Page 65 of Must Love Libraries and Libations
I shook my head. “You have already done more than enough in tolerating me. Primrose,” I said, taking her hand. “I am truly sorry for my earlier behavior, more than I can ever say. I was…scared. For so long, I have lived on the sidelines of this world. I had come to think of myself as little more than a relic. But you saw me differently. You reminded me what it means to live. I hope you will let me make it up to you.”
“You already have,” she replied, her gaze soft. “But you said your work is done here…”
I nodded. “I have completed the codex. The council will send someone to fetch it. And they… They offered me a new position.”
“New position? Away from Moonshine Hollow?”
I nodded.
“Where?”
“Golden Spires, in the lands of the Bright Sidhe.”
She gasped. “What did you?—”
“I’ve already told them no. I will stay here.”
Her hazel eyes took in the news, twisting around all the details, then she grinned mischievously at me. “What if I didn’t forgive you?”
Reaching out, I gently touched her chin. “I planned on being persistent.”
“Then I should have held out much longer.”
“To see me suffer?”
“Yes. All the suffering.”
I laughed. “You may take as long as you like to fully forgive me.”
“I like the sound of that. Keeps you dangling in the wind a bit longer,” she said, then she looked behind me, her eyes going wide. “Erasmus—” she began, a warning tone in her voice, but her words were cut short.
“Primrose Windsong! I can’t believe you’ve been keeping secrets from me,” a woman with a sharp tone said, then moaned.
Primrose swallowed hard.
I turned, seeing Missus Windsong approaching, Primrose’s father following behind her mother.
“First, the cottage, and now you and Master Erasmus? Primrose! Why didn’t you tell me you were dating Master Erasmus?”
“Well, I…” Primrose began but paused, uncertain.
“You must excuse your daughter. I asked her to wait until I was ready,” I told Primrose’s mother. “I hope you will excuse any impropriety. It was not meant to offend, Missus Windsong. I apologize.”
“Oh, well,” Missus Windsong said, looking flustered. “Well, I… Yes, I suppose I understand that.”
“Your beau?” Primrose’s father asked her in a soft voice.
She gave her father a nod.
He smiled knowingly.
“Mister Windsong, there is a new volume of Albertson’s Guide to Magical Fungi available. I shall ask the librarians to set it aside for you, sir.”
“Thank you, Master Erasmus. I’ll be by in the morning to fetch it. Now, come, Popkin. I saw Annie Beth arriving through the window.”
“Oh, I have to tell her the big news!” Missus Windsong said. “My daughter and the library guardian! What a splendid pair. And this party? All Primrose’s doing and pure magic. I tell everyone all the time what rare magic my daughter has, don’t I?”
“Of course, Popkin,” Mister Windsong replied patiently.
