2. Paige #2
“Not what I meant.” Aries closes the door softly and comes around the desk where he kneels and turns my chair to face him. His large hand cups mine, his sharp blue gaze not missing anything. “You are always beautiful, but I can see your stress, Paige.”
“I’m not trying to hide it.” I lean back in the chair. “Did you find anything?”
“No,” he replies, and a part of me that hasn’t quite lost hope yet is deflated just a bit more.
I’m not even sure how I still manage to be disappointed when he and Mag come back empty-handed from their daily searches.
It’s been two weeks since Hoc disappeared through that portal with Constantine.
Fourteen days of hoping to fill a troll-sized hole in my heart.
“I’m sorry, Paige,” he says as he strokes my cheek. “I long to bring you good news.”
I open my eyes and stare back at him with a half-smile on my face. “I know you do, and I appreciate it. But wanting something doesn’t make it happen.”
Aries’s lips flatten into a tight line. I expect him to give me some words of wisdom.
Words that a king would speak when trying to motivate his people.
But my dragon royal doesn’t say a word. He simply pushes to his feet and pulls me up with him, lifting and setting me on the desk before I can utter a single protest.
He steps between my legs and cups my cheeks then presses his lips to mine.
The fire in my soul ignites at the contact between us, a pull I don’t know that I will ever understand, nor can I possibly live without it now that I’ve found him.
The stubble on his jaw scrapes deliciously against my skin as he releases my lips and trails his mouth up to press a kiss to my forehead. There, he rests his head against mine.
“Come and let us rest tonight. We can watch one of those romantic movies you are always speaking of. Have dinner. Let me love your worries away, Paige.”
The offer is tempting. Especially since Aries could use the rest as much as I. Before Hoc disappeared, Aries was poisoned by a basilisk and almost died. He claims he’s fully recovered, but I still worry with him going out hunting every day with Mag.
If I were to lose him, too, I don’t know that I would survive it.
No, I know I wouldn’t.
Unfortunately, I know I can’t let myself rest until Hoc is home and this library is back in the hands of someone capable of ensuring its safety. I push back against his chest, seeing the disappointment in his gaze even before I speak the words. “I’m sorry, Aries, I can’t.”
“Paige—”
“No.” I shove him back another step and hop down. “This library is my responsibility. It’s my kingdom,” I add, hoping to put it in terms he’ll understand. “I have to make sure it runs smoothly, and I’m already so far behind.”
“You won’t catch up by driving yourself into the ground,” he retorts. “Which is exactly what you’re doing. You barely sleep, hardly ever eat, and I haven’t seen a smile on your face since—”
“Since my surrogate father was ripped through a portal by a man capable of heinous, unpredictable evil?” I interrupt. “An enemy who was right in front of my nose and yet I couldn’t sense the betrayal?”
Aries crosses his arms. “You know what I mean.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I push my glasses back on my face.
“I will sleep when Hoc is home safe. I will eat when I can share a meal with him again. And I will smile when it’s me greeting him at the start of a new day.
” The vise that has been around my heart since his disappearance tightens further.
“Until then, the survival of this library is all I can focus on.”
“Paige—”
“No.” I throw up a hand.
“I love you,” he growls. His gaze darkens, evidence of the battle he wages to keep his dragon in check. With a deep breath, his eyes clear again. “It’s why I’m worried.”
“Then you need to let me do what I need to do. Please, Aries. Don’t push me on this.”
I can see the argument on his face, the way his jaw hardens just before he pushes back, but he relents—this time. “What about the council? Have you heard back from them?”
Sighing, I sink down into the chair. “I haven’t even been able to reach out.
I can’t find any contact information for them.
I’ve searched every single file on Hoc’s computer and in his cabinets, and the only thing I found out is what I already knew.
The council consists of three humans who live everyday lives in the Earth realm and moonlight as the trio who ensure the library’s wishes are upheld.
They are chosen at random by the library itself and receive a message that, upon reading, grants them the knowledge of the keepers that have come before them.
A magical download of information, essentially. ”
“Magical download?”
“Like a computer in their brain,” I explain, then scan my memory for the easiest way to relate it to something a man who comes from a world with no technology will understand.
And then, I remember the one movie night I let myself have last week.
