing through documents behind his desk. She sat in an ornately decorated wooden chair, directly across from the future King of Demacia, ready to give him a piece of her mind if he didn't make the meeting short.
"Evening Lux." He said as he looked up from his papers, tucking them away in a drawer. "Hope you're not too tired after having your ass handed to you by a Noxian for the entire week."
"Shut up, Jarvan." She snapped at the grinning prince.
"Alright, I'll let it rest." He put his hands in the air as a display of his surrender. "Though I will say he seems to hold a special grudge for you in particular."
"It's probably because he can't beat up my brother without Katarina getting mad at him." Lux lied.
"Regardless, I need you to do me a favor." He reached in another desk and pulled out a slip of paper.
"A couple years ago, on your last mission in Noxus, you reported that Talon had stolen a book from the Jenkinses, is that correct?"
"Yes." Lux replied hard, not liking where this conversation was going.
"Is this this book?" Jarvan asked, pointing to a sketch of the book on a white piece of paper. The cover of the book bore a picture of a door carved in a stone wall, ivy and moss creeping up the sides.
"It is."
"Well, as it turns out, Garen saw Talon carrying this book around the Du Couteau residence a couple nights ago." The prince continued. "Naturally, we're a little curious what might have made Talon hold onto the text for so long, and why it hasn't been filed away in Swain's archives. This presents a particularly unique opportunity for us, as you might imagine."
"I don't like where this is headed." Lux said as she sunk back into the chair.
"Garen said that he could get Katarina to invite you over to her house for a sleepover. Something about being a bridesmaid?"
It was true. This had been settled sometime earlier in the year, when Garen and Katarina had just been talking about the essentials. The Crownguards, being the noble family that they were, had expected Katarina to offer a bridesmaid position to Lux, the sister of her fiancé. Katarina, being from a noble family, Noxian or not, had done just that. Just two days ago, Katarina had offered an invitation to a bridesmaid's sleepover party. She was still waiting on an answer.
"Look, Jarvan, can't you get someone else to go do this?" She tried to reason with the prince. "I'm not a thief. And it's not very proper to steal things. Aren't you worried you'll start another war?"
"Start a war?" Jarvan laughed. "For stealing something that's Demacian property anyways? I doubt it."
"How do you know it's Demacian property?' Lux raised an eyebrow.
But Jarvan ignored her question. "You'll be right there, in the house. And don't give me this 'I'm no thief' excuse. Maybe you're not used to stealing things, but you're the best sneak around."
Folding her arms in front of her chest, the mage spoke. "You tell me what that book is, and I'll get it for you."
"I'll do you one better." The prince said as he leaned in. "You steal it, and it's yours."
Approaching the Du Couteau residence, Lux couldn't help but think that despite all the times she had been in the city, this was the first for which she was welcomed. Of course, welcomed was a relative word, because even Lux wondered just how receiving Katarina's other bridesmaids would be. Granted, there were only a few to be concerned with, Cassiopeia, LeBlanc, and Morgana, but all three were dark and dangerous enough to make Lux nervous. Still, what bit most at her nerves was the expected presence of a fourth person, another Du Couteau she knew wanted her blood.
So Lux knocked on the door quietly, hoping no one would answer and she could just call it quits. Luck was not on her side that night.
"Hey!" A gorgeous redhead said as she pulled open the door to the estate. "Took you long enough! How's my future sister in law?"
Smiling sheepishly, Lux stepped inside the manor.
"Oh I'm fine, thanks." She replied sweetly.
"No thanks to my brother." Katarina offered as she lead Lux through the manor. "I told him to stop giving you such a hard time, but I think he just doesn't like Demacians. Silly Talon, doesn't realize what he's missing."
Blushing, Lux was relieved from a response as she stepped into the living room, only to be greeted by three Noxian faces.
Cassiopeia sat smoothly on the couch, gazing up at Lux with her piercing eyes. Next to her lounged LeBlanc, who looked like she couldn't care less about the new arrival. Morgana sat in an armchair across from the couch, facing the two other women.
"Girls," Katarina said to her other bridesmaids. "You all know Lux?"
LeBlanc, who was sitting next to the snake woman, had something to say. "I hope you know how to play cards, because we're about to start a round of poker. Wait, do they even have cards in Demacia?"
