When I returnfrom my date, I enter the house through the back door to drop the food off in the kitchen before seeking out my employee. I find Bo at the front counter, tongue pinched between his teeth as he repairs a book spine. I’m quiet as I approach, not wanting to startle him and mess up his project. When I’m only a handful of feet away, I pause, and then I stop.
He carefully spreads the glue and presses the pages into place, holding them steady as the glue dries. His chest expands on a particularly deep inhale, and a moment later, his head pops up, eyes locking with mine.
“Mor.” He straightens. “You’re back.”
“I am. With food. You like the roast beef sandwich from Coffee & Claws, right?” I hold up the to-go bag.
Bo’s nostrils flare, and my curious mind wonders once more what type of mythics make up his monster. Most Of the Claw mythics have heightened scent. With his size, he could easily be part bear shifter.
“That’s my favorite. Thank you.”
“Thank you for looking after the library on your own. I know being in this building still has to be uncomfortable for you.”
Especially when, every night, he goes out to sleep in the RV rather than moving into one of the open bedrooms upstairs.
Bo’s eyes track around the entryway, as if expecting the house to move.
Everything remains still.
“I can take over.” I circle the counter and offer him the food. “Take a lunch break.”
“I can eat later. If you need to finish what you were working on when that guy showed up.”
“Nope. I’m good. Go eat, I insist.”
Bo hesitates for another moment, then gives a nod, collects his food, and heads toward the back of the house. He may have found some type of truce with the library, but I’ve noticed the monster always eats his midday meal out on the dock.
I wonder though if that has less to do with this building and more to do with wanting a slice of freedom in his day after being trapped for so long. If I took the time to focus on and sift through his emotions, I might have a better idea, but I pull back on that urge.
Bo deserves privacy.
Still, as I settle on the stool behind the desk and take a closer look at his project, I think back on Jaylen’s words. About villains using the library for nefarious deeds. Knowing Bo like I do, he’s low on my list for potential baddies.
But I’m almost certain hediddo something bad. He entered this house without permission and tried to steal from Dimitri’s hoard. Why else would the ward magic have attacked him?
I have a good guess as to what Bo was searching for. Likely the same item that Hamish wanted to get his hands on when he ensorcelled our household to sleep while he crept through thehalls. Just like the house had turned Bo to metal, it also fought back against Hamish.
The way the walls came apart to capture the selkie was intimidating, but compared to the complete imprisonment of Bo, kind of mild. My best guess is, since the dragon no longer lives in the house, the protection magic is still here but diminished.
At least for now. Who knows what housing all these magical texts in one place will do?
My mind circles back to Bo and what he was likely trying to take.
The golden apple.
The god object.
One of the reasons I didn’t hesitate to hire him is that the apple isn’t here anymore. Once Lucky alerted us to its presence, we took the mystical object from its hiding place in the wall, and I have it stored in a high-security lockbox at Wolf Trust Bank.
But Bo doesn’t know that.
And he’s made no move to find it again.
Is it because he’s properly chastised from his first punishment?
Or was he never truly interested in obtaining it?
The mystery pesters me for the rest of the afternoon, as I help a coven sister find spells for dream walking and as I brush past Bo throughout the day. He also seems tense. I wonder if it’s because he senses how my mind is stuck on him. How I’m working up to a kind of interrogation.
