Page 52 of Sincerely, Secretary of Doom

Mor’s smile fell. “Queensbane,” he muttered, slowing his pace a little.

The section of back shelves was dimmer than the rest of the library, but a narrow, gated window allowed a sliver of light to spill over the space, giving magic to the air where dust particles floated in the stream. Mor breathed in the warmth of the well-used area. Libraries often told stories, and it hardly had anything to do with the books themselves. He took in the whispers of time, the fragrances of enjoyable tales tucked into the pages of the books. He wished he had the ability to look into the past of a space the way Cress did.

“I could seriously go for a bubble tea.” Violet stretched dramatically with her arms high in the air like she’d just climbed out of a cave after a season of hibernation. “Someday I’ll get you to try it. It’s delicious. Also, what exactly are we looking for here?” Violet asked, practically yelling.

Mor shushed her. “This is a library, Human. There are rules.” He was astounded that she didn’t even know the binding laws of her own species.

Violet sighed and flicked her braid off her shoulder as she reached for the books, pulling one out at a time to read the covers. “There’s no point in looking for fairytale books sinceyou’rea fairy. You should already know all the fairy stuff,” she said as she reached for a tome on a high shelf. “And you don’t have to keep reminding me that I’m a human. You can just call meVioletsince that’s my name—eek!”

A book spilled off the ledge above her, and Mor watched it smack the top of her head, spin off, then slap the floor. Quiet conversations throughout the library went silent as every human within hearing range undoubtedly stopped to wonder what fool had broken the binding silence law of the sacred building.

Violet rubbed the top of her head. “Ow!” she said, even though it was seconds too late.

Mor huffed and folded his arms. “I think I regret bringing you with me. I should have locked you in the office while your hair was still wild and unruly. Bringing you out in public is an enormous hassle.”

Violet shot him a look. “You didn’t even try to catch that book before it hit me!” she accused.

“I’m standing over here,” Mor pointed out with a shrug.

“You’re tall. You could have smacked it off course before it smoked my head. My…” She teetered, her lashes fluttering, and Mor’s arms dropped. Her feet wobbled in her heels, and when one of her legs gave out, he sprang to her side, catching her waist and steadying her on her feet.

“Queensbane, Human!” he whispered loudly at her.

“I told you to call meViolet,” she had the mind to say even while she teetered.

“Why are you so weak? And…” Mor glanced off in thought. “How did I not notice that you were in this state when we left?”

Violet tipped forward, her cheek coming against his chest. Mor looked around to see if anyone had noticed. ‘Lovey dovey shenanigans’ were against the law of the library as well, as was scribed upon the list of rules by the door where they came in. Violet’s closeness to him might be considered such a thing as a shenanigan of the ‘lovey dovey’ sort.

Mor cleared his throat when Violet didn’t move from him. “Human,” he said. She remained still and rebellious. “Violet,” he tried again, hoping her name would make her snap out of it. A thought crossed his mind, and he released a huff as he realized. He took hold of her arms—his bare hands against her.

Nothing happened.

“Violet!” he snapped again—only this time it was him who broke a sacred library law with his shout.

She flung her head up, her eyes wide. She seemed to try and blink away her dizzy spell. “What?” she mumbled.

“You didn’t take your cold iron, did you?” he scolded.

Her mouth moved as she sorted through responses, and she looked around like she was trying to come up with a blatant lie.

“Vi-o-let.” He growled through his teeth. “You can’t imagine how tempting it is for me to enchant you right now. I’m typically too considerate for such a thing, but I don’t like bickering. It would be easier if you would just do what I told you.”

A laugh lifted from her as though she’d come back to her senses. “You want to enchant me?” she asked doubtfully. “How would you do that? With a magic wand?”

“With a kiss,” Mor corrected. He leaned in and looked into her eyes, feeling the warmth of that little flare that arose in the greens of her irises. Her rhythm galloped when his gaze dropped to her mouth, tracing over it.

“Don’t even think about it!” She stepped back, pulling from his grip. She folded her arms.

Mor gave her a look that promised he’d more than thought about it. “I’ll wait until you’re not expecting it,” he promised.

Violet’s face twisted into a scowl. “I’ll take double my iron pills every day then. We’ll see how it goes for you when you try!”

Mor nodded, satisfied. “Fine then. Do that.”

He marched around her with a sigh. Some humans were far too easy to manipulate.

He came to the shelf with dozens of books that told tales from all over the human world. One in particular caught his attention above all the others. One he’d been eying for months but had never wanted to touch.

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