Something almost bleak entered Lord Chauvlyn’s dark eyes. “Perhaps I understand more than you know.” The fae lord’s gaze drifted past Benedict to where King Oberon stood. “My reception by my own court will not be as pleasant as my imprisonment by my enemies.”
With that, the fae lord successfully stepped around Benedict and continued on his way toward the Court of Revels.
Grimacing, Benedict strode in the other direction. Toward the court that didn’t know it was already in danger.
Chapter Two
Beatrice pushed the covers of her bed aside and rolled out of the mossy alcove in her bedroom in the House in the fae village where she lived with her sister, brother-in-law, and three nieces.
On her bed, a red bookwyrm, a legless and wingless dragon, grumbled and burrowed into the rumpled blankets. She wasn’t supposed to take the bookwyrms home from the Great Library. They were, after all, the dragons that guarded the Library from pests of all sorts.
But sometimes one of them just had to come home with her. She’d slip this one back into the Library this morning.
Even if today would be more difficult than usual. As tomorrow was a Midsummer Day—the day in a Summer Court when the magic was at its highest—King Theseus had called a meeting today of all the librarians who worked in the Great Library.
Beside her bed, there came a tiny yapping, scraping sound. She smiled and peered into the nook where her glass dog lived. She’d gotten it at a Faerie Market shortly after she first arrived in the Fae Realm.
Not that the glass dog was alive, exactly. But it wasn’t unalive either. Yes, that was mind-boggling, but many things in the Fae Realm were. As a human living in the Fae Realm, she’d learned to just accept it rather than letting it break her mind.
After sliding her hand into the leather glove she kept nearby, she reached into the nook and ran her gloved finger over the dog’s back. Once she’d given the glass dog attention, it wandered off to sniff around the nook.
She reached into the jar she kept on the shelf next to the nook and fished out one of the pieces of sea glass her sister Viola had given her. When she dropped the sea glass into the nook, the glass dog gave another scraping bark and set to industriously gnawing on the sea glass.
After taking off the glove, she crossed the room to her wardrobe and rested a hand on the door handle. “House, I could really use something cute but professional today.”
The House gave a slightly huffy shudder around her, as if it didn’t appreciate having its tastes questioned.
When she opened the wardrobe door, a light pink dress with ruffles around the neck and around the hem hung next to her gray librarian coat, the coat’s color designating her as an apprentice librarian. The dress was more on the cute side than professional, but she reached for it anyway. Cute and ruffly was her preference. At least the pink paired nicely with her apprentice librarian coat.
Now that she was eighteen, she could be promoted to assistant librarian—earning a green coat—any day. If an opening for another assistant librarian opened up.
Thanks to the war with the Court of Revels, the Anywhere Doors connecting the Courts to the Great Library had been shut down to all but the closest of allies, meaning that few people from other Courts were seeking knowledge at the Library. Thus there was little need for additional assistant librarians.
Would the truce make a difference? Or would all those fae returning from fighting the Court of Revels fill the spots, robbing Beatrice of the position at the Great Library that she’d been working so hard to attain?
Beatrice changed into the pink dress and shrugged into the gray librarian coat. After taming her slightly curly blond hair with a ribbon, she picked up the red bookwyrm. It grumbled as she tucked it into a pocket. Not a magical pocket, of course. Magical pockets could hold all sorts of things, but if a living creature was put into one, it wasn’t alive when it was taken out again.
The bookwyrm squirmed around in the large pocket at the front of her coat before finding a comfortable spot with its nose poking out. It formed a large lump that would be difficult to hide, but it was more hidden than carrying it in her arms.
When she opened the door that connected her bedroom to the main part of the House, she stepped into a scene of pure chaos.
The oldest two of Beatrice’s nieces clambered off their seats rather than sitting and eating their breakfast while her brother-in-law Basil was attempting to corral them. Rebecca, the youngest of the girls, was perched on Meg’s lap as Meg fed her mashed vegetables with a spoon. To top it all off, the House kept shaking bits of dirt onto their heads in annoyance.
Buddy, their talking pony companion, kept the lower door to his stall closed, but he’d stuck his head over it. Addy, the oldest niece, kept leaping from her chair to feed him carrots.
“Buddy, you aren’t helping matters.” Basil shot the pony a look as he scooped up Addy and carried her, giggling, back to the table. He plopped her into her seat. “Sit.”
“It’s an old pony adage: Never turn down free carrots.” Buddy bobbed his head as he talked through his mouthful of thepurple-colored carrots. “Besides, if I’m going to babysit these hooligans, I might as well get something out of it.”
“We are grateful for the babysitting.” Meg popped another bite into Rebecca’s mouth, scooping up most of it again as it gooshed out of the baby’s mouth and dribbled down her chin.
Beatrice shook her head, grinning, as she strode all the way into the main room and shut the door behind her. Who knew that a talking pony would turn out to be such a great nanny? Especially considering he didn’t have hands. Between him and the House, the children were well looked after during the times when Basil and Meg couldn’t take them to the Library.
On most days, Meg took all the kids with her. She had a corner of the book repair room turned into a nursery and playroom for the children. A few of the older fae children, who also came to the Library with their librarian parents, sometimes helped out with the younger ones.
And, of course, the Library did its best to help. It had a protective streak over not only its books but also its librarians and their children.
“Auntie Bea!” Both Addy and Morgan hopped from their chairs and raced toward her. Basil snatched at them but missed.
