A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Eighty-Six

I enter the library and wave at Uncle Boaz, in the midst of a young crowd of children, staring wide-eyed as he explains different patterns he and the other scholars have mapped out in the stars. Zahra's at my side, accustomed to acting as my bodyguard again, even though my fathers had offered her a position as general.

            "We have to hurry." I sigh. "Wouldn't want to miss the celebration."

            "Celebration?"

            I shove her playfully to wake her up, and she glares back. Libraries still make her anxious, but I've grown to appreciate them. It's like Harto in his garden, but this is a garden of a different kind. Knowledge. "You don't remember? Tawil's celebrating the birthday of his little girl, Malala. I heard Dasha is even going to try and help Pari make some moves and serenade Tawil or something." I stifle a laugh. "Maybe you should've enlisted Dasha's help too. Your idea of romance is fighting in a training yard."

            "Well, and here I thought you likedgetting physical. Maybe I should have taken the position as general. I'd be better appreciated there." Zahra stifles a yawn as we walk through library stacks, poring over texts as I reverently brush dust from an Okami scroll. "You already saved the Empire, why don't you just rule it now instead of reading all day?"

            "I won't become Empress until I read every single text in this library. I can't go bother Uncle Boaz all day if I forget which spoon to use at the dinner table. It's about time I learn diplomacy and educate myself on other cultures before I go on making trade deals or starting another war." I begin by picking up the Okami one. "But maybe I should brush up on the languages of Okami before I start on this." I put that scroll down and go hunting for an Okami-to-Rahasian manual.

            "Look at that." Zahra snorts. "She's learning how to fight with a pen before she picks up a sword." She walks alongside me before we disappear into another section of the library. There, once we're out of sight, I manage to steal a kiss.

            "What was that for?" She grins down at me as I sling my arms around her taller shoulders.

            "Staying with me in a library despite being offered the spoils of war as a general."

            She snorts as she pulls me into another kiss. "If this is the alternative, I'll take it. But how much time do we have?"

            I laugh. "I'm friends with the goddess of time. Trust me when I say we're fine."

***

Readers,

That's just adorable.

-Sophia