This side story introduces a character you'll get to meet in book 2. His name is (you guessed it) Gregory Almes, and this is his love story. (Awwww…) It's also interesting because it explains more about two unique gifts: readers and feelers. But did I mention the love story part? Yeah, totally—read it for the love story!

— Lauren

Gregory Almes was thirty-one years old when Adventure decided to marry him.

Some people might consider thirty-one a little too old for her, but Adventure didn’t think so. She liked the way he frowned. She also liked the way he spent so much time in his library, and she liked how smart he was. He was a reader, and readers had a very intelligent way of looking at the world.

They also hated everyone, which Adventure found amusing.

Gregory constantly griped about this man or that man, and he obviously thought himself better than every person around him. It was wonderfully refreshing. Adventure found many things amusing about Gregory Almes, and when she told him they should get married, he spilled his tea all over his desk.

“I would never marry a feeler,” he told her straight out and gave her one of his severe, endearing scowls. “If you ever mention this again, your family could lose their position in my home.”

We’ll see, she thought and flounced away, knowing he would do exactly what she said. He hadn’t said, “I would never marry a servant.” He had said, “I would never marry a feeler.” That was an important difference. It must be that he didn’t mind she was from a poor family. She knew he was arrogant—he was thoroughly arrogant—but it had nothing to do with his wealth. It had to do with his mind, and she already liked that part.

The only thing that bothered him was that she wasn’t a snotty-nosed reader, like he was. And, well, there were ways to get around that.

Having made up her mind, fourteen-year-old Adventure started reading. Every book. Every free hour. All the time. She went to his library and chose a bookcase and a certain shelf on that bookcase and started left to right. Gregory allowed his servants and the families of servants to read whichever of his books they wanted. The books couldn’t be taken out of the library, of course, but that was all right, because Gregory used one corner of the massive room as his study. This meant Adventure would be able to keep an eye on him...

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