Page 214 of Librarian

I thought I’d lost my chance when we searched the Arcanaeum and she was nowhere to be found. I thought I’d lost her.

“You didn’t have to?—”

“I wanted to. Iwantto.” My heart skips anxiously in my chest. “I love you, Kyrith. I have for some time. I should’ve told you back in Scotland, when I first figured it out.”

“No, this is perfect.” She leans forward, as if intending to kiss me, only to pause ruefully at the last second. “Almost…perfect.”

I close the gap, her cold lips tingling against mine. If she wants me to kiss her, I’m not going to let something as superficial as incorporeality get in the way.

Still, her shoulders slump a little as she draws back.

“What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing.”

It’s not nothing. I have an older sister. I’m well aware that ‘nothing’ is a trap. So I hold her gaze with mine, waiting.

It doesn’t take too long for her to fold.

“I can’t feel it. I keep hoping and hoping, but that doesn’t change. When it’s one of you brushing against me, I can shrug it off. Hugs are harder, but bearable. But when we try to kiss…” The wistfulness in her tone grows barbs, drawing blood. “I miss it too much.”

“You’re not going to be stuck like this forever,” I promise. “But while you are, I won’t initiate any kind of touch unless you ask me to, deal?”

The fathomless depths of her eyes swim with something nameless. I’m not sure if it’s sorrow, disappointment, or grief. Whatever it is, it makes me want to wrap her in a blanket and shield her from it.

But I can’t.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I love you,” I repeat. “And I can’t promise I won’t make mistakes, but I refuse to keep doing something that hurts you.”

She looks up at me from beneath her lashes, mouth twitching. “I love you too.”

“Good. That was the only acceptable response.” I gesture with my chin. “Now, shall I continue where I left off, or would you rather just watch the sky together?”

She hums under her breath. “Just one more chapter? I don’t want to take advantage, but…”

I smile, already knowing it’s not going to be ‘just one.’ “Chapter four…”

Sixty

Kyrith

Two uneventful days have passed since the Arcanaeum meddled with the spell, and that’s about as much idleness as I can stand before I decide to return to work.

I don’t have a body, but my own power is more than enough to accomplish most of the things I once did. I feel a little guilty that I’m not still hoarding magic to hasten the Arcanaeum’s regeneration, but the building doesn’t mind. If anything, it whispers with eagerness as I take my place behind my desk at nine on a Monday morning.

We’re both back where we’re meant to be, even if the other librarians are too worn out to do much more than open the doors as the minute hand ticks over.

No books are flying around. No carts trundle past.

Still, the response when the first patrons see me is more than gratifying.

“Librarian!”

“You’re back!”

I don’t have the heart to tell them all that they should be quiet in the Library. Though the flowers have long since been cleared away from around my desk, I still remember the sentiments on those cards.