He grumbles something that sounds like “book buying ban” but she ignores him and looks to me, her face practically split in two from her smile.
“Now, I need one for myself. I saw the one on the sign outside!”
Her energy has me just as excited, and I lead her down the ramp into the smut hall. The featured book is sitting on the table at the end in a lovely display with another light show. The characters dance across a hazy mezzanine with a court of dark fae looking up at them. She’s holding a dagger to his throat, but he wears a soft, loving expression, unconcerned by her threat. It’s a great scene.
“Oh my gosh, how do you do that?” she asks, moving her hand through the illusion.
My magic scatters and comes back together, not quite light-like. Maybe I could just tell her it’s real magic? What’s the harm, really?
I open my mouth to tell her the truth but the words catch in my throat. Something in my gut tells me there would be harm. That maybe Bastian could be put at risk.
“It’s a cool projector thing we installed in the walls,” I say, quickly covering my hesitation.
“And the sign out front?” she asks, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Oh god, oh god…
“Part of the sign,” I say. “I know, it just looks like a regular chalkboard, but it was super expensive.”
“Wow, that’s so cool,” she says, grabbingThe Tyrant King’s Bridefrom the stand. “Sorry to be taking your featured book first thing.”
“Happy to sell it,” I say, waving off her comment as I guide her toward the front, lest she start looking for the source of the magic again…
I ring them up and Aaron harumphs as he pays the bill, commenting that it was just as much as the store at the nearby city center. Brittany counters on the way out that they saved money in gas and supported a local business, and Aaron had no retort to that.
They wave goodbye at the door and Brittany stops to look at the sign one more time before Aaron tugs her off. I really need to come up with a better explanation, and maybe buy some actual projectors…
“Bastian,” I call as I walk into the back office.
He appears in a blink with a sultry smile. “Congratulations on your first sale.”
I was frustrated, but now I’m happy and feeling loved too. I give him a quick hug, then pull back and get serious again.
“Did you move the children’s books?”
“Of course. The flow is better this way,” he says.
I scowl. “Theflow?”
“Of magic. There’s a balance to the power of the stories and children’s books are low energy. Their tales are shorter with less depth and meaning, so I placed them over the more emotionally charged sex books.”
I cross my arms. “But now they’re on the second floor, farther away from child eyes. I want the kids and parents to quickly see we have a wide variety to choose from.”
He mirrors my defensive stance. “This is my hoard.”
“This again,” I huff. “It’s mine, too. I should have some say in the layout.”
“They were the only books I moved because they were the most egregious flow impediment. I could’ve moved more, so in a sense, you have most of the say in the layout.”
I squint at him. “So then why were the mystery books in their place instead of the clean romance? Where did those go?”
“Ah, yes,” he says, his voice losing some of his confidence. “I did…move a few others.”
“Look, I did a lot of research on layout. We may not be optimized for sales like this.”
“Optimizing for my magical feeding is more important than sales if we’re going to survive the warlock.”
I sigh. “Both are important. Plus, you didn’t move the hanging signs or the decorative dividers so there were kids blocks with murder books. On the day of opening,andI didn’t know!”
