Page 34 of Must Love Libraries and Libations
Elves.
But…beau? Beau!
CHAPTER 12
ERASMUS
The following morning, I searched every corner of the library for the witch’s spell, but it was nowhere to be seen. I had hoped the bookwyrms would have found it in their evening cleanup of stray magic, but they had not discovered it either.
I could sense the magic roaming in the ancient stacks below the library. Stevenson and Merlin had come with me to the basement to hunt down the loose hex. Stevenson came mostly out of curiosity, but Merlin, the obsidian-colored bookwyrm, had a good nose for gray magic. Like me, he could sense the spell lingering in the forgotten section of the library amongst the old town records, maps, and tomes. The musty smell of old books, crumbling paper, and earth usually comforted me, but today, I was unsettled.
And not just because of the spell.
She kept drifting through my mind. Vexing but intriguing woman, I could not shake Miss Windsong no matter what I did.
I was about to move on to the rare books room when I heard Izelda on the stairwell. “I believe he’s down there in the old records.”
“Perfect, I have him cornered,” a bubbly voice replied with a bright laugh.
At that, Stevenson perked up, and I winced.
Everything about this was getting harder. Why wouldn’t she just go away?
Stevenson scrambled away from me in Miss Windsong’s direction, while Merlin… Merlin perked up as if he’d sensed something.
“What is it?”
Merlin’s eyes peered into one of the dark corners of the library, his ears turning to listen, just as Miss Windsong appeared.
“Ah, here you are,” she said with a broad smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever been down here before. This is the perfect place to look for items for the display,” she said, looking around. “Is that a tapestry of the village? There are only five buildings. That would be a wonderful addition to the birthday display inside the library.”
The sweet scent of baked goods and freesia clung to her very essence, as if she soothed and comforted everyone who came within her sunny radiance. My stomach clenched. I wanted to pull her into my arms again, taste those sweet lips, and feel that soft, warm body against me.
“Erasmus?” she asked, tilting her head.
Not Master Erasmus. Just…Erasmus.
She was getting familiar.
Not now.
Not with the spell so close by.
“What are you doing down here?” I asked, my voice sounding harder than I intended. In an effort to choke back my embarrassment over my lusty thoughts, I swung too hard in the other direction.
She gave me a disappointed frown. “Looking for you.”
At that moment, Stevenson lifted the lid on her picnic basket and looked inside, trilling in excitement over whatever he’d found there.
Merlin, however, clicked low and warningly and headed off in another direction.
“This isn’t a good time,” I told her. “You need to go.”
“But this handsome gentleman needs a muffin,” she said, bending down and removing a sweet-smelling blueberry muffin from a box and handing it to Stevenson.
“Muffins are bad for bookwyrms.”
The look Stevenson gave me could have frozen water, and for a brief moment, his muzzle opened and I saw a flicker of incandescent blue bookwyrm fire.
