However, when my eyes opened after the ancient wards had assessed us, it wasn’t the library’s immense internal hallway lined with pillars that awaited. Instead, a small room filled with bookshelves greeted us.
It was one of many rooms within this magical building that held their precious relics. Each shelf was filled with endless knowledge, and my scholarly side itched to touch all of the books, tomes, and scrolls, but I managed to restrain myself.
Kole didn’t speak, but he surveyed everything before us, as though trying to process what had just happened.
“The library knew what we sought, so its magic took us here,” I explained.
“Ah, Primelle, you’ve returned!” a gravelly male’s voice exclaimed. A gargoyle hobbled around a short table on the far side of the room. He began to shuffle toward us on clawed feet. Kole’s eyes widened.
I bumped the warrior playfully. “You look like you’ve never seen a gargoyle before.”
“I haven’t.”
“I’m assuming you know they don’t live like fae? Each night, they return to stone, but during the day, they come alive if they’ve fed off a supernatural’s life source.”
He smirked. “I’m aware of that, Princess. Convicted criminals I’ve dealt with have had gargoyle leeching as their punishment. I’ve just never been in a library with one before or met one in the flesh. This is a first.”
I waggled my eyebrows at him. “Perhaps Master Fistideeous is alive right now due to feeding off the life source of a criminalyouapprehended.”
Kole gave me a sardonic smile. “Wouldn’t that be ironic.”
When the small gargoyle reached us, I peered down at him since he stood no more than four feet tall. Master Fistideeous wore a long crimson robe, and his clawed feet poked out from beneath it. But while his stature wasn’t intimidating, his face was truly that of nightmares. Pitch-black eyes, wicked-looking, sharp teeth, and skin the color of stone greeted us when he peered upward.
“It’s lovely to see you again, Master Fistideeous.” I leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. Cool rough skin met my lips.
Master Fistideeous’s complexion dusted pink, and when I pulled back, he awarded me with a horrifying grin. “I have a feeling I know why you’re here. Was the book everything I promised it would be?”
“Indeed it was.” I withdrewLegends of Our Realmfrom my pocket. “Thank you again for letting me borrow it. This book helped me find and claim the Stone.”
His wrinkly eyebrows rose. “Was it trulyyouthen who exacted the Stone’s magic?”
“It was.” Despite the gargoyle’s face being hideous to look at, I gazed at him affectionately.
Master Fistideeous huffed a laugh. “How wonderful. And if the Stone deemed you worthy of finding it, it obviously believed your reason for pursuing it was noble. Tell me, is your uncle saved?”
My throat grew thick. “He is, and I have you to thank for that. Without this book, I never would have found the Stone and never would have been able to heal him.”
The gargoyle’s grin broadened. “How magnificent, and no thanks needed. I’m always happy to help out a fellow scholar, but as payment for borrowing the book, as you know, the library will require every bit of knowledge you learned on your quest. Such things must be documented for future generations.”
“I expected nothing less.” The Isle of Song’s university and library considered knowledge the premier currency. If one accepted help from the gargoyles here, knowledge was given as payment, and I’d agreed to those terms weeks ago when I’d borrowed the book.
The gargoyle tookLegends of Our Realmfrom me, being mindful not to scrape it or me with his sharp claws. “And who have you brought with you?” He tilted his head all the way back to gaze up at Kole.
“This is Kole Swordwielder, the Imperial Warrior assigned to me by the Council. My life has changed a bit since we last spoke. I don’t even know where to begin.”
The gargoyle’s pitch-black eyes assessed the warrior. “I see.” And in those two words, I had a feeling he trulydidsee. “Andsomething tells me, Primelle, that you’re not here just to return an old book and share what you’ve learned?”
I smiled impishly. “Once again, Master Fistideeous, you would be correct, because as it happens, I’ve learned that I’m a princess of Mistvale Kingdom, and someone is after me. They’re using a creature of nightmares in their attacks, and we have no idea what they truly are, but we believe they may have been created by ingesting a potion. I’m hoping you’ll be able to help us figure out why.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
After Master Fistideeous documented everything I’d encountered and learned on my hunt for the Wishing Stone, Kole and I spent what felt like only an hour in the small room searching for answers in the library’s immense resources, but time moved differently on the island, so it was hard to know exactly how many hours had passed.
As it was, we didn’t find anything in our hurried search to uncover what we could of the infecting potion, creatures, or how I might be connected to it all, but Master Fistideeous patted my hand as the time came for us to leave.
“Fear not, Primelle. Come morning, I shall continue searching for answers and will alert Whiteolf’s head librarian should anything be found. If a new potion that can cause a nightmare infection has truly come into existence in the realm, our university will endeavor to catalogue everything about it.”
I bent down to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you again. Your help means the realm to me.”
