Page 52 of Dancing with Vipers and Shadows

Maybe that was my problem.

My personality was deemed “weird” by many. I was blunt, confrontational if necessary, didn’t care much about what many thought of me, and was powerful. Most of those traits were ones many didn’t give a shit about, but when you add those and ‘power’ into the mix, you’re stuck with being one of the most envied individuals in the room.

Joyous popularity at the price of being born powerful.

Wonderful.

My Dad wants me to find myself while I attend this university, but what if you already know what you are? What if the root of the problem isn’t who you are but the people around you? Maybe what I’m truly looking for isn’t about changing myself but finding an environment filled with people that just got me.

A group of friends, maybe?

A boyfriend who cares?

A society filled with people who accept me.

Coming to a stop, I look up to try to find the Manga section Amy was talking about.

“Top floor, left, down to Row 1069. Interesting.”

The number 69 always made me smirk because that was Ash’s favorite position.

He loved eating me out like I was the best dessert he’d ever tasted.

This university gives me a sense of nostalgia when it comes to my past. Weird when I’d only been here when I was a small child. The infrastructure of ancient buildings has changed significantly since, but the library seemed to be the one place they tried to keep the same.

Aside from the mass expansion of more books.

Whether it was the Mundanes who wished to expand their knowledge or the Fae of various Courts and Kingdoms who couldn’t get enough knowledge from books and scriptures, the library in any realm was one of the most vital spaces.

Especially when it comes to the worlds of dark magic and arts.

Reaching the Manga section has me scanning the rows of books. Some I recall reading when I was a young teen, but none of them seem to interest me now.

“Don’t they have a smut section?” I mutter with a disappointed pout. Spinning around, I feel a need to discover whether they have a Hentai section of some sort.

I mean, if those technological apps emphasize the importance of steamy romance with their discreet covers and extra sizzling, panty-wetting scenes, then I should be able to find a section revolving around the intense intimacy between two people.

Or three.

Four?

Goodness, how can one handle more than one man?

It’s a thought that makes me snicker before I turn from the Manga section and head down to the final three rows of colossal bookshelves. Turning into the first lane has me walking three steps before I turn my head to see a book I’d been dying to read.

“No fucking way!” I hiss quietly and grab the book I’ve been dying to read for months but couldn’t find it anywhere.

Literally anywhere.

I was completely against getting books on the dark web because they were filled with magic viruses that physically manifested into your lives.

Authors got tired of people stealing their shit and livelihood, so why not collaborate and make every book carry a plagiarism and illegal distribution spell that curses anyone who doesn’t purchase the book from the store or through official online means?

I’m the type to find humor in the most horrendous things, but can you imagine being cursed for five years with nothing but misery over a ten- to twenty-dollar book?

Suddenly, authors are making bank, and more young people are in the library reading smut.

This book, in particular, was something I could relate to.

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