“Yes.” I nod so vigorously I feel my curls move—and with the amount of hair spray I use to hold my retro hairdo, that’s really saying something.
“You haven’t heard the terms yet.” He frowns down at me, his fangs denting his lower lip. “Once I show you my library, we’ll finalize arrangements.” Luke extends his hand, the long fingers tipped with black claws.
The second I take it, he pulls me into his arms.
“Oh!” I gasp as my palms flatten against his hard chest again. He smells like leather and something smoky and rich, reminding me of sandalwood.
His red wings snap open, at least fifteen feet wide. Before I can ask what he’s doing, magic swirls around us and he leaps into the air with a strong beat of his wings.
My heart jolts against my ribs, pounding with excitement as downtown shrinks below us. I’m flying! I can’t believe I’m flying! It’s just as amazing as I always imagined.
Luke’s huge wings pound at the air with strong strokes, speeding us forward, his arms gripping me as if I weigh nothing.
“Uh, what are we doing?” I say.
“I’m taking you to my library.” He frowns as if I’ve asked something nonsensical. “There aren’t any roads to my castle. If you take the position, I’ll have to fly you to and from work each day.”
I swallow. How many shocks is a girl supposed to take? Luke’s going to wrap me in his arms and fly me around twice every single day? Did I die and go to monsterfudger heaven?
Then a blast of freezing wind rushes up my skirt, and I gasp. Even with a winter coat on, I’m not dressed for this. My bright-pink rockabilly dress has a lovely, flared skirt that hits right below my knees, leaving my calves bare, and Ican’t hide my shiver.
Luke growls and pulls me closer to his hot body—and I mean literally hot—he’s feverishly warm compared to a human. It feels so good that I instinctively snuggle closer.
He grunts. “I forget that humans are susceptible to the cold.” His tail coils around my legs, wrapping over as much of my bare skin as possible, and I start to shiver for a completely different reason that has nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with being this close to him. What all can that tail of his do?
“It’s okay.” My voice comes out soft and breathy, but I’m proud I’m able to say anything at all while this anxious and flustered and turned on. Fudge me, I feel like I just read three scenes in a row!
Focus on the flying, Skye! I whisper-hiss to myself.
Magic ripples through the air, which grows warmer. I stick out my hand as far as I can, the tips of my fingers touching icy air. He might be frowning as much as ever, but Luke created a bubble of warmth around me, which is reallysweet.
The forest slips by below, the trees dusted with snow that gleams in the sunlight like millions of diamonds. A massive stone castle comes into view, all turrets and towers and other words I’ve only read in books instead of ever needing in real life.
We land in a stone-paved courtyard right in front of a massive, arched wooden door, and Luke bustles me through it and into an entryway. A large formal staircase curves up the wall, below it opening onto a hallway. It’s warm inside and not as bare as I expected, with tapestries covering the walls and suits of armor standing in nooks.
“The library is this way.” Luke strides down the hall, and I hurry to keep up, my pink heels clicking against the stone floor in a quick rhythm.
He opens a door onto a circular room filled with tables and well lit by arched windows that glow gold. Wisteria trees frame each of the windows, dripping huge clusters of purple blooms that fill the warm air with a heady scent. Messy piles of books and scrolls cover the tables, but there are only a couple of bookcases.
“This is your library?” Disappointment eats at me as I strip off my coat and drop it over a chair.
Some of it must show in my voice, because Luke grips my shoulder. A pulse of his magic goes through me, and a magical hologram appears over our heads. A central dot glows, and two huge corridors grow out of each side, splitting into a confusing mess of branches until they resemble two giant trees growing from a shared source.
“The dot in the center is this reading room. The rest isthe library.”
My mouth drops open. It’s huge, like Library of Congress huge. Or maybe more like the lost Library of Alexandria, something precious and rare.
He tugs me through the archway on the left, explaining that this entire wing is dedicated specifically to magical research about dragons. A long corridor snakes into the distance, lined with bookcases that soar overhead. Every few yards, an opening appears, alternating between left and right, with other aisles leading off of the main one. Based on the map he showed me, these aisles will also have yet more hallways leading off each of them. It’s a maze, and it’s only half the library.
“So you say this wing is all about dragons. But how are these aisles arranged?” I gesture to the closest opening, shelves of books stretching into the distance down its length. “Is each one dedicated to a particular type of magic?”
“Perhaps,” Luke bites out, short and sharp.
“Perhaps?” I echo, confused. “Don’t you know? That seems like… a really basic level of organization.”
Instead of answering, he grunts and stomps back down the corridor and into the reading room.
Power reverberates through the air, an impossible breeze making the heavy clusters of wisteria blooms sway. Blue fades from the purple flowers, leaving them a delicate mauve that brightens until they match the hot pink of my dress.
