Page 14 of Tricky Princess

“Right,” he said slowly. It grated on one of her last nerves. “Let’s go before our coffees get cold.”

Duhne turned and stepped away, but then paused to look back at her. He waited for her to step beside him and bent his elbow toward her.

“Is this you trying to influence me?” she asked, linking her arm through the crook of his elbow.

“I don’t think anyone could influence you.”

They walked in comfortable silence down the hall as Ellea’s thoughts were carried away toward Ros’ mom. He hadn’t spoken of her that much, and Belias had only mentioned her that one time. It seemed two out of the four rulers were single parents.

“Who were you raised by?” she asked, curious if he was raised by both parents.

“My father, Leviathan.” His love for his father was easy to see in the warmth of this voice and light in his eyes.

“And your mother?”

“She passed away during birth.” He fidgeted, looking much smaller than he was. “She was a mortal human. It was too much for her.”

“I’m sorry, Duhne,” she said, looking up at him.

He dismissed her pity with a wave of his massive hand. “It was eons ago.” He turned her toward a set of massive double doors.

They opened swiftly, and on the other side was Reaver, looking a little flustered.

“I was beginning to think—”

“Fucking cheese and rice!” She roughly pushed past Duhne.

Before her was an endless library with ceilings that went on forever. Each shelf rose well beyond thirty feet, and every section of books had a ladder. There had to be thousands of rows of books. Ellea took a shuddering breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, muttering a silent plea. She opened one eye, and the library was still there. Her chest ached at the thought of all of these books. She wouldn’t want to read all of them—she would bet an espresso machine that most of these shelves held mundane books on rules and how women need to be kept quiet—but the sight of so many books still took her breath away.

The distant muttering of Duhne and Reaver pulled her out of her stunned silence and thoughts. She hadn’t realized her feet had moved her down about twenty sections of books. It wasn’t like a library in the city where you would find students or professionals studying and working. There were no tables, only various statues and glass enclosures scattered throughout the space. She could see some small tables sitting outside on balconies.

“Are any of these good books, or just history and boring old man shit?” Ellea called over her shoulder while inspecting a row of books that were in a language she didn’t recognize.

“Well, aren’t you a rude little demon?” said a translucent woman poking her head out of the books right in front of Ellea’s face.

Ellea yelped and shuffled back so fast she crashed into the case behind her.

“My books!” the woman yelled.

Ellea looked up to see a few heavy volumes teetering on the edge of the top shelves. Her heart dropped into her stomach, and she braced her hands over her head, attempting to protect herself. Heavy steps sounded, and Duhne’s boots appeared in her line of sight. She flinched, waiting to be hit, but nothing came. Looking up, she saw Duhne’s misty shadows spread above her like a small portal. She stepped away from it and saw the books that had been aimed at her dropping into a neat pile a few feet away.

“Careless.” The woman fretted over the books on the floor. “All you demons are careless. I don’t know why I stay here.”

“You could leave, Viatrix,” Duhne grabbed the books and magicked them back to their place.

“Leave?” She choked on her words. “And who would care for this endless library? Not that anyone bothers with it anymore. I swear, you all go about doing evil things and forget about me.”

Ellea blinked a few times, trying to follow the direction of the woman’s outburst. Did she want to be left alone or did she feel alone?

“She’s a Draugr,” said Reaver, sidling up to Ellea.

“A what?”

“I think you would know her as a ghost or spirit.”

“Are all the dead here ghosts?” Ellea whispered, not wanting to insult the very angry ghost librarian.

“Only a few. Most of the dead you will see here are as solid as you or I.”