Librarian (The Arcanaeum #3)

Chapter 1

One

Dakari

Iflatten myself against a painting of a long-dead Carlton magister, holding my breath as a pair of maids hurry past, carrying large empty boxes.

“Can you believe it?” one asks.

The older woman shakes her head. “Shh, not so loud.”

“But Miss Anthea isn’t even properly sentenced yet and—”

“The parriarch wants her room cleared. That’s all there is to it.”

“Still. Her own daughter!”

“It’s not our place.” Her voice drops even lower. “Besides, are you really surprised?”

“Figures such a royal bitch would be a necromancer.”

Their voices fade as they turn the corner. I wait two more seconds before I dare to peel myself away from the wall. If I hadn’t cast that invisibility spell when I pretended to leave that disastrous dinner, they would’ve caught me.

Anthea’s fate sits like a stone in my gut. She’s always been a pain in the ass, but murdering my uncle using dark magic? That’s a bold move.

Anthea was terrified. She fled rather than trying to fight the enforcers. And those wounds on her back…

It doesn’t add up.

Isidora wasn’t even ruffled by the accusations levelled at her daughter. She was practically preening as she took control of the situation.

I’m beginning to think maybe we should’ve asked Pierce for more information about their relationship with their mother.

After I left, I followed Leo and Mathias, but they left using a heavily warded portal, and I lost them.

Leo is on his own with the lich, which means he’s as good as handing Mathias a key to the Arcanaeum.

I want to leave him to it. The asshole made his bed, and if it wouldn’t put Kyrith in danger, I’d happily let him lie in it.

No one with a working brain would believe Mathias intends to break his ensorcellment. Unfortunately, Leo isn’t thinking rationally. ó Rinns are as tragic as they are predictable. They do all sorts of weird shit to avoid their fate, but I never thought he’d stoop this low.

He’d better have a plan, because I can’t help him now.

If anything happens to our girl because of him…

No. I can’t do anything for him or Anthea. I need to focus on what Kyrith asked me to do—finding her grimoire—and get out of here.

Anthea might know where it is.

It’s a stupid thought. If the book is as useless as Kyrith claimed, then it’s probably in an attic somewhere.

But my other options are searching all one hundred rooms in this palatial crypt the Carltons call home or trying to break through Mathias’s portal.

Anthea it is then.

Creeping past the enforcers who still linger in the dark hallways takes time. Invisibility is great, but I’m still a big guy, and the corridors are swarming with officers gathering evidence.

Fortunately, I’ve been down to the cellar before, when I stumbled upon Jasper in the search for a different grimoire. This time, I’m ready for the alarm spell woven into the bottom step.

Fool me once and all that.

The two enforcers at the bottom of the stairs are new.

Beyond them, a single corridor, lit by strip lights, permits access to the cells on either side.

It’s not uncommon for parriarchs to be responsible for the imprisonment of criminals, but still…

The sheer number of cells down here is concerning.

At the far end is the one Jasper was kept in, but the light in there is off, so the hallway culminates in ominous darkness.

If I take another step, the nullification runes on the lintel above will strip away my invisibility and any other magic. I learned that the hard way last time.

So I draw two slumber scraps from my pockets, holding one in each hand as I hop over the alarmed step, landing with a muffled thud. My invisibility disappears. The sting of the magic being ripped away makes my teeth clench.

The officers’ eyes widen, and both men reach for their grimoires.

They’re not fast enough.

“Ancun scuasi.”

They drop to the ground with a clatter.

I stride over their bodies, heading for the cells, only to stop at the first one.

“Eddy?”

“Oh, thank God.” North’s sister shoves up from the tiny cot in the corner and rushes to the bars. “Get me out of here!”

“If you try to leave without me, I’ll scream so loudly that every enforcer in the house hears me,” Anthea interrupts, pressing herself against the bars of the cell beside Eddy’s until they crackle with warning magic.

She backs up, but her glare is poison.

“They’ve replaced me,” Eddy blurts. “The girl in the Library with Kyrith is a fake. It’s not me.”

Dread eats at my gut like acid as I take a step closer.

Both women are dishevelled, even though Anthea has regained some of her usual composure now that there’s a possibility of escaping her execution.

