I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 120: The Ice Queen’s Blush

The Dragon Peaks had many libraries.

There was the Grand Library, where ancient texts were preserved in crystal cases and guarded by scholars who had not spoken to anyone outside their order in three hundred years. There was the Royal Library, where the Burning Sky kept the histories of the First Generation, written on scales that had been shed by dragons so old their names had been forgotten. There was the Common Library, where young dragons went to study the classics and complain about their elders.

And then there was the Small Library.

No one called it that except Yàn Shū, who had catalogued it on the third day of their visit and declared it "statistically underutilized."

It was tucked away behind the guest quarters, a single round room with walls of pale crystal and shelves that curved to follow the shape of the mountain. The books here were not ancient or rare or particularly valuable. They were the books dragons read for pleasure, the ones they loaned to friends and forgot to return, the ones that accumulated over centuries like the soft dust that settled in the corners.

It was here, that Hán Bīng found herself trapped.

Not literally trapped. She was a snow leopard of the Northern Peaks, a warrior who had faced blizzards and rogues and her own son’s stubbornness. She could leave any time she wished.

But the dragon was blocking the door.

Not deliberately. He was simply there, standing in the doorway with a stack of books in his arms, looking at her with those ancient eyes that had seen too much and still, impossibly, held curiosity.

"You’re reading poetry," Elder Emberglow said.

Hán Bīng’s hand moved to close the book, then stopped. She would not be caught hiding.

"I’m reading," she corrected. "The poetry is incidental."

His mouth twitched. "Incidental poetry. I’ve heard of such things. Rare. Usually found only in the most dedicated scholars."

"I’m not a scholar."

"No." He stepped into the room, setting his books on the nearest shelf.

"You’re a warrior. A mother. A grandmother. A woman who traveled across half the realm because her daughter-in-law was having a child."

Hán Bīng’s spine stiffened. "You’ve been asking about me."

"I’ve been listening. There’s a difference."

"Is there?"

His eyes met hers. "Asking implies I need information. Listening implies I’m interested."

The silence stretched between them. Outside, somewhere in the peaks, a waterfall was rising. Hán Bīng could hear it, that soft rush of water defying gravity, climbing toward the sky.

"You’re very bold," she said, "for a dragon who lives in a cave."

"I’m very old," he said. "I’ve earned the right to be bold." He moved to the shelf beside her, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his scales. "What are you reading?"

She looked down at the book in her hands. It was small, bound in soft leather, the pages worn thin from use.

"Poems," she admitted. "About the peaks. About the way the light changes when the seasons turn. About—" She stopped.

"About?"

She closed the book. "About things that were."

His expression softened. "Ah."

They stood together in the quiet. The crystals hummed softly, a sound that was not quite music, not quite silence. Hán Bīng was acutely aware of the space between them, the warmth of him, the weight of his attention.

"I had a mate once," she said, and the words surprised her. She had not spoken of him in years. "He was a warrior. Strong. Brave. Terrible at poetry."

"Terrible how?"

"He thought rhyme was optional."

Elder Emberglow made a sound that might have been a laugh, carefully suppressed. "The worst kind of poet."

"The worst kind," she agreed. "He died. A long time ago. Fighting something that should not have been fought."

"I’m sorry."

She looked at him. "Don’t be. It was a long time ago. We had our time. We had our son. We had—" She stopped, the words catching in her throat. "We had enough."

He did not offer comfort. He did not tell her it would be alright, or that her mate was in a better place, or any of the other things people said when they did not know what else to say.

"You’re still here," she said.

"I’m still here."

They stood together in the quiet library.

Hán Bīng set the book down on the shelf. "Show me your poems."

He blinked. "My poems?"

"You’re a scholar. You live in a library. You have poems."

"I have... observations. Notes. Things I’ve written down over the years. They’re not—" He stopped. "They’re not good."

"I’ll be the judge of that."

He looked at her for a long moment. Then, slowly, he smiled. It was not the careful, controlled expression he wore with the rest of the world. It was something real.

"Follow me," he said.

~

His study was not what she expected.

She had imagined something grand, a dragon’s hoard of knowledge. Instead, the room was small, cluttered, intensely personal. Shelves lined every wall, crammed with books and scrolls and loose papers that threatened to overflow onto the floor. A massive desk dominated the center, covered in notes written in a hand that grew smaller and more cramped toward the edges of the page, as if he had been trying to fit just one more thought before the paper ran out.

And everywhere, everywhere, there were carvings.

Small animals made of wood and stone, arranged on every available surface. Wolves and foxes, birds and fish, creatures she did not recognize. In the center of the desk, placed where he could see it from his chair, was a dragon. A cub, mid-pounce, wings half-spread, carved from wood so old it had darkened to black.

"My son made that," he said quietly. "Before."

Hán Bīng looked at the carving. It was beautiful, not because it was perfect, but because it was loved. She could see it in the way the wings were smoothed, the paws rounded, the edges worn soft from years of handling.

"You keep it close."

"I keep all of them close." He gestured at the carvings, the small creatures that filled the room. "Every one of them. He made them when he was small. He said they were his friends. He said they kept him company when I was working."

Hán Bīng moved through the room slowly, looking at each carving. A fox with its tail curled. A bird with wings folded. A fish with scales that caught the light.

"He was talented."

"He was kind." Emberglow’s voice was soft. "He was the kindest creature I ever knew. He would have liked you."

She looked up. "Would he?"

"You’re fierce. Protective. You traveled across the realm for your family." He paused. "And you’re reading poetry in a library. He would have liked that very much."

She did not know what to say to that. So she said nothing.

Emberglow moved to his desk, picking up a small leather journal from the pile. It was old, the cover cracked, the pages yellowed.

"These are mine," he said. "The observations. They’re not poems, exactly. More like... notes. Things I noticed, when I was paying attention."

He held it out to her.

She took it.

The first page was dated. Centuries ago. The writing was larger then, steadier, the hand of a dragon who had not yet learned to be gentle with old things.

Today the light came through the crystals in a way I have not seen before. It was the color of honey, the color of late summer, the color of something ending. I do not know why I am writing this down. Perhaps because I want to remember that it happened. Perhaps because I want to remember that I was here to see it.

She turned the page.