Giggling, Katarina scolded the deceiver. "Oh be nice, LeBlanc."
But Lux just stood there with a blank face, staring at Katarina. "What's a card?"
It took the Noxian women a moment, but then Morgana laughed and the rest followed suit, appreciating her joke.
"The Demacian girl has a sense of humor," LeBlanc smiled approvingly.
"From what I know of her brother, I would have guessed otherwise." Cassiopeia added.
"Well, you know what I say," Katarina spoke smugly. "I like my men like I like my deserts. Intense, rugged, and dry."
"You know Garen says a similar thing. He says he likes his women like he likes his coffee." Lux could barely contain her smile.
"Oh, and how's that?" Katarina raised an eyebrow, smirking.
"Hot, strong, and with a spoon in them."
Once Lux had established herself as a rather sociable woman instead of the light touting girly girl shouting "In the name of Demacia, I will punish you!" at everyone (which she certainly did do from time to time), Katarina's bridesmaids took to her easily. It helped that the blonde was also fairly talented at cards. She had taken somewhat of an interest in the past-time since her expedition to Bilgewater, and had bothered to learn a few more games than just poker.
So the girls played on into the night, and around eleven the booze was pulled out. Drinks were downed one after the other, and eventually the liquor caught up with them. The three bridesmaids and the bride herself were out cold by two in the morning.
Lux, however, had a mission. So, relatively light drinking, coupled with the fact that she could hold her liquor well, allowed the blonde to survive into the wee hours of the morning. After she was certain all four women had fallen asleep, Lux got down to business.
From what Jarvan and Garen had told her, Lux knew the book in question was likely kept in one of three places: the library, Talon's study, or Talon's room. Naturally, Talon's room was last in the order of spaces Lux intended to search. The library was a tempting start, but given how large the collection would likely be, the study seemed to be the most suitable place to start looking.
Recalling a blueprint of the Du Couteau estate she had taken the time to memorize beforehand, Lux made her way out of the living room, down the hallway, and towards the grand stairs that led to the upper level. She walked carefully up the stone steps, keeping a wary eye out for suspicious movement.
Now, Lux wasn't normally a skittish girl, but something about the house, the eerie blue light that shone through every window, the complete silence that made it possible for her to listen to her own heartbeat, the cold stone cooling her feet even through her warm socks, was making her tense. Carefully, she approached the top of the steps and turned to the left to head towards the study, but not before a flash of red caught her eye.
Heart pounding, Lux whipped in the direction of the red, ready to draw on magic if need be. But nothing was there. Or so she thought, until she saw a little red poker chip, laying on a display table in the center of the hallway. Like a moth drawn to a flame, Lux wandered over to the coin, entranced by its presence. Regarding it cautiously, she wondered what it could possibly be doing there.
The cool, smooth coin slid easily between her fingers, but it remained just that. A poker chip. From what Lux could tell, there was no magic in this item. But she was certain it had a purpose. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence.
She didn't take long to find the next one. Some twenty feet down the hallway lay another red chip, leading to the West Wing. She proceeded to the next clue, uncertain who had placed them and for what purpose, but not without a suspicion. From there, another chip could be spotted, at a turn that lead towards two locations Lux had originally been headed. The study and his room.
In Talon's corridor lay the last red chip, sitting unassumingly in the middle, and as Lux approached the fourth coin, she knew she had made a mistake. Whether the mistake was following the chips or agreeing to Jarvan's crazy proposal in the first place, she couldn't be sure. But she knew it was a mistake the moment she saw a masculine silhouette leaning against the door to the room of the one man she desperately hoped to avoid.
"I'm surprised you came." The dark voice spoke as the hooded figure stepped into the light, revealing a face that Lux had become far too intimate with.
All that Lux could do was stare dumbly at the assassin in front of her, frozen in place by an ambiguous jumble of emotions.
"This what you're looking for?" The assassin taunted as he held up a familiar old tome.
Finally finding her voice, the mage spoke the first thing that came to mind. "How did you know?"
"Who told you this book was hidden here? Who saw it? Who was it seen with?" He asked rhetorically. "You're very talented with mind games, Lux, but you aren't the only one."
