19. Paige
Paige
M ate.
My shoulder is still a bit sore from where Aries marked me, but I couldn’t care less. He is mine. I am his. And even though we’ve been together more times than I can count over the past few weeks, last night was absolute perfection.
Having Aries inside me while his wings, fully extended, held us both upright—not to mention the stinging pleasure of his bite—will easily be one of the most memorable moments of my life.
Not to mention the change I have felt every second since.
Aries calls it a mate bond, but it feels more like an internal GPS system.
I’d already been so attuned to him that I could practically feel when he was nearby, but now, that awareness is even stronger.
I can also feel his emotions, especially when they’re high.
Like last night. His pleasure was off the charts, and the moment it hit me, it sent me flying over the edge of my own ecstasy.
If that’s how future sex will go, I am already looking forward to the rest of my life with my sexy dragon king.
Despite all the obstacles still in our path, the smile on my face hasn’t faded, even as I sit here at my desk facing what is likely one of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever handled.
Replacing Tawny as a council member. Oliver said I could do it.
That I have the ability to force the library’s hand at choosing someone else, which should be even easier now that the woman is.
..no longer living, but so far, nothing I’ve tried has worked.
I’ve spoken to the library—both out loud and in my head.
I’ve touched the tattoo and tried to access the magic I can always feel simmering inside of me. And if it’s worked? Well, I have no clue. Because so far, no one has strolled through my door, claiming to have been chosen.
Ugh.
My office door opens, and I nearly shoot out of my chair in shock, but then Blossom comes into view. I sink back down.
“You look bummed to see me,” she says as she drops into the chair.
“Sorry. Thought you might be the new council member.”
She arches a brow then yawns. “No luck, then?” The dark circles beneath her eyes showcase her exhaustion.
It’s more than just lack of sleep. Something I understand because we’re all dealing with it.
Even the gnomes look like they’re barely hanging in there.
They’ve all increased patrols, working double shifts to make sure nothing else can slip through without our knowing.
The sooner we get this new council member in, the better. Because then we can focus on the real threat: Constantine.
“Not so far.” I roll my shoulders. “I’ve tried everything I can think of.”
“We’ll get it figured out.” She narrows her gaze. “Something is different about you. What is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have this glow.” Her eyes widen. “Are you having a baby dragon?”
“What? No.” I pull the neckline of my shirt down to bare the bite on my shoulder.
Blossom’s eyes widen. “You and Aries got a little freaky? Go you.”
I laugh as she settles back in her chair. “He said I’m his mate, Blossom.”
Her eyes widen. “That’s some serious shit, Paige.”
“I know. I thought he might be wrong. That the stress here has him confused. But—”
“A mate bond is not something stress impacts,” she says softly. “Trust me. And fighting it doesn’t work, either.”
“How do you—”
The door opens, and Oliver steps in beside a man I don’t recognize.
Hope warms in my chest. Did I do it? Is this Tawny’s replacement?
He’s obviously human, that much I can sense immediately.
The man’s blond hair is cut short on top of his head, threads of silver weaving through it.
His eyes, a deep blue, are focused intently on me.
Blossom stands, her hand hovering over the hilt of the blade always sheathed at her side.
He smiles despite her reaching for a weapon. “So, this is the newest librarian.” He crosses over and holds out a hand to me. “It is quite an honor to meet you, Paige. I am Phillip, chosen council member to the Athenaeum.”
Phillip. Of course . My hope deflates, but I force a smile anyway. I need this man to like me if I’m to keep my memories. “It’s nice to meet you as well.” His hand is warm in mine, but the contact sends a shiver of awareness up my spine.
A warning that maybe I should be careful trusting anyone not in my circle. After all, he’s here to vote on my future. I pull my hand back. “Have you heard from Tawny?”
Both of their expressions betray disappointment.
“No,” Phillip replies. “I’m afraid I haven’t spoken to her since she called me a couple nights ago and said I needed to make time to come in.
