Page 28 of The Alien in the Archive

“I’m fine,” I insist, thought my voice is soft. “I want to hear more. Please.”

Thorne raises a silver eyebrow, his black eyes studying me like I’m some fragile, curious thing he can’t quite figure out. For a moment, I think he’s going to chastise me.

He gently closes the book, setting it aside.

“Another time. Knowledge isn’t meant to be devoured all at once. It should be savored. Besides…” He leans back, resting his weight on one hand, the other absently stroking Ashlan’s fur. “You’re no good to me asleep.”

I shake my head. “What good am I to you anyway?”

He shrugs. “You’re surprisingly entertaining.”

As promised, Thorne walks me back out of the stacks and to the part of the Obscuary I recognize. I don’t realize he’s stopped walking until I’m almost at the gate, where I turn and look at him.

This relic in the library…trapped.

“I want to keep working tomorrow,” I tell him. “Early. Don’t make me hunt you down.”

Thorne chuckles softly, the sound low and indulgent. “I’ll be here,” he says. “I wouldn’t dream of hiding from you.”

The words send a shiver down my spine.

He fucking knows. He knows about the sex dream.

I turn on my heel and head toward the gate again, desperate to escape the heat rising in my chest.

“Page?”

I pause, glancing back over my shoulder. Thorne’s black eyes catch the glow from a nearby lamp, gleaming like molten silver.

“Sweet dreams,” he says. “And please try not to think so loudly in the future.”

I grit my teeth, forcing myself to ignore the way my pulse quickens, the way my thoughts betray me even now.

“Good night, Thorne,” I mutter.

And then I’m slipping away, through the gate and into the real world again…to dreams that will probably be very, very loud.

11

THORNE

Gods…I want to show her everything.

Not many people get to see the Labyrinth—the winding tunnels that lie beneath the Grand Library—but Page deserves that chance. I tell myself it’s because she’s entertaining, because she needs training, or because she could reveal my existence to the world. There are a thousand excuses I have for doing all of this. But deep down, I know the truth.

I want her to see the parts of the Obscuary that matter to me. I want her tosee me.

I’ve been alone in the Obscuary for so long that I’d thought I was immune to loneliness—but having her with me has opened me up to a whole world of difference. Every day, I look forward to her arrival in the archive, her eventual search for me at the end of the day, walking her back to the gate. I even anticipate the little ways she challenges me: her sharp tongue, the fire in her eyes when I tease her too much. It’s irritatingly delightful.

And at night…

…well, that’s why we’re here.

Because I warned her to quiet her mind, but she’s still impossibly loud. Each night, I hear her moaning for me in Mythara Village, and every night, I feel like an intruder in her most private dreams.

In theory, I’m going to teach her to control her telepathy because what she’s doing is an intrusion on me.

In reality, I need her to stop, or I’ll get addicted to it.

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