“Like, remember on the Matrix? When Neo takes the red pill and can suddenly see through the simulation?”
“Ahh, yes.” He nods.
“Once they are chosen and have gotten the memories, they manage keeper sentences, vote on who gets ousted, and will even call for a vote to elect a new council member in case one of them becomes unable to perform their duties. But what I don’t understand is why there is no contact information to reach them.
A ‘break glass in case of emergency’ type system.
” I groan. “According to the records, they won’t show up unless there’s an issue.
Well, I consider this one mountain of an issue, and yet they are still a no-show. ”
“Paige, maybe there is no issue. Maybe, you are where you’re supposed to be.”
His words bring me none of the comfort I know he was aiming for.
“No issue?” I demand, glaring up at him.
“Hoc is missing, and the library put me— someone who hasn’t even come close to completing her training, has uncontrollable magic, and unleashed a dragon, in charge.
I would consider that one big problem. The library is broken. It has to be.”
He cocks his head to the side. “This dragon has no complaints.”
“Yes, you do. You want to be home just as badly as I want Hoc back.”
Aries steps forward and gently grips my chin. He rubs the pad of his thumb over my lips. “I want to be wherever you are.”
“Your home needs you, Aries. And I know that.”
“You have no idea what you mean to me.” He leans in and presses his lips to mine.
“But I understand your desires, and I want to grant you everything you need.” After one final kiss, he pulls back and sighs.
“Mag and I are going out again tomorrow. We managed to search two worlds today. There are only so many they can be hiding in.”
“Yeah. Hundreds,” I remind him bleakly. “There are literally hundreds of books that were knocked from the shelves during Constantine’s attack, which means he and Hoc could be in any one of them.” It all feels so hopeless, so pointless. But I don’t vocalize it.
Aries’ world needs him, no matter what he tries to tell me, and I hate that agreeing to become a servant of the library, even just for now, meant giving up on the chance for him to return home.
But the library makes the rules, not me.
And Aries claims he’s fine with it—which is just another reason I am incredibly grateful for the love of this man.
“We will find them,” Aries promises me. “I won’t let you down.”
“You couldn’t ever let me down, Aries.” I turn back toward my computer. “I need to get back to work.”
He nods. “I will bring you food.”
“No need.” I hold up the uneaten granola bar I’d brought in for breakfast.
Aries scrunches his face in disgust. “That’s not dinner.”
“Dinner?” I look up at him then check the clock. Crap. Forgot to eat again. “Oh, yeah, it will be fine. I had a big lunch.”
“What did you eat?”
“Food,” I lie. “Can I get back to work? I have about three-hundred shelving requests to comb through.”
Aries studies me. “Is there no one who can help? Blossom—”
“Is a keeper,” I remind him. “And for some reason, this is something only the head librarian can do.” Though, even as I consider it, I honestly believe she’d probably be better at it than I am.
Without waiting for him to respond, I look back down at the computer and hit accept, allowing the requestor to send his book for shelving in our mythical creatures section.
My chair is pulled back, and I glare up as Aries lifts me from it and throws me over his shoulder. “What are you doing?” I demand, squirming in his grasp.
“You are eating.”
“Aries! Put me down!”
“If I have to force it down your throat, I will,” he replies as he opens the door and stalks out into the hall.
“I don’t have time to eat.”
“Yes, you do,” he replies firmly and continues walking, not breaking stride as he makes his way up the stairs toward my apartment.
As soon as we’re inside, he sets me down and cages me against the door, both muscled arms pinning me on either side. My pulse hammers as lust overtakes my anger. “I need to work,” I insist, but the words are weak.
And his grin proves it. “You need to eat, my love,” he purrs, leaning in to gently press a kiss to my throat, just above my pulse. “Do you want me to feed you?” he asks. “I could tie you to a chair…slip grapes between those gorgeous lips.”
I swallow hard. I mean, it wouldn’t be the worst thing—“No. I’ll never get any work done then.”
He chuckles and pulls away. “Then come, and I will make you a sandwich.”
I stare up at him, searching for any weakness but finding none. Aries is my rock. My protector.
And if it’ll make him happy to see me eat, then I suppose sparing some time isn’t so bad.
Especially given my current view of a sexy dragon king.