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As much as he'd read about blood mages, he'd never actually seen any of their magic. He was amazed and incredibly turned on at the same time, then painfully glad that his shirt actually covered his groin. But he finally moved and accepted the rose from her with a smile, "A blood red rose... How fitting... But nowhere as beautiful as you are," he said softly to her, unable to hear the soft growl of desire she'd caused in his voice.

But he cleared his throat and moved to hold out the chair for her at the table the servants had set up and saw her seated in front of the book before putting the rose into the empty vase on one side of the table so that he'd be able to see it and moved to the warmer, "I wasn't sure what you'd want to eat so I asked one of the servants to make something good..." he said softly, now nervous as hell as he lifted her covered plate and headed over to the table, waiting for her to lift the book from her place so that he could set it down.

It was a very old book but one he'd written himself about the different races he'd encountered and some of the people from those races that he'd personally known. Cynthia was in there, as were Lareth and Hal from the demons, Gypsy as a demon/vampire hybrid and the first of her kind, Sebastet and the Hylarr, the Demonicus twins he'd watched grow up, Wren from the elven realm and the rarest of elves, HellBane the talkative retired king of the dragons, Crisdean and the Druids, Desha the human healer cursed to immortality, Mao the Selkie and Desha's former life partner, their son Dancer was half healing mage half Selkie and all WereSnowLeopard....

There were so many more in there as well. But he was giving her the book not just to help her... It was also because he wanted her to have something from him that was part of him. Admittedly, it had absolutely nothing to do with blood magic and didn't even have a title, but he hoped she would like it...

Cain hesitated a moment then set her plate down next to the book and turned to pour them both some of the hot cider before finally returning to the table with them, setting a cup in front of her before sitting down across from her.

"Yes. I wrote it. It took me a long time but I've covered just about every race known and have met at least one person from each of them," he gave a shy shrug of one shoulder as he looked down at his cup, one hand cupped around it, "It seemed a shame not to write it all down. There are other copies of it, but that one is the first I put together. I thought it would help you out," he said softly without looking at her and struggling in vain not to blush.

He kept his head down for now, unsure of what he would see if he looked up at her now, "I do more than just organize the library here. I'm also responsible for making translations and the odd bit of research for Sebastet and others. I did another book on the different realms I can show you later if you like. But I thought this one would help you more right now since you're staying here for a while."

Okay, he was rambling a bit now. And he'd also hinted that she would be leaving at some point. It was almost cute to see, his shyness with her now. But the cuteness just seemed to work with how he looked right now and made it easy to see how others would be attracted to him, and emphasized just how alone he was most of the time...

((Okay, time for romantic mushiness!))

Cain gave a small shiver when she wrapped her arms around him from behind, one hand rising to rest over hers. When she placed her head against his, though, he gave a shudder that had nothing at all to do with cold and everything to do with her. Just that simple movement, the sound of her soft whisper, the soft feminine scent of her and his body blazed with need.

But he held that in check and raised his other hand to her braided hair as he turned in her arms so that he could see her face and let her see that he was serious about what he was about to say, "I've never had anyone who turns my insides into knots, who makes me feel like I'm burning with a fever whenever I catch their scent, who actually distracts me from my library and makes me want to simply talk or even take a walk..." he gave her a small wry half smile, "Or makes me dream about spun sugar," he said with a soft laugh.

His face went serious again as he looked into her eyes, "I've had plenty of lovers in the past, Roseabel, but never have I had anyone around me who makes me think about going to sleep holding them and seeing their face when I wake up again. You do that to me. I've never thought about giving anyone anything in the past, never courted anyone before. I have no idea how to do things like that. But I find myself thinking about it now, wondering what will brighten your eyes or make you give that little wrinkle in your nose right before something completely unexpected spills out of your mouth that makes me stop in shock and amazement," he told her seriously then grinned at her, "And no one has ever kissed my nose before. Something I never expected to find adorable and desirable at the same time," he added, letting her see how amazed he was with her.

"You are powerful in your own right and likely to grow even more so as time goes by. You're intelligent, funny, unconventional, beautiful, and endlessly inquisitive. I simply don't understand how no one else has seen this in you and taken you for his own before now. And I simply do not understand what you see in an old librarian who is endlessly clumsy and frequently looses his things. I simply cannot fathom why you would want to spend time with me at all," he finished, letting her see everything he saw in her and how confused he was over her wanting to be near him at all, much less letting him kiss her.

Cain closed his eyes and gave a soft sigh when her lips met his forehead, such a simple touch but it soothed him where nothing else ever had. He opened his eyes again and shifted his hand to her cheek, running the back of his fingers over the soft skin in a feather-light touch, almost as if he was afraid to touch her fully.

