Page 93 of Soul of a Witch

Stepping closer, so I could maintain eye contact with him, I said, “No torture. No violence. Behave yourself.”

A shadow flashed over his eyes, and his lips stretched into a grin. “As my lady wishes. I’ll be a perfectly well-behaved boy.”

Somehow, I doubted it.

Despite my fears of being spotted by someone who knew me, walking into the library still made my heart flutter with happiness. The familiar sights and smells, the polished wood shelves warmed by the late afternoon sun, the roasted-coffee aroma of the library cafe — God, I’d missed this.

“Oh, good. It’s just William today,” I said, as we lingered in the entryway and I took a careful look around. Callum craned his head toward the librarian’s desk, not being even slightly subtle as he stared.

“You mean that small boy with spectacles?” he said. “What’s good about him?”

Small boy.I barely stifled a laugh. Will was twenty-three years old and gangly, certainly not small. But it was rather satisfying to hear the hostility in Callum’s voice. It validated my decision to come with him, first of all. But it was also an ego boost to have this powerful demon with the good looks of a high fashion model sounding jealous over me.

“He’s my friend,” I said, clasping his arm to draw his attention back to me. He was glaring at Will as if the man had insulted him, and I reached up to turn his face toward me. “Stop staring, you’re going to scare him.” When his eyes narrowed even further, I grasped his jaw, shaking it as I insisted, “No torture. No murder. Behave.”

“Your rules are cruel.”

But he made an obvious effort not to stare as we approached the desk, and Will finally looked up from his paperwork.

“How can help — holy shit! Everly?!” Will leapt out of his chair so fast he nearly tumbled it over. “You’re — Oh, thank God, you’re alive! I’ve been so worried, everyone has been so —”

Pressing a finger to my lips, I leaned over the desk and whispered, “Please be quiet, Will. No one can know I’m here.”

Lowering his voice to a stage whisper, Will cautiously peered around and finally noticed Callum standing beside me.

“Victoria said you vanished,” Will said, slowly breaking his glaring contest with Callum. “She said you…well, she thought you were having some kind of mental breakdown.”

“Victoria doesn’t know I’m here and I need to make sure she doesn’t find out either. Whatever my family has told you, please trust me that they’re lying.”

His eyes searched my face, wide with concern. “I knew they treated you like shit. I’m so sorry, Ev. If there’s anything…anythingI can do to help you…”

Callum made a sound that was either a scoff or a laugh, and Will’s eyes darted between us suspiciously.

“Who is this?” he said, the distaste obvious in his voice. I stepped closer to Callum, putting myself between the two of them.

“This is Callum,” I said. “He’s my…uh…”

“Fiancé.” Callum brushed past me, extending his arm to Will and engulfing the man’s hand within his own. “Pleasure.” He hardly sounded pleased.

“Fiancé,” Will repeated, glancing between Callum and I. “Right. I’m Will. Pleasure, I guess.”

Callum did indeed make Will look very,verysmall.

“Listen, Will, I don’t have much time,” I said, getting between them again before they could start spitting at each other like angry cats. “I’m looking for some old documents from the 1890s. Building plans from Leighman Mining Company. Is there anything like that kept here? Even in storage?”

Will appeared deep in thought for a moment before he sat again and rapidly typed on his computer.

“We do have documents from Leighman Mining,” he said. “They’re not categorized though. Seventy-seven preserved documents in a single file, stored in…” He frowned. “The rare books depository. That’s odd.” He chewed his lower lip. “Look, Ev…I want to help, I really do, but I could lose my job letting you in there.”

“I know. I hate putting you in this position, I just really need your help.Weneed your help.” Encouraging him to play nicely, I gave Callum a sharp nudge with my elbow.

My demon sighed. “Yes, Mr. William, if you could assist us, that would be just peachy.”

It took considerable effort not to wince at that, just as I’m sure it took Callum considerable effort to say something at least vaguely polite.

Luckily, William didn’t take much to convince.

“Okay, okay. I’ll be right back. I’m going to get the key and tell Sarah I’m going on break.” He left his chair and disappeared through a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, leaving Callum and I standing side by side at the desk.

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