Page 58 of Entranced By the Basilisks

27

JASPER

“Director?”

I shake my head to dispel the memory that has me in a choke hold: Emilia smiling up at Ari as I was leaving this morning.

“Sorry, Agnes, my mind was elsewhere. What did you say?” I ask.

Instead of glowering, she looks concerned. “That seems to be happening more and more, are you okay?”

Instead of bristling at her question, I retreat. “I’m… handling something.”

My mind is wandering more than it usually does. Agnes is right to be concerned. My position at the library is an important one that deserves all my attention.

“Has it anything to do with Emilia?” Agnes narrows her eyes, shrewd. She’d set up all the paperwork needed for Emilia and me to pursue a relationship without a word of judgment, but if Emilia ends up with a broken heart, I have no doubt that I will be dealing with Agnes’s retribution.

I don’t shy away from the older woman’s gaze. She may be intimidating, but I’m still a basilisk. More importantly, she cares for the woman haunting my thoughts. “Yes.”

It’s been a few days of cohabitating with Ari and Emilia and so far, we’ve all taken it slow. I’ve shared breakfast and dinner with them daily, talking over drinks or a movie before dispersing to our own rooms for the night. Learning about Emilia is a delight and Ari is just as much of a revelation.

He may own my heart and I’ve known him for years, but there are things I’ve kept myself from knowing. Things that ache with intimacy. I know exactly how he likes his cock to be sucked, but I hadn’t known his penchant for making elaborate meals or that he sympathized with those who lost loved ones in The Great Conflict.

He mercifully hadn’t told Emilia about my association with the turning point in serpent kin history. My lineage is something that has haunted me my entire life. The details won’t mean the same thing to her as they would to others of our kind, but it’s freeing getting to know her without that shadow hanging over my head.

As slow as the wooing has gone, it hurts how easy it is. Nothing of note has happened other than the stiffness of Emilia’s body relaxing in both of our presences as she’s grown more comfortable, as the two of us have become a new normal for her.

Last night, we’d watched a movie and she’d forgotten the serpents hiding under her glamour for a moment and rested her head on my shoulder. The slithering bodies against my neck had been startling, but I refused to move until after the movie. They’d tickled but calmed their movements after Ari had started stroking Emilia’s arm.

She’d been embarrassed afterward, but I’d assured her that it wasn’t a problem. Because it’s not. I enjoyed her proximity too much to mind the snakes.

“You better take good care of her,” Agnes says, breaking me out of my woolgathering once more.

“I aim to,” I say rather than snapping.

Agnes’s eyes move over my office, taking in the stacks of papers and the plethora of sticky notes. I’ve been trying to juggle finding out more about Chosen and my duties as the director with varying success. With all the information I’ve gathered from my inquiries, I still haven’t found anything concrete. There are no written accounts of successfully reversing the Goddess’s blessing. There are a few recorded attempts, which are surprising to me, but no successes.

“Is this where you should be right now?” Agnes asks.

I almost laugh.

“This is where I’m always supposed to be, Agnes.” I don’t know who is more surprised by my teasing words, her or me.

Agnes softens. “There is more to life than this library.”

“You’ve never said that to me before.”

“Quite frankly you’ve never had anything more before.”

I blink in surprise. “Touché.”

“I’m just saying, you’re marvelous at your job, a machine really, but you don’t always need to be a machine and other people can be delegated to.”

“Are you going after my job, Agnes?”

Agnes makes a disgusted noise. “And speak to the donors in your place, hardly! But we can move some assistants around to cover some of your other duties. You can take time off to work on whatever needs to be done for Emilia. You don’t need to be overseeing it all.”

“I don’t oversee it all. You’re instrumental to the running of this library far more than I.”

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