Page 45 of Ruined Kingdom

Guilt and shame settled heavily in the pit of my belly. I hadn’t intended to scare him. “We don’t want to hurt you. We are just looking for some information. We were wondering if you could help?” I approached him slowly, sheepishly even, keeping my voice low and calm.

“Help? Ah, yes. I can help. I know all these books like the back of my slime.” He still seemed to be disoriented as he looked around with small, beady black eyes that sunk into his gelatinous form.

“Perfect. We are looking for books on shifters. If you have anything on the Dark Fae and curses as well, that would be a bonus.” I slapped my hands together excitedly and a bit too loudly, instantly regretting it. He didn’t have anything resembling eyebrows, but the creature seemed to frown at me in disapproval.

“Shifters, you say? You aren’t by chance here with a particularly tall and menacing Alpha King, are you?” He backed away from us again.

I knew I was going to regret this. “...Yes?”

He let out a garbled scream as his noodly arms waved helplessly in the air. “Please just take what you want and leave me be!”

I looked to Tieni, at a loss for words. “What did Kaine do that caused all of you to be so terrified of him?”

“He’s a shifter. They are known for their violent nature. Most are afraid of him because they know what he is. He doesn’t have to do much else.” Tieni had long become exhausted by the slime creature and decided to look through the books herself. “Gah! There’s no use. None of these are even organized. It would take us months to pour through all of these.”

Not if they were in the library back at home, I thought, rubbing my chin pensively.

“That’s a marvelous idea, my love.” Kaine came up behind me and put his arm over my shoulder. “Good afternoon to you, Maurlin.”

“Sire… I haven’t done anything. Please, spare me, oh wise and mighty Alpha King,” the slime supplicated and bowed submissively, lowering himself all the way down to the ground.

I couldn’t decide whether it looked comical or pathetic.

“I know you’ve been very good, Maurlin. You need not worry today.” Kaine’s voice was reassuring and non-threatening, which made the slime begin to straighten his body in relief, but the moment the Alpha King held up one finger, Maurlin trembled himself back into a bow again. “We only have one request to make of you.”

“Oh, yes. Please, anything you need. Just name it, and it shall be done!” he exclaimed, sounding close to tears now.

Can this creature even cry?

“We would like to buy all of your books,” Kaine stated simply, his voice dipping low as a smile crossed his face. He was clearly enjoying toying with the terrified slime.

“Oh…” Maurlin managed to croak out between the violent quivers wracking the length of his body. He sunk away from Kaine slightly as he asked uncertainly, “Every single one of them?”

“Every. Last. One.” Kaine’s words hung in the air for a long moment.

“Kaine, stop teasing the poor thing. He’s going to have a heart attack—” I looked down at Maurlin’s chest where a heart should be, “—or something of the sort.”

“Yahoo!” Maurlin cried out before grabbing Kaine’s hand and shaking it vigorously. “Now, I can go out and buy new books to store here!”

I watched in surprised confusion as the slime slinked behind the counter and pulled out a hat and a satchel—his fear completely gone, replaced with an enthusiastic grin and the happy shine to his beady eyes. “Here’s the keys to the books in the back. Just leave the money on the counter. I’ve got to go pack!”

He crawled upstairs as quickly as his form would let him and disappeared into a room.

“I’ve seen many strange things since knowing you, but that has to be the weirdest interaction of them all,” I said, still giggling in disbelief as Kaine pulled out a black velvet bag filled with clanking metal items.

I leaned over to him to get a better look. The only other thing I could see was that the bag had his initials on it.

“This should about cover it.” He plopped it down onto the counter and wiped the slimy keys on his pants before handing it to Tieni. “Please see to it that all the books are transported home safely.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Tieni bowed her head at him before Kaine led me out of the library.

“Something tells me this isn’t the first time you’ve bought out all the books here,” I said, smiling at him knowingly. “I know a veteran book lover and buyer when I see one.”

“Where do you think all of the books in the Library came from?” he laughed, his eyes warm as he gave me a sidelong glance—the most affection he’d shown me since the incident in the cave.

Suddenly, I didn't care about the books. I just wanted to sit here and watch him smile like that until the sun died on the horizon.

“Come. Let’s return home. I’m famished.” He held out his arm for me to take.

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