She’s even trying to comb back the wayward strands of her hair, as if fixing the physical mask will erase the cracks that were on full display in the dining room.

Eddy’s clearly been here longer. Her hair is greasy, and her clothes are creased like she’s slept in them, but her eyes are bright with determination.

“I’m not leaving your ass behind,” I tell Anthea. “I came here for you, though I probably shouldn’t have bothered.” I flick through my grimoire, turning back to Eddy. “How long have you been down here?”

“I don’t know.” Eddy shuffles in place. “There are huge gaps in my memory, and—”

“And the great Librarian didn’t even notice.” Anthea rolls her eyes. “Mathias replaced one of her liminal pets with a literal walking corpse, and she didn’t even—”

“Either explain or shut up.” The pages of my book flicker in response to my agitation.

Somehow, Eddy has been replaced. Mathias’s puppet is sealed inside the Arcanaeum with Kyrith.

She’s in danger. That thought alone has my body half-turned towards the doorway, Eddy and Anthea be damned.

But the Arcanaeum is locked down. I’m shut out. Could I force my way into the Library? I’m not sure. Maybe if one of the others were with me—if we’d had time to explore whatever bond we have to Kyrith and the building—I might be able to.

Without them, I have no chance.

Kyrith is strong. She’s taken precautions. I have to trust she’ll be fine. If she isn’t…

My jaw works, teeth grinding to dust in my mouth.

Anthea folds her arms. “Don’t be dense.” She waves a commanding hand at the bars. “I’m not about to just hand over everything I know. I want out of this cell—out of this house—before I tell you anything.”

“Kyrith needs her grimoire,” I tell Anthea. “Purple leather. Gold runeform on the cover. At least tell me if you’ve seen it?”

Anthea’s frown deepens. “It’s in the study safe. But you won’t get inside.”

“Thank you.” My hand lands on a well-used runeform. “Now back up.”

This won’t be quiet or subtle. I don’t have time to figure out what spells are laid into those bars and undo them.

So I’ll have to destroy them.

I can cast a spell that will silence the noise, but if anyone comes down here, it will be pretty obvious that they’ve broken out. Hopefully it will be enough of a distraction to hide the theft also taking place.

“Brace yourselves,” I warn them. “Solinci voconote.”

Sound disappears, leaving only the rush of blood in my ears as the pages of my grimoire flick onto a larger, more complicated runeform.

The next incantation leaves my lips, but no one hears it. Just like no one hears the way the lock mechanisms grind into themselves, magic sparking and cracking under the force of my magic.

Fuck. They really didn’t want anyone getting out of there. My hands flex, crumpling the doors into a mess of tangled metal bars. The silencing spell falls as soon as it’s over, so we can all hear the click of Anthea’s heels as she steps over the threshold with a chilling grin on her face.

“Invisibility scrap, if you please.” She holds her hand out.

Eddy creeps forward like she’s not sure if she’s safer in her cell.

“Not so fast.” I shift my weight, putting myself conspicuously between Anthea and the exit. “Explain everything. Start with why Eddy is down here, and then why your own mother tossed you away like garbage.”

Her brows furrow at that.

“She’s been a good little ensorcelled puppet from the day Mathias became vicegerent, sneaking down to the Vault so he could study the spells through her eyes, and none of you even noticed. It wasn’t even hard to make her leave the Arcanaeum so she could be replaced with a revenant.”

I don’t know what a revenant is, but I’m guessing it isn’t good. As for getting into the Vault… That sends a chill down my spine.

Mathias has Leo. He knows how to get into the Vault.

I snap my grimoire shut, but Anthea isn’t finished.

“And as for my mother… This was always the plan, of course. If I couldn’t be heir, then who better to take the fall for Abe’s death?

No one can suspect that the new Rector Carlton is anything less than a paragon of justice, ready to cut down anyone—even her own flesh and blood—to root out necromancy.

” Her laugh is cold. Mocking. “Your precious Librarian signed my death warrant when she banished me.”

Her fury burns bright in her eyes for a second before it shutters away.

“You were never going to be the heir for long, Thea,” I remind her. “Pierce has always been more powerful.”

Which means her mother always planned for this. Isidora made the calculated decision to sacrifice her own daughter to become rector, the head of the council of parriarchs.

