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“It was one date.”
His lips thin. “I felt used for weeks.”
“Norbert,” I snap. “Did you bring me here under false pretenses?”
He flinches. “What makes you think that?”
“You’re the type of guy who sets up dating profiles with pictures of a smoking hot guy.”
“I never said that was me,” he mutters. “In fact, I mention at the bottom of the profile that the images were representations of my inner psyche. Don’t blame me because witches can’t read the fine print.”
My jaw tightens. This asshole makes the Boogie Man seem less of a creep.
“Do you know what?” I shove past him and grab the door handle. “Forget it.”
Norbert grabs my shoulder. “I wasn’t lying about having information on the Unseelie.”
“Not listening. I’m past caring.” I open the door.
“Black hair, black membranous wings, intricate black markings across their chests?” he ask.
“You overheard my conversation.” I step out into the upper mezzanine, remembering I hadn’t told the librarian about the Boogie Man’s hair.
“How about the leathery legs and black-tipped fingers?” he asks.
I whirl around, meeting his satisfied smirk. “How would you know that?”
Norbert leans against the door frame with one elbow raised. It’s the kind of pose that might be sexy on a man who wasn’t so gangly.
A grin curls around his narrow face, which only highlights that beak of a nose. He flicks his chin-length hair out of his face and straightens.
Silence stretches for several heartbeats, and my irritation mounts. “If you’re trying to build up the suspense—”
“Faeries used to inhabit this realm around eight centuries ago,” he says in a voice that echoes across the library.
My jaw drops. “Why don’t they tell us this in the history books?”
“Magical Council decreed that they be wiped out from all literature.”
“So, they really existed?”
“In a way.” He raises a shoulder. “But you can’t spread what I’m about to share. The integrity of magic depends on you keeping this a secret.”
“I won’t.”
Pointing out that Norbert is sharing said secret in a public place will only prolong this conversation. I need him to spill everything he knows about the Boogie Man’s origins.
“Very well,” he says, sounding self-important, and sweeps his arm back to the restricted section.
Any red flags about going back in there with Norbert drift away under the promise of information that could possibly save my magic. I walk through the doorway, cringing as he draws close to sniff my hair.
As soon as I’m out of grabbing reach, I turn to meet his black eyes. “What do you know?”
“Before the mass exodus of the Middle Ages, there were two species of sentient magical beings. Faeries and witches.”
I nod.
“Unlike witches, Faeries were immortal, and were always aligned with nature.” He counts off the points on his fingers. “Seasons, times of day, animals, elements.”
