The Immortal Emperor Returns to Work the Museum Night Shift novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Night Shift
The first snow came on a Friday, at two in the morning.
I carried a paper cup of vending machine coffee down the dark hall to the night guard.
It was the eighteenth of December.
Sam had asked the Director in the first week of the month to put him back on nights.
The Director had looked at his file and said, "Why?"
"I like the quiet," Sam had said. "And someone should sit with the crown."
So he had his old shift again, ten to six, with a raise.
He went home to me in the morning, and slept beside me in the daylight, and woke up at four to cook.
I had not minded.
I had found out that I liked bringing him coffee in the dark.
Gallery Four was lit by the red exit sign and the pale glow of the snow outside the high windows.
He stood in front of the glass case with his hands behind his back.
The crown sat inside it, dull and heavy on its black velvet.
It was a ring of old gold with a red stone and a dent on the left.
It looked like what it was.
It looked like a hat.
"Hello, Sam," I said.
"Hello, Lucy."
He turned and took the cup from me, and the corners of his mouth lifted, and he drank.
"It is terrible," he said, with deep satisfaction.
"I know."
"You are very kind."
"It's snowing."
"I saw. I have been watching it for an hour."
He reached out and put his free hand against the small of my back, over the mustard cardigan.
The whole day went out of me.
I leaned against him.
A silver-gray flake drifted down past the high window, and another.
"I have been to a doctor," he said into my hair. "She says my blood pressure is unremarkable."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Immortal Emperor Returns to Work the Museum Night Shift are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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