The Neko and the Wolf - 10. The Royal Library

Morning came far too soon, Finley waking up early to an alarm in Zaddis’ pants. When the half elf left him to head back to his quarters, the neko found it impossible to go back to bed, and he got up, throwing on a set of light clothes. Later he knew he would have to return and put on his more regal clothing. The gods forbid he insult the nobles by not looking fancy enough.

Opening the door out of his room, the neko found Maia looking at him with a knowing smile.

“Couldn’t sleep without your guest?” she asked quietly.

Finley gulped as his body drooped, and the other neko let out a gently chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell the queen. But you should not let this become a nightly occurrence.”

“I… I’ll try not to,” Finley breathed, trying to swallow around a knot in his throat.

“Breakfast isn’t for another two hours. You are being restricted to the palace proper today for your actions yesterday. But you may go wherever you wish within the building,” Maia added.

“Perhaps the library?”

As they reached the library, Finley saw a human girl behind the counter, thick-rimmed glasses framed by ginger curls as she poured over a paper on the counter. Hearing them enter, she looked up, a blush spreading over her freckled face.

"Oh! Prince Finley! Hello! I certainly didn't expect you to be here this morning..."

She quickly started folding and putting away the papers, a local tabloid and a regular newspaper. Looking at Maia, she seemed a little confused for a moment.

"Oh... Maia... I thought Zaddis usually had morning duty..."

“Zaddis should be back to guard duty tonight,” Maia mentioned. “The prince woke up early and decided this was the best place to spend his morning before breakfast.”

Finley nodded, his eyes glued to one of the papers that seemed to have a disturbingly familiar body part on it. The paper was tucked away before he could be certain, and Finley tried to forget about it. If it was what he thought, there would be the ferry to pay later. It was better to enjoy the peace for now.

Nodding quickly, the girl smiled.

"Ah! I see, well my name is Ali, pleased to make your acquaintance. I take care of the palace library."

Leaning over the counter, she offered a hand to shake.

"Is there anything I can help you find?"

“I’m not sure. Do you have any copies of the Wolf-mage here? I know it’s a comic, but I always heard the palace library had nearly every book known in the world,” Finley said, his ears flicking with nerves.

Ali gave him a quizzical look.

"The Wolf-Mage huh?"

Leaning towards him over the counter, her eyes bore into the neko.

"You a fan?"

She then grinned happily.

"Cause I've got the whole series with limited edition covers, AND the novelization signed by the author!"

Smirking, Maia rolled her eyes, "oh boy... another one."

“Lumara be praised…” Finley breathed, eyes widening. “This place is the BEST! I’m never leaving, you guys can’t make me leave. I’m living in this library now.”

He followed Ali through the nearly four stories of books, the library so large he was afraid he could get lost in here and never found again. Goodbye Zaddis, I die happy with a book in hand…

The neko hadn’t realized how massive the place was; his tutor had only taken him to one of the alcoves near the entrance of the library the day before. Now as he was led deeper and deeper, Finley understood what it meant to have a copy of nearly every book in the world in one place.

Ali was absolutely nerding out, pointing out the different sections as they headed for the third floor. Reaching the floor, she spread her hands wide.

"And here we have the Fiction section! Everything is alphabetized by author, so please my prince, search to your heart's content!"

He didn’t understand how this could all be in one place. Rather, Finley understood; one of the old human queens had used a bit of spatial magic to make the library larger on the inside than out, but his mind couldn’t comprehend it. It seemed like the rooms around him were living, breathing in knowledge, and Finley couldn’t help the feeling that he had died and been rewarded by Zasar.

His hands ran over a line of books, before pulling out one he recognised, a tale of neko lovers saved by the Wolf-mage. It was very much a guilty pleasure of his to read the comics, but as the prince, he figured he was entitled to a few pleasures in life.

“Ali, you are a godsend…” he breathed. “Thank you.”

She just grinned and shook her head.

"oh nonono, I just take care of the books my prince... though if you want some good recommendations, I'm your girl!"

Blushing a bit, she shrugged.

"I read... a lot... not much else to do for the royal librarian..."

“Fuck, if I weren’t gay…” he breathed.

Face heating up slightly, he set the book back.

“What do you suggest? I do tend to like more fantasy, though I’m not the biggest fan of wolf stories. They always seem to end so… predictably. Find a mate, mate gets captured, mate is rescued, the end… It gets boring after the tenth story. Er… not that it’s bad, if you like that sort of thing…”

Thinking a moment, she held up a finger.

"Wait right here... I've got something you might like..."

She scurried off down one of the rows. It took about ten minutes for her to return, a small black-bound book in-hand.

"Here... it's a wolf story, but its... anything but normal..." the cover was simply titled 'Passion', about 300 pages if Finley were to look.

There was no way the prince could read it in one sitting. Well, he could, but it would be at least eight hours, probably longer. And Finley had already been warned that even as royalty, he was not permitted to remove a single book from the library. But really, that just meant he would be coming back again and again to read his favourite stories. He would just have to make sure he knew where his favourites were hiding.

“How do I come back to a story? I wouldn’t want to leave it laying out, that would be disrespectful,” the prince frowned, looking at Ali.

Frowning slightly, she sighed before stepping closer.

"Okay... I'm not SUPPOSED to do this... but if you're VERY careful... I can allow you to take it for a day or two... one book nerd to another..."

He shook his head instantly, arms covering the book protectively.

“Uh uh. No, I can’t do that,” the neko said. “I mean, thanks for the vote of confidence, but if something happened, I’d never forgive myself. Besides, Lord Aerin was adamant, even the queen isn’t allowed to remove books.”

He looked around, finding a fallen bookmark.

“I’ll… I’ll just stick this in the shelf, that should mark it well enough,” he said.

Shrugging, she offered a hand.

"Or I can just keep it at the front desk for you... that way you won't have to search every time."

“That works too…” he agreed. “Okay, but I still have…”

Checking his watch, the neko gulped.

“Five minutes to get down to breakfast… Fuck!”

He handed her the book, fur fluffed out in every direction.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll be back later… I hope…”

Racing out of the library, the neko darted around servants, nearly leaping off a wall at one point to get around a blocked passage. He slid into the dining room, gasping for breath, only to find the queen glaring at him. Zaddis was standing nearby, the half elf not meeting his gaze.