to discourage visitors I would guess. Again, there is a reason he’s a hermit, like not wearing clothes.
I ignore the ‘not yet’ comment. He’s been saying the world will end for a millennium. Remi follows us to the table and turns on the spot, her eyes lighting up. “Now this here, Book Daddy, is how you get bitches. You bring them to a big ole library and get them wet with the scent of books and fuck them right here.” She nods and eyes him. “I bow to your skills.”
He grins, starting to look her over, so I step in his path and cross my arms. “Look at her once more, and I will rip you to pieces and scatter you across these books, understand?”
He sits down with his hands raised. “Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a beautiful woman. Right, so why are you here?”
I hear Remi sigh and start to wander away, so I glance back at her. “Don’t go too far, amore.”
“Why? Are the books going to kill me?” She pulls out a knife from her back I didn’t even know she had. It’s the length of my fucking arm. “Bitch, please.” She turns and begins to whistle as she meanders through the stacks.
“Wow, what a woman,” Librarian murmurs, and I glare back at him. “Sorry, sorry.”
“I need the book containing the laws we put into place when we first elected the council. In particular, the laws on how to abolish them.”
His eyebrows rise, and he leans forward. “Kid, what are you up to?”
“Stopping the fucking world from falling into ruin,” I mutter.
He looks me over then. “You have a war coming, that’s for sure, but not with the council. That’s been taken care of, but if it makes you feel better…” He stands and moseys away.
“Wait, what the fuck do you mean it’s taken care of?” I call after him.
REMI
I can hear them talking, but the farther I walk into the maze of books, the quieter they get. Good, I need a moment away from Khalid before I either kill the bastard or jump his bones. He’s driving me crazy. Why did I agree to come with him again?
It was definitely the abs that distracted me. Let this be a note, ladies—don’t let the abs get you nearly killed. They ain’t worth it.
Running my fingers along the meticulously clean stacks, I randomly turn and follow a tug in my belly, which seems to be leading me through the books. Unlike the one that keeps pulling me to the face god, this one is different, deeper, as if it comes from outside of me and not within my soul like the other one. I follow it because I have nothing better to do. I turn and weave through the stacks until I can’t hear them anymore, and when Khalid’s rumbling cadence fades, I slump and sigh.
I can almost feel how inevitable it is. We are going to explode, either by killing each other or fucking our brains out. Honestly, at this point, I’m down for either. But he’s not that bad…is he? Yes, he’s an ass and he flirts with me, and he probably got me killed by my job, but I chose this. No one other than me makes me do anything. If I didn’t want to come, I would have just left, and he never would have found me. But I can’t stop myself. I need to follow this path to see where it’s taking me, like I have an itch to scratch, because this feels bigger than him or me, and if he’s right… If the council is hurting our own kind, then they have to be stopped, no matter the cost.
The tug gets stronger and stronger, until I’m almost running, but my eyes catch on a book before I reach it and I can’t help myself—I stop and turn. The giant book is old and black with gold writing, and the only words on it are ‘The Fallen Gods.’
Isn’t that what the Librarian called Khalid? For some reason, I pull out the tome, blowing the dust away as I stroke the leather cover. It feels important. I look around, but there is nowhere to sit, so I ignore the relentless tugging and sit cross-legged on the floor. The huge, domed ceiling is painted with scenes from over the years, I’m guessing, from wars, to deaths, to births. All kinds of creatures are depicted up there. I can’t even see the