You have always had an interest in the beautiful Coven Leader, Lilith Clawthorne. It was just so difficult getting past her stony defenses. Still, you wanted to try to break through.
Warnings: none, just fluff!
Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4
You didn’t eat at restaurants very often. You didn’t really have the time during a normal work day and the last thing you wanted to do on your few days off was go out when you could be working on your research and projects. Those were just more important than going out. The most you would do is walk out for some quick street food, but even then that would take some time.
It was a nice change of pace. Even nicer was the chance to talk to Lilith about something not work related. Perhaps you would be able to learn more about her, or even make her smile. Though, that may be asking for too much.
You were trying to think up something to start a conversation, but it looked like that wasn’t necessary.
“Y/N.”
You straightened automatically when she spoke your name. That seemed to amuse her slightly. At least, you thought the look she gave you was slight amusement. It was hard to tell with her.
“If you are going to be working closely with me, then we should know more about each other.” She said matter of factly. You nodded. “So tell me, what made you decide to join the Emperor’s Coven?”
“It’s what my parents wanted me to do.” You admitted. “My parents and I never did agree on what I should do with myself. At first they wanted me to become a bard, like both of them, but I wanted to be a healer. When I proved to be better at that they let me transfer over, though they weren’t really happy about it. They only let me if I would try for the Emperor's Coven before the Healers.” You shrugged. “I tried to fail, but apparently I didn’t try hard enough. So, here I am.”
“You wanted to be a healer? Why is that?”
“I … just like helping people.” You never had put more thought into it than that. You wanted to help people and healing magic seemed the best option. “But what about you? Why did you join?”
Lilith had looked interested before, but once you started prying she became closed off again. She looked off to the side, face carefully blank. You thought that maybe she just wouldn’t answer. You didn’t think it was a rather personal question, but then again there was no way to tell what someone’s past holds. You were willing to move on to another question, but then Lilith spoke up.
“It was a dream I shared with my sister.” She said. “When we were young we promised each other that someday we would join. Together.”
She didn’t say anything more about that, but she didn’t really need to. You knew very well that there was no second Clawthorne in the coven and you weren’t about to push what was clearly a touchy subject for her. You thought for a moment for the best way to change the topic.
“Do you like your job?”
Again, she didn’t answer right away. She thought it out first, ever so careful with her words. You took note of that.
“Yes.” Was her simple response, but you weren’t sure you believed it. Her face was too blank, hiding any sign of emotion. That wouldn’t be necessary if she was passionate about what she did. She was hiding something from you, you were sure.
After a moment you shrugged.
“I don’t, or at least I didn’t.” You admitted. “Though, I’m sure you could already tell that.” She nodded. “Guard duty is incredibly dull. Hopefully being your assistant will be more interesting.” You smiled wide at her and, to your delight, she smiled back. It was only for a moment and it was rather small, just a twitch of her lips, but to you it most definitely counted. You were sure you were going to ride that high for the rest of the day.
“Maybe.” Was Lilith’s response. “I assure you, there is plenty of dull work to do.”
You shrugged, not even slightly perturbed.
“At least I’ll have better company.”
You weren’t quite sure what the look that crossed her face was. Her eyes widened slightly and there was the twitch of her lips again, a barely there smile.
“You flatter me, dear.”
There was something about the way called you dear, the way her voice seemed to curl around the word, that made your chest swell with warmth.
You may have a problem, but you could worry about that later. Right now all that mattered was your conversation with the beautiful witch in front of you. The two of you talked for quite some time before you resigned yourselves to returning back to work.
The sun was setting by the time the two of you had returned to the office, settling down to finish the paperwork for the day. You worked with a smile on your face, focusing the best you could on the papers in front of you even as the light faded outside until the room was only lit by the candles around the room. The only sound was the scratching of the pens and shuffling of papers. You knew this was the sort of work Lilith must have been talking about, the dull work, but it didn’t seem like it to you. If anything, it was relaxing. You enjoyed the simple work and the quiet company.
You set the last paper aside with a sigh. You were just about ready to go back to your room and get some sleep. This had been one of the longest days you had and you were tired.
You looked to Lilith to ask if that was all, but you paused, unable to keep the soft smile off your face.
She was starting to drift off, you could tell easily enough. She had her head resting on her hand, her eyes closed and lips parted slightly. Her pen was poised against the paper, ready for another signature. She was on the edge and you knew that if she fell any deeper into sleep her head would fall and the pen would make an ugly mark she would frown harshly at. So, as much as you wanted to let her rest, you had to nudge her awake. You allowed yourself to wait long enough to sneak some of her paper pile over to your side, though. It wasn’t much, you could do a little more work for her.
Ever so gently, you brought a hand to her shoulder. She snapped up at the slightest touch, eyes wide as she stared at you for several long moments. Once she had recovered she looked away, face slightly flushed as she ran her hands over her hair. You just smirked and went through your stolen papers, glancing at her from the corner of your eyes.
She signed her paper and grabbed the next, frowning at her smaller pile in confusion. Eventually she looked over to you, but you looked away, pretending you hadn’t been staring. Still, you could tell by the way she huffed that she knew and it made you smirk.
It was a long day, much longer than your days as a palace guard, but as you got up and Lilith offered you a goodnight, voice soft and gentle, you couldn’t help but think this was going to be well worth it.