Oliver filled me in on everything that has happened over the last several days.
I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. Hoc was a good man. ”
“He was,” I reply, my throat tightening. “We haven’t seen her either.”
The lie is vile on my tongue, even knowing I cannot speak the truth.
But the fact that her body is rotting away in a tunnel right now bothers me more than I would have thought possible.
I may not have liked her, but at the very least, she deserved a peaceful rest. Does she have a family? People who care for her?
Guilt is a heavy burden, and I’m carrying far more than I realized until this very moment.
“Her disappearance is troubling on a personal level,” Oliver says, “But professionally speaking, it does present a host of problems.”
“I’m afraid we need to consider the worst,” Phillip says as he removes thin-framed glasses and rubs his eyes. “We will need to choose another council member in her absence.”
“Choose another?” Blossom questions. “And if Tawny returns?”
“Then she will be free of her obligations to this place,” Phillip replies. “But the library must operate with a council of three at all times. Especially in times where a vote is required.”
“So, you’re still planning on voting her out?” my friend snaps.
Phillip shakes his head. “I apologize for how that came across.” He looks from Blossom to me.
“As I said, Oliver has told me everything that he has seen, and based on his testimony, I do not see a reason to remove you as head librarian. The way I see it, the fact that this place is still standing despite your lack of understanding of your duties speaks for itself. The vote is merely a formality. One we need to see through given that our previous council member called for it.”
“And we can’t vote without a third,” Oliver adds. “It’s part of the library’s stipulations. So there can be no tie and majority rules.”
“I see.” Once again, hope burns in my chest. A single, flickering flame.
Even with a new council member, it sounds like Phillip and Oliver both plan to side with me.
Once the vote is over, they can go back to their lives, and we can deal with actually protecting the library from its real threat.
“Okay. Then how do we get a new council member?”
“Thankfully, Phillip is more knowledgeable on this than I am.” Oliver lets out a sigh.
“Yes, well, I’ve been around quite some time.” He chuckles. “Before even Tawny. I was there when she was chosen and witnessed just how it happens.”
“How is that?” I ask.
“We do it together.” He steps forward and offers his hand. “The council members must be a part of the decision, along with every member currently employed. It’s how the library ensures the head librarian does not make a biased decision to replace a member of the council.”
Which is exactly what I’d been trying to do.
“Okay. So, we need to gather everyone who works here,” I say.
“Yes,” he replies. “And it needs to be done at the heart of the library. Where the magic is the strongest.”
“Seems easy enough,” Blossom says. “I can get everyone.”
“Fantastic.” Phillip offers her a nod. “And we will meet in the center of the stacks. Come,” Phillip says to me, “you can tell me stories of your time with Hoc.” I follow him out into the hall, hoping it really will be as easy as Phillip says. Something about him feels off.
Then again, I’ve been under an immense amount of stress the past few weeks. Anything short of an all-out war would feel too easy at this point.
“This must have been such a shock to you,” Phillip says. “Inheriting all of this without ever even being a keeper first.”
“It was a bit of a surprise,” I admit. “I’m still not sure why the library chose me to begin with.”
He chuckles softly. “That’s exactly how I felt when I received my notice that I’d been chosen as a council member for a magic library I never even knew existed. It seemed so surreal, like I was living in a dream.”
“I know that feeling,” I reply. “Did you know Hoc well?”
“Well enough,” Phillip replies. “He was a kind man. Gentle despite his genealogy.”
“Trolls are not typically gentle-natured?”
He snorts. “Hardly. They are normally brutes. But despite his tragedies, Hoc was always kind.”
“Tragedies?”
Phillip stops walking and looks down at me. “Did you not know of his past? Of what brought him here?”
“No,” I admit. “He didn’t talk about it.”
