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“Pardon, five and a half,” he murmured before he stepped forward, took me into his arms, and kissed me.
I probably shouldn’t have kissed him back. I had no intention of accepting his proposal, which he knew perfectly well, but I couldn’t help melting against his mouth. I needed to taste his lips, his words, and when else would I get another chance? As soon as I was finished kissing him, I’d run and keep running and never stop.
The trouble was that it didn’t seem like I’d ever be done with him. He tasted so good, and right, and he brought every part of me to life, contentment, happiness, all those things he gave me when I was sundered from the library. He was already rooted in my heart, probably deeper than I was in his, and what could I possibly do about that other than kiss his silky lips and tug on his shirt? He had skin under that shirt that I was dying to feel.
I tasted darkness and ripped his shirt, searching for more connection, more of him. My dragon. My vampire. My husband. What would it be like to not wake up alone every morning, to have someone tell me poetry every time I asked for it, to teach me how to speak dead languages, to study with in silence, to build a life in a world divided into two pieces neither of which had ever been home to me? Would he hold me through nightmares and love me through the darkness when it came again, as it inevitably did?
The flashes of darkness, fear, terror clawed at me in spite of the gentle pressure of his lips, unlocking me from my desperate need for him and giving me a moment of blinding clarity. I loved him. Love would be my last cage if I didn’t escape now.
I wrote a death rune on his bare chest, ignited it, then turned and ran while he was knocked back. I ran through the halls, vibrating with emotions that kept rising higher and higher, overwhelming me past the point of anything like rational thinking. I ran towards the one thing I knew, the one thing I trusted, the one thing that would never change no matter what else crumbled up and blew away.
Chapter
Nineteen
When I came up the back steps, no imps were chasing me, but I still slammed the door after me, leaning against it with my heart pounding like a dragon was coming. I was there for a long time, leaning against the door with burning lips, burning heart, and burning fingers. I’d put a death curse on his chest, the one he’d called my favorite. It wasn’t the strongest death spell, and he was an impossible-to-kill dragon, but it couldn’t have felt good. Just because I loved him didn’t mean that I should hurt him, did it? Love was an untouchable mystery that I’d never tried to unravel, and here I was, thoroughly tangled in it. I pressed my fingers to my oversensitive lips, and that’s when I noticed the ring he must have slipped onto my left hand while I was distracted.
I stared at the simple band with tiny gems, that blinked and sparkled happily. It was such a simple thing for such a complicated person as the Scholar. It probably suited me perfectly. I spun it around my finger, examining all the beautiful stones before I tugged it off. No, I tried to pull it off, but it got stuck on my knuckle. I frowned and tried again. How could he have put a ring on my finger without my noticing if it was too tight to easily remove? The answer was probably magic. He’d probably have to be the one to take it off, so I’d have to see him again, which would be an even greater disaster, because I’d already started to miss him.
“There you are, Libby,” Jessica called from the end of the hall, then strode towards me purposefully, her shoes clicking loudly as she came towards me.
I licked my lips and barely didn’t make a dash for the back stairs to hide in the stacks. I didn’t need Jessica to tell me how amazing it was to be part of the board, and how it was all thanks to her amazing degree at the prestigious school that would never accept me.
“The board would like to talk to you. Come on, I’ll escort you there. What were you doing in the Lab? Don’t tell me that you work there full time,” she said with a cheerful smile. “I suppose you could turn the board down.”
“It’s only a temporary translation job,” I said, unwilling to tell her that I didn’t actually have even that currently. The board wanted to talk to me? Was it possible that they actually wanted to hire me back?
“Pity. I had no idea that you were so well-connected. How did you get the junior senator of Texas to be your lawyer?”
I tripped on nothing, and she clucked in sympathy.
“Be careful, Libby. The floor has a lot more cracks these days.”
I looked at the floor, confused why she’d say that the perfectly smooth marble was cracked, but she was right. There were cracks everywhere, and not only on the floor. Cracks went up pillars and even across the ceiling.
“What happened?” I asked, cautiously touching the next pillar we came to. The pale surface reminded me of Michael’s beautiful chest, and I quickly pulled my hand back.
“I think it was traumatized by everything that happened so quickly, the attack on Horace and Bert, the one that broke so many of its preservation spells and protection wards, and then you abandoning it.”
“I didn’t abandon it,” I said, sliding my hand over the silky wall. It felt so good, so right. “I was rendered from it by the board. What do they want me for? I’m no longer their employee for them to summon at their will.” I crossed my arms and frowned at her. I had other options, and I should go further than up a set of stairs from the Scholar. It would be far too easy to ‘accidentally’ tumble down them and land at his feet.
“Maybe they want to hire you back.” She smirked slightly. “You know you want it. Maybe if you beg, they’ll let you wash the toilets.” She laughed and walked more quickly, forcing me to hurry to catch up to her if I really wanted a job at the library. Of course I did. I wanted it almost as much as I wanted Michael. They wouldn’t really want me as a janitor, maybe as a shelver in the stacks. I could do that. I would be the best book shelver in the history of the world. I missed my stacks. I could live without the Scholar if I had my library. Although it would be better if I had both. No. I couldn’t even think that. It wouldn’t work. I walked faster until we reached the main floor and I saw Jade the preservationist, walking with a stack of papers. I waved, and she came over quickly, looking relieved.
“Libby! I’m so glad you’re here. Is there any way you could come with me for a minute? I have a situation that?—”
“Libby is coming with me,” Jessica said, grabbing my arm and giving Jade a sharp smile. “You’ll have to use her later. You’re the preservationist. I’m sure you can figure it out.”
Jade scowled at Jessica. “And what are you, exactly, other than a?—”
“I’ll try to help after I’ve talked to the board, okay?” I interrupted. Jade was clearly stressed out, like everyone else seemed to be, and I couldn’t blame her, not if the library was literally falling apart.
“Thanks,” she said, shooting me a grateful smile before she hissed at Jessica and strode off.
“What’s going on with preservation?” I asked Jessica.
“Same thing that’s happening everywhere. Spells are breaking down, documents are crumbling, running from one fire to the next, putting out one in time for another to spring up. Not literal fire, at least not yet. The stacks have swallowed several people, even one of the employees. Poor Zach. We still have no idea where he is.”
It was like going from one horror movie to another. “You’ve lost librarians in the stacks?”