Taking a step back, Lux began to feel a creeping sensation in her spine. She had been set up. Like the devious Noxian he was, Talon had placed the clues and rigged the game. It was no accident that Garen had seen him holding the book. He had planned for her to be sent on this mission. But why? Her danger sense flared and immediately she felt it prudent to run back to safety as soon as possible.
He must have seen it on her face for he was on her in a flash. A broad hand cupped around mouth and another forcefully grabbed her arm. The next thing she knew was that she had been thrown into the bedroom, and between her and the exit stood a very formidable foe.
For a final touch, Talon shut the door. The darkness immediately seemed too intense for Lux, and she knew the assassin would have the upper hand in this element. That was not something she could afford to have, so in an effort to even the playing field, the mage shot out a lucent singularity to bring some light to the room.
Talon leaned casually against the door despite her use of magic. The swirling ball of light lit the room well enough for Lux to see his rugged face, and it wasn't until then that she realized the man was smirking. Bastard.
"There's not a mage in Noxus that's quite like you, Crownguard." He smiled appreciatively, inspecting her handiwork with the singularity.
"Compliments rarely come from your tongue." Lux said coolly as she backed herself further into the room until she came into contact with a wooden desk. "You must want something."
"I do." He replied easily. "Your magic is more or less necessary for me to accomplish what I intend to."
"And what's that?" Lux asked, eyeing the window in his room. It wasn't very large, but it was certainly big enough for her to fit her body through. The only trouble was that it hung over Talon's bed. She turned her head immediately from the area, but not before a blush started to form on her cheeks.
A chuckle escaped the assassin's lips, and Lux did not think it had very much to do with her question. "Simply put, this is a book of spells. Very complex ones, from what I've been able to discern. However, neither I nor any of my contacts have quite the specialization to cast them. How fortunate for me, however, that the brother of the most talented mage in all of Demacia is marrying into the family."
"I'm not going to help you." Lux stated firmly, staring bitterly back at the assassin.
"You won't be able to steal this from me, Lux." His gaze turned dark. "Don't forget who you're dealing with."
Lux was caught in quite the predicament. Of course, she wanted to read the book. She had been interested in the artifact even before Talon had mentioned spellwork. Now that he had, there was very little chance the text would escape her mind. On the other hand, however, she most certainly hadn't forgotten who she was dealing with. It wasn't the assassinry that she was particularly concerned with, though he had proven himself more than a fair match for her in the two and half weeks since he had joined the League of Legends.
No it was the way his gaze seemed to strip her bare, like he could see right into her head. He made her feel exposed and vulnerable, two emotions that were not too surprising to feel around a killer, but there was something else. The way her heart pumped, her face flushed, and her thoughts raced were all indicators of excitement, and though Lux knew being around the man was a thrilling experience, she still preferred to deny it.
"I will help you if I can have the book once we are finished." She stated, knowing she'd likely just made a very dangerous offer.
The assassin pondered for a minute, as if considering her suggestion, but Lux suspected, given the way his eyes stayed on her form and his stare never once drifted into space, that he had made up his mind the moment she presented the proposal.
"I can accept those terms." He spoke coolly, as if he was taunting her. Like he knew something she didn't. "You can have the book, once we are finished."
"And the book will still be in tact once we're finished? Readable as well?" She raised an eyebrow. A girl could never be too careful.
But he just chuckled. "Of course."
"When do we start?" Lux asked curiously.
"Monday." He replied casually. "In the Institute Library, after matches end."
"Will you let me leave now?" She looked shyly at the assassin, blushing at the question's implications, and the fact that she was still in his bedroom. Rather late at night, she might add.
The smile faded from his face as a familiar dark expression tinted his eyes. "You were never forced to stay."
Without another word, Lux headed for the door, inching around him as she made her way back into the hallway and down to the living room. Thoughts flooded her mind as she escaped the confines of his presence, and though she tried to push them away and save them for processing at a more appropriate time, she couldn't help but think that his last comment hadn't only been referring to that encounter. How much had he thought of her in the years she had been away from him? That was one question she might never find the answer to.
"You were on fire today, Lux." Tristana offered appreciatively as they walked from the locker room.