"I'd gladly take you forever, Roseabel," he whispered to her softly then leaned in to meet her lips gently, just a bare touch before moving back again. Another scent moved through him and made him think clearly again, "You haven't eaten... You should eat..." he said softly, clearly not wanting to let her go but knowing that he should.

He'd forgotten what it felt like to need to eat and rarely felt the need to even feed most of the time but knew that he was going to have to remember it from now on. For all that she was long-lived, she was still human and had to have nourishment.

He couldn't help but get lost in how beautiful she was now that he was paying attention and didn't want to see that beauty fade in the least. So, yes, her needs were something he was going to have to force himself to remember. He stood and guided her back to her chair and lifted the cover from the plate the servant had brought her, finding a collection of healthy and inviting breakfast foods on it. Probably more than she would be able to eat but enough to allow her to have plenty of variety he supposed.

With the village supplying the castle, the humans and shapeshifters never had to worry much about food. Most of it was grown, harvested, raised, and hunted for right on the island so it was all kept natural and healthy, not to mention fresh.

He glanced at her and shifted the book to the side a bit more then slid the plate in front of her, "Here, you need to eat. We can talk more after or go for a walk or whatever you wish to do. I don't have anything pressing in the library that would require my attention for a few nights so whatever you want to do we can," he noticed that he was rambling as he sat back down in his chair and shut his mouth.

What he really wanted to do was kiss her again for at least an hour then find out what came after kissing her. But he took a drink of his cider and did his best to see to her health first and would try his best not to allow his desires to take control. He knew that he had to get this right....

Cain found himself fascinated by her every movement as she ate. The way her lips opened and moved around each bite, the movement of her jaw as she chewed, the sight of her throat shifting as she swallowed. It was almost too much for him, too tempting to watch but he was unable to help himself.

Then she was talking and he had to pay attention to her words, never a hardship for him but always enough to draw his attention to where it needed to be.

But he frowned at the word she'd used, "Bundling? I've never heard of it..." he told her honestly, looking perplexed that he'd missed knowing what a word meant in her context of an action. He'd bundled herbs before and books, but he didn't think she meant it like that.

Cain gave a smile at her blush and nodded to her before standing and taking her hand to help her to her feet, "Now I know what you're talking about, though I've heard it spoken with different words. And I would love to 'bundle' with you," he told her softly and considered his possibilities.

His room wouldn't do since he hadn't made the bed and it was still a complete mess. That left his spare bedroom, which he always left neat since he didn't go in there much. At least his rooms had been cleaned up and taken care of within the last couple of days so there wouldn't even be any dust in there.

He lead her into that room with it's large comfortable bed done in comfortable earthy greens and stood beside the bed with her in front of him, unsure of how to actually proceed with this. He cleared his throat a bit nervously and looked at the bed then thought of something that was actually useful. He guided her to sit on the edge of the bed and knelt in front of her to remove her shoes then set them neatly in front of the bedside table. Then he moved to remove his boots and set them beside her shoes, sitting beside her in the process with a small frown, "I didn't realize this bed was this comfortable. I know mine is but I don't come in here much," he said without thinking.

Cain couldn't help but be fascinated by her knife but refocused as he settled himself down next to her. Then, as she snuggled into him, he noticed one slight complication to doing this. All he could think of was what her skin would feel like next to his.

He cleared his throat and started to speak but had to clear it again to be able to, "I actually lived in northern Europe a long time ago. Back when the Norsemen were raiding the coastlines. I was lucky in my home village, though. We had a vampire clan that saw to our protection at night while we protected them during the day. One of them saw my desire to learn and offered to turn me. It was a great honor in my village and elevated my family to a higher status for it. There was a ritual shortly after I reached full growth where he exchanged blood with me. I don't really remember much of it, just that at the end of it, I was as you see me now. It took me years, decades to learn to control my baser vampiric natures. But after that, I was free to learn everything I wanted to," he explained to her, hoping he'd be able to distract himself from his body's current demands of him.

He wrapped an arm around her waist as she snuggled against his chest and shifted his head to be able to catch the scent of her hair, finding it almost as intoxicating as her kiss. In that instant, he realized just how hard this was going to be for him. To simply hold her and talk instead of doing anything else with her.

But he held his control by threads, not wanting to push her further than she wanted to go, especially since he wasn't sure what to do beyond kissing her...

Cain had been fully prepared to say something in answer to her question. But then she kissed him so briefly and drew his full attention to her spun sugar taste. Her hand moving over his brow was equally enthralling and sent his thoughts scattering as he tightened his arm around her, pulling her in closer to him.

He couldn't help but look at her in amazement for a silent moment. Then he fell under the spell of her mouth and had to have another taste of her. He eased her back on the bed and shifted over her just enough to be able to kiss her without confining her at all, a soft moan escaping him as he remembered how to kiss someone fully and completely.