Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 28--Why?

I yawned and pushed myself and the books I was reading closer to the fire. The last rays of daylight shone through the glass ceiling, giving me a few moments of light until I would have to light a lantern or read by the fire.

Even though it was not yet night, I was tired. It had been a long day. Raul and I had worked in the castle for the morning and better part of the afternoon, stopping only when we felt that giant spiders were not going to suddenly drop from their webs and devour our heads. We then went our separate ways, me heading to my room and Raul going whoever he went. For an hour or so, I practiced magic, trying to learn new spells or refine the ones I already knew.

I stopped when I accidentally set my bedpost aflame.

I glanced down at the three books in front of me. I had finished Eleven Chimes days before and was reading the first chapter in each of the three books in front of me. True to my luck, the three I had grabbed were romances--the one genre that I really don't like. Part of me wanted to grab Eleven Chimes and begin reading that again, just to steer clear of the cursed genre.

"Reading again?"

I didn't look up to see who spoke. "Not exactly. More like trying to find a halfway-decent story."

Kvir laughed. The sound was like a deep rumble that filled the room.

I looked up from the pages of one of the books. "Amused?"

"Well, hearing those words come from someone who claims they don't like to read is a little ironic."

I rolled my eyes. "Haha, funny man. Do you have any suggestions?"

Kvir walked over to the bookshelf and scanned the books, although he most certainly wasn't reading the titles. The few times I had tried to re-teach him how to read lasted all of five minutes and ended with frustration. He could pick out a few words, but that was as far as his skill reached.

He reached up and plucked a purple-covered book from the shelf, then tossed it over to me. "This one should be good."

"Alright." I didn't even glance at the title and flipped it open to the first page.

"So what's it called?"

I smacked the palm of my hand against my head. "You don't know what the book you grabbed is?"

In the most "obviously" tone Kvir could muster, he pointed to himself and exclaimed "Illiterate!"

"Yeah, but I though you recognized it by the cover!"

"Lizaveta," Beast raised his eyebrows. "When I told you a month or so ago that I hadn't been to the library in years, I wasn't kidding."

"Yeah, I don't think you know how..." I muttered under my breath.

"Book name?"

I snapped the book closed and flipped it face-up. "The Tale of a Fisherman" is the title."

Something that sounded like a groan came from Kvir. I looked up. "Don't like the story?"

"Not particularly."

I nodded. "Tough. Sit down, I'm going to read."

He didn't move.

"If you sit down, I'll read to you. Surely you don't like silence?"

"What makes you think I want to be read to?" Kvir asked. He still walked over to me and sat down close to the couch.

I shrugged. "Why would you come into the library anyway? If you can't read, then the library is a pretty useless place to be."