“For good reason, too,” he replies sadly. Phillip stops walking and turns to me. Oliver continues down the hall, offering me a tight smile as he passes. “Hoc’s family was murdered. He tracked down his wife and daughter’s killer but left a trail of bodies in his wake.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, shocked and saddened by the tragedy. It all makes sense now. His refusal to kill me during the Extrication, his continued protection of me even though it would have made his life easier to just turn me over to the council.
Had I reminded him of his daughter?
Or had he simply seen too much death to stomach more bloodshed?
“Is that why he was sentenced here as a keeper?” I ask.
“Yes. They gave him life in servitude for his crime.”
“That’s horrible! He tried to avenge his family and was sentenced to a lifetime of servitude for it?”
Phillip reaches out and touches my shoulder gently. “I agree that it seems unfair, and I cannot pretend to understand why he was sent here, only that he was.”
My mind drifts to the man who raised me. To memories of his kindness, his laughter. All the times I suffered nightmares and he sang to me as I fell asleep. Tears burn the corners of my eyes. He’d been in so much pain and I hadn’t even realized.
“I’m sorry, Paige, it is not my intention to make you sad.”
I force a half smile. “Thank you for telling me; it helps me to understand him a bit better.”
Philip offers me a smile of his own. “Good. Now, shall we get this over with? I imagine you are looking forward to getting back to your routine.”
“More than you can imagine.”
We make our way down the hall, and I’m surprised to see that Blossom has already gathered everyone.
She stands beside Mag and Bingo while the gnomes and Kitty remain beside Aries.
His blue gaze finds mine, and my heart skips a beat because, even though it makes no sense to me, I can feel his love for me through our bond.
“Thank you all for coming so quickly,” Phillip says. “I imagine you are all more than ready to get back to some semblance of normalcy.”
A distrust creeps up my spine, and it only takes one look at Aries to know that it’s his wariness I’m feeling. He doesn’t like Phillip. Just as he doesn’t like Oliver.
“Paige, join me.” Philip gestures to his right while Oliver remains on his left.
With my gaze on Aries, I move closer to Phillip, though I keep a foot between us in an effort to appease Aries.
It’s no surprise that Aries doesn’t like him.
He despises Oliver, too, but with this new bond between us, I can feel how much.
It’s concerning, to say the least.
“With our third council member missing for more than two days now, we feel it’s time to replace her so we can get the vote she initiated out of the way. Do any of you disagree?” Phillip asks.
Silence.
Oliver clears his throat. “At this time, we ask you all to clear your mind and think only of your intention to appoint a new council member to replace Tawny. Think of nothing else.”
Phillip turns to me. “The rest is up to you, Librarian. Use your connection with the library to make your request.”
Even though I’ve been trying to connect with the library for weeks with no success, this moment suddenly feels different.
With everyone else gathered here, there’s a thread of magic springing to life inside me that hadn’t been this strong before.
I close my eyes and seek the power I sense deep inside of me.
That place in my mind that only came into existence when I took over Hoc’s position.
Something shifts inside of me, a warmth that spreads straight through my body.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and my tattoo begins to pulse.
It whispers to me in the language of the keepers—a voice inside my head.
The library’s voice, I realize. All along, it was trying to communicate with me, but I shut it out just as I’d shut out my own magic.
A moment later, I open my eyes as a portal opens just before me.
Seeing it brings a quick smile to my face. I’ve finally connected to the library.
But that smile vanishes the moment my gaze locks on that of the man who’s walking through the swirling light. His arrogant smile will forever be burned into my brain as that of the worst kind of evil my world has ever seen.
“Hello, Nephew,” Constantine greets as he steps through the portal and right into our midst. “Well done.”
Nephew?
I follow Constantine’s gaze, horror and rage burning inside me as Oliver rips a knife from where he’s just plunged it into Phillip’s back. The older council member falls forward before crumpling on the floor, and Aries roars. “Uncle,” Oliver replies with a twisted smile. “Welcome back.”