The first sip of warm coffee sent a thrill through me. I’d slept well, but somehow still felt tired. The song the dragons sang echoed through my dreams along with the image of the flowing light. The intensity of the memory made getting great sleep hard.

Indigo nuzzled my chin and I needed to be careful to not knock her over. While I’d listened to her snores early this morning, now all she wanted was to be attached to me.

“So, what is today going to be?” I asked as the Cat jumped up on the counter.

His black tail flicked through the air. “The same thing as normal,” grumbled the Cat.

I paused before opening my mouth. It felt like he wasn’t in a good mood, and I didn’t want to poke anymore than I needed to. Hopefully, he meant it was something easy. At least it wasn’t a coffee shop day, since the shop looked normal. The normal rows of bookshelves along the back wall were there, along with a few additional ones. Lots of bookshelves, actually, even the main table that sat in the middle of the room in front of the counter was loaded up with bookshelves.

The setup reminded me of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It didn’t take long for the bells on the front door to ring, and a man covered in a flowing robe of dark green entered.

He looked familiar.

Everything clicked in the time it took him to get to the register with his basket.

“You!”

“Me?” he asked with a sharp grin. His large brown eyes somehow still looked sad, even as the rest of him screamed trouble.

“You’re the Bookseller.”

Laughter rushed out of him so fast, that he almost bent over. His multiple earrings sparkled in the sunlight from the skylight, highlighting his elven ears. “I see, you remember me.”

“You’re kinda hard to forget.” Not to mention he was the one who gave us the cold book that’d caused all sorts of trouble. Then again, Indigo wouldn’t be here if that hadn’t happened.

“And you are the Shopkeeper…” His voice trailed off as he said it, and his eyes narrowed.

Indigo peeked out from behind my dark hair, which was down for the day.

‘Hello…’ she squeaked.

“Oh my, now, that is a bookdragon…” He took the remaining two steps forward and set his basket on the counter. “Maybe you are why I am here today.”

The Cat moved forward, sniffing the basket, and he was quickly joined by Indigo who scrambled off my shoulder with haste.

The Cat turned to look at her, shaking his head.

“Tell him to get to it,” grumbled the Cat as he moved back from the basket, nudging Indigo away as well.

Indigo retreated, keeping close to the Cat.

The Bookseller watched this with glee. “Well now, I have a whole stack of rare books,” he said as he opened the basket and pulled out a whole stack. Six thick books he set on the counter before pulling out another four. “Most of them are from your wanted list.”

“Wanted list?” I asked.

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The Cat nodded his head. “I sent him a list of books I’m looking for. Ones to remove from circulation, or ones that others want but can’t find.” Indigo darted forward, but before she could move a step she froze. “Can you grab her? She shouldn’t touch some of these.”

I quickly picked the little dragon up, and she unfroze as soon as her feet left the counter. “Once he is gone we can look at the books.”

The little dragon huffed at me but didn’t resist. Instead, she glared at the Cat.

The Bookseller chuckled again and he pulled out a few more books. These books were smaller, with strange symbols on the front. One had a golden dragon embossed on the cover. “I assume you have what I’m looking for this time…?” The brown eyes stayed on the Cat, who nodded.

“Sable, go get the blue box from the storage room,” ordered the Cat.

I set Indigo back on my shoulder and quickly headed to the door in the hallway. Inside the room was only a small blue box covered in a thick cloth. It was heavier than it looked, and I carefully brought it out and added it to the counter.

His eyes stayed stuck to it as soon as it came into view. “It seems you're being rather generous with me.” His fingers reached toward the box, shifting into talons as they approached.

A growl came from my shoulder and he paused, then blinked. The talons retreated rapidly, becoming normal fingers.

“It’s for all of the books on the counter,” added the Cat. I quickly repeated the terms.

The Bookseller nodded frantically. “The bargain is struck.” Then the box was gone and the basket back in his arms as he retreated toward the door. “Great doing business with you, Shopkeeper.” The image of the Bookkeeper flickered, showing the tall, shirtless creature with deek dark skin and puffy pants. “Good luck with your lands, Toodles!”

The door slammed shut behind him, the bells silent.

The Cat let out an angry growl which then turned into a sigh.

“Your lands?” I asked after a moment.

Indigo practically vibrated in my arms staring at the books on the counter.

The Cat moved closer and touched half of them. “Put these in the storage room, then she can look at the rest of them.”

My eyes narrowed as he ignored my question, but I quickly did as he asked. As soon as the storage room door closed, Indigo nudged the book with the dragon on the cover open.

“Anything I should be worried about?” I asked.

“The book’s about the various types of dragons. It was written by a bookdragon long ago. The Clan of Knowledge is looking for a copy.”

“I meant about his comment…”

The Cat turned away, but paused before reaching the edge of the counter. “Nothing for you to worry about.” Then he jumped down, vanishing from sight.

I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. If he didn’t want to talk about it, I couldn’t make him. That much I’d learned over the months spent in the shop.

‘Pretty…’ squeaked Indigo.

I turned to look at the book she’d opened. Inside, a brightly colored dragon flew across the page. Then as she tapped it, it flew off the page and in a circle in the air. My jaw dropped as I leaned closer. It only lasted two minutes but I couldn’t look away.

“Looks like you found a magical book about dragons,” I said. “Though, I bet you already know what it’s going to say.”

‘Only learned about the best dragons, not these…’

Now that sounded a little elitist, but I kept my mouth shut. All the fairy tales said dragons were proud creatures, and I wasn’t going to get into a discussion with Indigo about how all dragons were awesome, versus only some.

Indigo breathed out her nose and the page turned on its own to a different picture of a dragon.

That was new. Indigo could turn pages with magic. I wondered what else Lady Twilight was teaching her.

***

I knew as soon as I saw the Bookseller on the schedule for today that he would rattle me. It didn’t matter that he had books that we needed to remove from the various worlds. As soon as we relieved him of his burden, guarding that cursed book, he went back to his old ways. All of Nymeria’s children were like that, playing at being Fey Lords, which they could never be.

Sable’s concern had caused me to pause, but there was much I couldn’t explain. All I could think about was my people, and what was happening in the Feywilds. I padded my way up the stairs to look at the only connection I had. The oak tree stood in its container, the same as it was yesterday. The last time a leaf had been lost, it’d sent me into a spiral, and the lack of any change right now steadied me.

At least Indigo and Sable would enjoy the dragon book. Now I had something to hold over the dragons, leverage to discover if they truly were messing with what was left of my lands. Yet, that single red leaf still grew from the tree. If the dragons were my enemies, why was Liluth still alive?