Page 7 of Must Love Libraries and Libations
“Primrose, I’m sorry. Perhaps we should go to The Sconery, have a tea, and rethink our plans,” Elder Theodonna said, pulling a handkerchief from her dress sleeve and blotting the corners of her eyes. “Perhaps we could hold the party at the community building or?—”
“Oh, no,” I replied. “We are having a party. Here. For the library,” I said, then gestured around me. “It’s the library’s birthday. We should celebrate it here, don’t you think?”
Beside me, the books on the shelves made excited squeaks and, for a moment, glimmered in iridescent tones.
“But—” Tomas began, but I smiled at him and gestured for him to hold his thought.
“The library belongs to Moonshine Hollow,” I said. “Not to Master Erasmus.”
The tomes glowed a little brighter, as if cheering me on.
“Primrose,” Izelda called, a warning in her voice, but I was having none of it.
“In fact,” I added, “it seems like it’s about time someone reminded him of that,” I said then turned and headed off.
Not even devastatingly handsome gargoyles twice my height with looks that could melt anyone’s heart were going to get away with being so rude.
It was time for someone to set that gargoyle straight.
CHAPTER 4
ERASMUS
It had been a perfectly pleasant morning. I had made progress on the witch’s codex and had just settled in to repair the tome on lightning when I heard…noise. Laughter. Loud laughter. Talking, joking, cackling, and then…fireworks?
No.
Absolutely no.
I already told Elder Theodonna that we were not having a party. The audacity of her and that half-elf party planner to come into my library and make all of that noise. Fireworks? Here? Never. I would not allow it. The library would not allow it. It was too much, especially when I was so close to finishing the witch’s codex. It wasn’t just the disruption to me. The witch’s grimoire was temperamental on a good day. And as I’d neared the end of this last tome, the spells had become slipperier, more dangerous. Such chaos could be disruptive and potentially dangerous.
So, no.
Never.
Using my gargoyle magic, I had slipped into the shadowed corner of the meeting nook to listen unseen to their conversation. The half-elf had been so…animated. Her ideas were colorful, loud, and messy. Her cheeks had blushed red, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Even her breath had quickened, making her ample bosom rise in delighted anticipation.
I cleared my throat, pushing that image away.
There would be no party. Now that I had settled the matter myself, since Izelda seemed unable to say no to the elder and that excessively cheerful woman, I settled in at my workbench once more, with all worries about fireworks set to rest.
I was just about to dampen my quill when the door to my private study opened with a bang.
The noise took me aback.
No one ever opened that door.
It was locked.
Enchanted.
No one could open it but me and the library itself.
But if that were true, what was that half-elf, her cheeks red, a furious expression on her face, doing in my private study? She closed the door angrily behind her.
I couldn’t even remember the last time someone was in here.
Melville, who had been napping in the chair, lifted his head and clicked at me in surprise.
