Page 3 of Ancient Promises

“She’s coming in late. The younger kids are doing a spring talent show and she volunteered to help out, so I’m on breakfast and lunch duty.”

“Do you want me to stick around?”

“No, I’ve got it. Don’t you need to head back to the store?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like people are waiting at the door for me to open.”

“Oh, well, if you want, you could run to the office and give the credit card receipt to Isak,” Arely said, gesturing to the long receipt from the store.

“Sure.” Diem hadn’t been inside the school in a long while, so she took her time wandering to the office. The school wasn’t large since there weren’t a lot of students, with one teacher often teaching multiple grades.

She paused when she reached the library. The door was closed, the room dark.

Gripping the handle, she opened it and stepped into the dark room. She inhaled and smiled. Was there any better smell on earth than a library?

“Are you lost?”

Diem nearly fell over as she spun to face whoever was talking.

“Oh, hi, Isak,” she said to the dean of the school, pressing her hand to her pounding heart. “Not lost, just wondering why the library is dark. Is the librarian not here yet?”

Isak leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms. He was a black panther and had been in Cider Falls for several years. “We haven’t ever really had a librarian. We’ve had people over the years come in and help out, but mostly the teachers handle it. Why? You looking for a second job?”

“Oh no,” she said. “I mean, I’d love to help out, but not in a job kind of way. I would be happy to dedicate some volunteer hours, though.”

“Really?” He straightened, looking surprised.

“Sure.”

“Come on in the office, let’s chat.”

She followed him out, pulling the door shut.

By the time she left his office a half hour later, she had the log-in information for the library computer and a swipe card so she could get into the school without having to be buzzed in. She committed to a few hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and planned to keep the bookstore closed until after twelve when she’d be able to get back to work. The teachers were going to be told about Diem’s new volunteer position and the hours the library would be staffed.

“Hey, that’s great,” Arely said when Diem stopped by the cafeteria to share the news. “You’ll fit right in.”

“I’m glad to help.”

Diem said goodbye to her friend and headed back to the bookstore. She’d noticed, after a second pass through the library, that there weren’t many new release books for the kids. After finding out from Isak the ages and reading levels of the kids in the school, she planned to spend the afternoon finding books that she could take to the library to stock the shelves.

Shopping for books was one of her favorite pastimes, along with reading and talking about them.

“I just hope my truemate loves to read too,” she said to herself as she walked into the bookstore and flipped the sign from closed to open. She’d gone with Arely to the grocery store and walked out with a new purpose. She couldn’t wait to see the kids in the library.

Chapter Two

Eivross Danforth watched from the corner of the throne room as his brother, Zihndyr, stared at a screen with a map.

It wasn’t a throne room so much as an office that his brother had taken over after killing their father, who had been the king of their dragon nest. But Zihndyr liked the sound ofthrone roombetter, so that’s what everyone called it.

“How big is the territory?” Zihndyr asked, swiveling back and forth in the high-backed leather chair.

“Just one square mile,” Lanius said.

“And how many dragons are there?” Zihndyr turned and faced Eivross, who was the captain of the guard.

“Twenty-two,” he answered.