It seemed Azelon wasn't sure how to take that. "The Barrier Keepers are ancient and powerful. They maintain the boundaries between realms. If one brought you here, it was for a purpose."
"Not a purpose he bothered to explain." Jamie sipped his coffee with a thoughtful expression.
The lights throughout the store dimmed and brightened in sequence, as if the building itself was trying to communicate.
Corin watched Jamie's expression shift as he processed the store's reaction. There was something deeper happening here, something beyond a simple building relocated to a new realm.
"I think your store might have some opinions on the matter," Corin offered.
Jamie ran his hand along the countertop. "Then it better start explaining itself," he said to the room at large. "Because I need to find my brother, and I'm not accepting 'you're stuck in another world' without a fight."
The shop creaked again, a sound almost like laughter.
Corin grinned. "Oh, I like your spirit."
He caught Azelon's expression darkening from across the room, and his grin widened further. This was about to get very interesting indeed.
Chapter
Two
Corin trailed after Jamie as he explored the transformed bookstore, watching the human's methodical investigation with growing fascination. Jamie moved through the space with absolute confidence, trailing fingers along shelves and pressing palms against walls that seemed to lean into his touch.
"Is that door new?" Corin asked, pointing to an arched wooden entrance that definitely hadn't been there yesterday.
Jamie frowned, approaching it cautiously. "My office was here."
When he turned the ornate handle, the door swung open to reveal a cozy bedroom with a large four-poster bed, shelves lined with books, and windows that somehow showed a moonlit garden despite it being midday.
"Well, well," Corin drawled, slipping past Jamie to bounce experimentally on the bed. "This seems cozy. Your store has excellent taste."
Jamie remained in the doorway, expression unreadable. "It's never done anything like this before."
"Take it as an invitation." Corin patted the mattress beside him. "Coming to test the merchandise?"
It was a throwaway line, the kind of flirtation Corin tossed around like confetti.
He didn'treallymean anything by it.
But Azelon stood in the hallway, watching them. His bioluminescent markings pulsed with a cold blue light, jaw tight with something Corin couldn't quite name.
Interest? Disapproval?
Jealousy?
A delicious thrill shot through Corin's chest. He stretched across the bed, making sure his shirt rode up just enough to expose a sliver of skin.
"I bet this room responds to your every desire," he said to Jamie, voice pitched just loud enough for Azelon to hear. "What happens if you think about something you really want?"
Jamie gave him a measuring look. "I already have a bedroom upstairs."
"Why not take this one for a test ride?" Corin teased, deliberately catching Azelon's gaze over Jamie's shoulder.
Azelon's tail lashed once behind him, sharp and agitated. "We should continue exploring the rest of the building," the Tideborn said stiffly. "The magical anomalies might provide clues about what happened to you."
"Buzzkill," Corin muttered, but he slid off the bed and followed as they continued their exploration.
For the next little while, Corin made it his mission to stay as close to Jamie as possible. He brushed against him when examining books that changed their text when touched. He laughed too loudly at Jamie's dry observations and found constant excuses to touch his arm or shoulder.
