Beneath the Blood Moon

Chapter Nine: Well That's Terrifying

Dramatic.

Elrick was incredibly dramatic. And wasn't to be trusted. Nnandi knew that from the first moment they met. But telling her that she belonged to him because of a lock of hair? That was over the top. Of course she believed him, even after he assured both women it was a joke. Placating them even as he disappeared through the veil, he sang reassurances , trying to soothe their ruffled feathers.

Nnandi was the first to follow him to the back, passing through the thin curtain into the unknown. It wasn't smart, anything could have been on the other side of that thin piece of fabric. But his untrustworthiness trumped her natural self-preservation and she stumbled into something incredible. Shock numbed her panic for a moment.

Breath caught in her throat. The room was massive. Much larger than the outside of the building could allow and yet there it sprawled. Out and back, deeper and higher than the library in the territory. Though the resemblances between the two spaces were uncanny. The same dark shelves that created the labyrinth in the library were stacked atop each other to the ceiling back there. Books, paper, bottle, various odds and ends piled up every visible inch. From what she could see, there was no method to the madness. No organization or patterns. Just towers of tomes crammed together.

She didn't know her mouth was open until Elrick gently tucked his finger beneath her chin and closed it.

"What an expression," he purred, leaning down so that their eyes were level, "It's nice, yeah?"

Nnandi nodded, still unable to speak. It was more than nice. More than good. It was a gold mine of magical information. The energy of the air was charged with it, so much that it made her dizzy. A tad drunk. Blissful and relaxed. The aroma was spot on to the library too, Ariete magic was definitely at work in the space.

"Puts that quaint little reading nook in Valda Manor to shame," he signed, straightening up, gaze grazing his workshop. A proud smirk on his face, she hated how pleased he was with himself, but couldn't deny how impressive it was.

She imagined herself tucked into a small corner, pouring over the eclectic titles, absorbing all she could from them. Her body ached for the feeling of strong magic, the kind she used to know once upon a time. Maybe here, she could find a way to fix whatever broke inside her. Return her flame to the brilliant inferno it once was.

Sarai stumbled through the door, knocking her out of her daydream and off her feet. But again, she never hit the ground. Instead, for the second time, she was wrapped in Elrick's arms. Pressed against him, the panic resumed full speed.

She twisted and jerked away, remembering his claims of ownership. And then his attempts at blowing the whole fiasco over. Nnandi squared her shoulders and evenly glared up into his eyes. Of course she wasn't intimidating, all 5'5" and 135 pounds of her matched up against him. But she channeled her low grade anger into something of a scowl.

The thought of being indebted to someone, imprisoned in a different cage, at the mercy of a powerful entity she didn't fully understand, it all sat wrong with her. Too close to the pain brought on by her past, she'd stay wary long after he confessed to the "joke".

"Don't think I've forgotten your little comment. You own me?"

"Would it be such a bad thing? I could always use help around the shop. And the look in your eye when you saw this place is dangerous. You're curious." He stepped up to her again, leaning close. "Imagine all you could learn. All the magik you could claim here. Freely. No teachers, no overseers, no council to banish you from it."

Nnandi hated him and hated how could stoke that desire in her. She couldn't fight her mind as it wandered to that freedom. The promise in his tone made her head spin.