"Thanks!" She smiled back at the yordle. "You did quite well yourself."
"Yeah, it's true, but from what I've heard you only lost one battle the whole day." Tristana spoke with no small amount of reverence.
"I never think about losing." Lux replied casually. "Keeps me focused."
"No kidding." Tristana laughed. "I'll have to take a page out of your book."
Lux smiled at the yordle and opened her mouth to respond, but not before another voice sounded down the hallway.
"Trist!" Rumble hollered. "Come here! I've got some upgrades to show you."
Chuckling, Tristana looked back at Lux. "I'll catch you around, Lux."
"Bye!" Lux waved to the yordle as she walked off to join Rumble. She was honestly surprised how casual Tristana was with the mechanic, considering how evident his crush was. Still, nothing had surfaced between the two, leaving Rumble the perpetual task of finding ways to impress her.
Wandering off towards the library, Lux considered her earlier performance. What Tristana said had been true, she had been on killing spree after killing spree, and there was no doubt in her mind what was driving it. Truth be told, the mage was really rather excited for her meeting with Talon. Assassin aside, she was strangely curious about the book, and this would be the first day she'd get the opportunity to read it.
Entering the library, Lux just barely spotted Talon sitting on the upper level, engrossed in what had to be the tome she was so excited to read. It took way more control than Lux would have liked to keep herself from skipping over to the man.
Once she finally did take her seat across from Talon, she had no idea how to start the conversation. The assassin coolly looked up from the pages of the tome. Setting the book down, he got straight to business.
"Let's get one thing straight." He bore a hard look. "You'll only read what I tell you to. If I find you're inspecting more into this book than I should like, you'll be sleeping with the fishes."
"So serious!" She smiled at the man despite his temperament. "Alright I won't read into it, not at least until it's mine. Then I'll do some real work!"
The assassin raised an eyebrow, as if questioning her mood.
Lux remained unphased. "What's it called? Who wrote it? Can you at least answer me these questions?"
"Parfuin Gûl." He replied easily. "That is the book's name. The author, on the other hand, is without identification, though I suspect, given the title and references to certain locations, he was an ancient Demacian."
"How did it get into the Jenkinses hands?" Lux inquired.
"I'm sure that's a very long and complicated story, one that I don't have the answer to." He replied dryly.
"Wait a second." Lux squinted at the man. "Didn't you say this was a military book?"
"I said it was a book of magic." The assassin leaned back in his chair.
"No, no. That's not right." She crossed her arms. "Back when we first stole it from the Jenkinses I asked about the book and you told me it was a military text."
"Given all the lying that you do I'd think you'd know what happened there."
Lux frowned. "Don't tell me you're still butthurt about me being an undercover agent. I've never known assassins, particularly Noxian ones, to value honesty so heavily."
"And I've never known Demacians to moan so sweetly for Noxians, but I guess we all have misconceptions about the world." He replied smugly, smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
A hot blush formed on the mage's cheeks as she faced Talon's words. She found it hard to come up with a good retort.
"I only kissed you because Twisted Fate was about to give me away!" She whispered fiercely, trying to defend her dignity.
"Lot of good it did." He paused a moment and the smirk grew. "And that still doesn't explain the alleyway."
Pressing her lips together, Lux tried not to think about that kiss, or how red her face must be.
"I did what I had to." She replied in a hard voice, hoping to end the conversation, but he didn't stop.
"So you had to kiss me." Leaning in towards her, Talon's voice dropped to a whisper. "It was that good."
"Oh shut up!" Lux cried in a voice just a touch too loud for the library. She took a small second to calm herself and then spoke in a quieter voice. "Don't we have work to do?"
Chuckling, Talon let the conversation drop. "Yes we do."
Flipping to a seemingly random page, Talon pointed to a paragraph and handed the book to Lux. "Read."
She took the book carefully and glanced down at the page. Then a thought crossed her mind and she looked back to the assassin.
"What are you going to do while I read?" She asked.
"I'll sit. I'm sure you'll have questions soon enough. Besides, I need to be sure you don't flip to any restricted pages."
"I don't understand why you're so twitchy about me reading the other material." She muttered as she looked back down at the book.
