I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,41

I belong here.

I smile and squeeze his hand. "If you're sure."

He nods. "I'm absolutely sure, Eve."

Sebastian approaches us, hands in his pockets. "Ready?" he says, though he looks none too happy to be doing this, whether because I’m going or because of where we're going I can't say. Either way, being with mister grump is going to be less than awesome if he's going to be in a bad mood all day.

I link my arm through his and smile my most charming smile at him as he leads us out the library. "Come now, you can't spend your whole life growling and grimacing at everyone. You really need to lighten up and enjoy life more."

He snorts at that. "Lighten up? That's your advice for me while we're investigating the highest profile murder case in the paranormal community?"

I nod. "That's exactly my advice. There will always be something that gives us an excuse to be miserable. Our job is to find the reasons to be happy. To make joy and gratitude more of a habit than misery and excessive amounts of stress and worry."

He looks down at me, his face unreadable. "You're very wise for such a young human," he says.

I make an exaggerated scrunched face. "I'm not that young. Sheesh. You old guys think everyone is young."

"Old guys?" he asks, his stern facing cracking into a small smile despite himself.

"You are male, yes?" I give him an appraising look with a bit of a flirtatious edge.

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I am male."

"And you are old, yes?"

He glares at me a moment, but then nods. "I suppose by some standards you could consider me aged."

"Some standards? By whose standards would you not be considered ancient?" I ask.

"Dragons," he says without hesitancy. "To them everyone is young."

I nearly choke on my tongue at that. "There are dragons?" I ask.

He nods. "There are dragons, yes, and so many other creatures. Was that not in the books Elijah gave you?"

I shake my head. "Nope. It was just dry, boring, law books."

"I have a book for you. If you'd like to read it." He says this almost shyly, and I'm intrigued.

"Definitely. I most definitely want to read it. Thank you."

He nods and leads me down a corridor I haven’t seen before. An archway lined with moss and branches and vines climbing up the walls. Lily joins us, though I don't see her arrive or what direction she comes from.

“Aren’t we going to the limo?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “It’s time to move the castle.”

“Move the… castle?” I remember Lily mentioning something about their home changing location. "Is this what Derek meant when he said we are moving?" I ask.

He grunts, as if that tells me all I need to know.

I roll my eyes. “Lily? Care to elaborate?”

“Sure, bosswoman,” she says eagerly. “My uncles have clients all over the globe. We go where needed. And right now, we’re needed in the Otherworld.”

“The Otherworld?”

“It’s where I was born. Where most paranormals are born these days.” She pauses, losing her chirpy composure for a moment. “My tree was still young in the dryad grove when a land-bound mermaid with a penchant for arson started a fire that would burn for a fortnight. My home was destroyed in the blaze, killing my family and nearly killing me. But Granny Matilda saved a seed from my tree, a seed of my soul. She saved me. And when she planted the seed in the castle, it flourished, and so did I.” She finishes with her natural spunk and pulls open a heavy wooden door.

My next question catches in my throat at the sight before us. A massive tree grows at the center of the room; bark white as snow, roots digging into the glass floor, spreading out endlessly into the darkness below. Leaves of all colors, emerald and crimson, burnt-orange and deep purple, reach toward the ceiling, except there is no roof, but a whirlpool of stars and clouds swirling above.

I am frozen. Transfixed by the impossible imagery.

Sebastian squeezes my hands and steps forward onto the glass floor, which stays firm beneath his heavy body. “It will be all right,” he says.

I nod with a smile and join him in the room. From here, I cannot see where the world ends, and I feel suspended, floating in the night sky, the tree glowing like the moon.

“It takes a great deal of energy to move an object the size of the Night Castle and surrounding property,” says Sebastian, leading me