"Knowledge is power." He replied simply, as if that should be enough to satisfy her question.
Looking down at the handwritten words on the aged page, Lux was mildly surprised to find the test was readable in common tongue. She was able to get through the passage Talon had requested her to read without too much trouble, and when she did have questions, the assassin was hardly useful. She had the distinct feeling he was withholding information from her, but he'd have to give her answers eventually. There was only so much she could do on limited knowledge.
It took her only about half an hour to muddle through the scripture, and as she began to turn a new page, Talon stopped her abruptly.
"That'll be enough." He said forcefully, closing the book and taking it from her side of the table.
"Well that was a very cryptic read." She mused thoughtfully. "It sounds almost like a recipe."
"I'm only concerned with the ritual." He replied stoically.
"Alrighty then." Lux replied. "Assuming you have all of the necessary ingredients, the vessel, the fëa, and the Sunwater, I'll just be needing to dip the vessel into the well, and then perform a binding spell to link the fëa to the vessel. Of course, it's a little more complicated than that, but being the assassin that you are, I don't think you would quite understand the intricacies of binding spells."
"You're confident you would be able to perform the spell?" Talon raised an eyebrow, as if questioning her capabilities.
"Well, I wouldn't say it's guaranteed." She hedged. "But I think I should be able to manage it. That's the least of your problems though. I mean, what on Runeterra is a fëa? And Sunwater? I've never heard of it. The vessel is the only thing that sounds familiar, but I don't even know what it is supposed to be."
"It's a lot simpler than you might imagine." His eyes narrowed. Clearly he did not want to divulge too much information. After a moment of pause, he sighed. "The 'Faercrist', the item I'm looking to forge, is a sword. Vessel is just another term for the body of the sword; blade, hilt, and all."
"Ok," Lux accepted his answer, but there was still too much left unknown. "But what about Sunwater?"
"Sunwater can be found at the Oasis of the Dawn." He replied easily. "At the center of Shurima."
"And the fëa?"
He smirked. "That is not for you to know."
"Oh I beg to differ!" Crossing her arms, Lux looked defiantly at the man. "Binding spells are serious business. I would approach binding a source of magic to a sword much differently than I would say a light source. What a fëa is has a great impact on how I would bind it."
"I believe in the text it instructs you to think of the fëa as an essence. Or am I wrong?" He rebuttled.
"Yes…" Lux practically growled. He had a fair point. The book had been pretty thorough on how to approach the binding spell, but she had still wanted answers. After all, it was the safe thing to do.
"I think the book gave you enough information as it is." His satisfied expression did little to calm the mage.
"I don't understand why you're being so secretive. I'm just going to read it once we make this sword anyways." She countered.
"Once I have my sword, it won't matter to me how much you do or don't know."
"Fine. I'll just wait then." Lux let the argument drop. She had other ways of finding out this sort of information.
"We'll be leaving for Shurima on the 19th." He stated matter-of-factly. "You should probably look into getting properly supplied for the journey sometime before Garen and Kat's wedding."
"The 19th?" Lux questioned. "That's only two days after the wedding! Hell, that's only a week and a half from today!"
"You have something better to do?" He challenged.
Frowning, the mage muttered a simple "No."
And that was that. Telling Lux "you're going to have to leave for Shurima in under two weeks, no buts" was like commanding her to eat the best slice of strawberry cheesecake she could imagine. There were worser things in life.
But she had a lot to do in the meantime. Ezreal was going to be a piece of work, to be sure, but he'd help her out with travelling supplies. Digging up information on Faercrist and the mysterious fëa object were going to be a different beast altogether. At least she knew where to start. Jarvan was still waiting for her report.
So Lux left the library just as giddily as she had entered it, unimaginably excited for her adventure to Shurima. There was so much to look forward to. Because of her anticipation, the trailblazer within her had completely taken control. And, despite the assassin's aggravating behavior, Lux found herself, dare she say it, thankful for his presence in her life.
A/N: I try to live by the lore as best I can, but sometimes Riot gives you too little to work with. Let it be known that the magic and artifacts that Lux and Talon will soon be dabbling in is outside what is mentioned in LoL lore. Perhaps those of you who are diehard LotR fans, like myself, will have noticed already. ;)