Did Anthea even kill Abe? If she did, it must’ve been on her mother’s orders.

Anthea’s chuckle is half-deranged. “You think so? It’s such a good thing a little necromancy evens the scales, isn’t it? Now, thanks for the rescue, Prince Charming, but I really must be going.”

“Wait.”

“I don’t have anything more to say—”

My arm shoots out, blocking her when she tries to get past me. “Don’t be stupid. Out there, alone? Hunted by enforcers? You’re not going to last five seconds.”

“Oh. I know.” Her smile glows even brighter, somehow more sinister in the fluorescent light. “Don’t worry about me. I plan to go down in a blaze none of them will ever claw their way back from.”

She’s going to do something stupid. I can see it in her manic eyes. Anthea Carlton has nothing left. Whatever she’s planning is probably going to fail, because she’s not in the frame of mind to do anything more than chuck herself at the enemy.

And I…can’t let her do it. Even though the distraction would give me the chance to grab Kyrith’s grimoire. I can’t watch her throw her life away.

She dodges under my arm, and I let her, but only because my hand is in my pocket once more, a scrap at the ready.

“Ancun scuasi.”

She’s barely made it to the door before she collapses beside the enforcers. Her head cracks against the stone floor, and Eddy winces.

“That was cool,” she says. “So, are we leaving her here or taking her with us?”

“You are taking her with you,” I correct, handing her a scrap for invisibility.

“Cast that once you’re past those runeforms.” I point at the etched markings above the door.

“I’m going to use a weightlessness spell on her, so she’ll be easy to drag up to the garage.

Pick the fastest car you can and hide in it. I’ll find you when I’m done.”

Her grin lights up the room, only to fall seconds later. “What are we going to do about the Arcanaeum? Is Kyrith going to be okay?”

“She’s smart and powerful,” I hedge. “She has North, Lambert, and Jasper with her. They’ll take care of her.”

If I see Pierce or Leo, I’m dragging their asses out of here. Things are lining up too perfectly. Isidora and Mathias have been planning Abe’s death for a long time; they set up a situation where three heirs were guaranteed to be under the same roof.

Eddy gives me a look—one that says she thinks there’s more going on here—but she trusts me enough to nod. She waits quietly while I flick open my grimoire to the runeform for weightlessness.

“She should be out for a while,” I mutter, dragging Anthea past the runeforms, and wasting my final slumber scrap on her—just to make sure she doesn’t wake and start causing trouble. “At least an hour. Tie her up if it makes you feel safer. Fiethir bardinci.”

Anthea floats upwards, and Eddy grabs her wrist, tugging her along like a balloon.

“The garage is down the corridor on your left. Don’t use the bottom stair, it’s alarmed. Stay quiet and out of the way. Don’t get close to any enforcers, and—”

“I got it.” She gives me a mock shove towards the stairs. “We’ll be there.”

With a final look at her, I race up the steps, casting my own invisibility scrap the moment I reach the top. There are still too many people in the hallways, but I dodge them as I head for Isidora’s study.

I screech to a stop just in time to avoid running into Isidora herself. Slamming my back against the wall, I narrowly avoid knocking over a potted fern.

The new rector steps out of her study with an approving nod.

“We’ll have to come up with a good explanation for your affliction.

Perhaps we’ll say Anthea tricked you into a covenant and you broke it in order to do the right thing and report her.

Over time, your covenant mark can become a show of strength. ”

“Yes, mother,” Pierce intones, his gaze fixed on the back of her head as he leaves.

Covenant mark?

My heart sinks at the deadness in his voice. I peer past the plant and accidentally brush the fronds.

He turns his head, following the sound, which gives me a perfect view of the scarlet wound on his face.

It’s still dripping blood.

Fucking traitor.

I want to throttle him, but I can’t risk revealing Eddy and Anthea have escaped. Already, the asshole and his mother are disappearing down the hallway.

“Mathias will be waiting for us, providing the ó Rinn heir hasn’t caused him too much trouble. Have you…?”

She’s too far away, and I can’t hear her. It’s clear that they’re following Leo through that portal. That stupid idiot ó Rinn has walked right into a trap.

He’s not the only idiot, though. I should’ve known a covenant would mean nothing to Pierce.

Apparently not even the threat of random, agonising bursts of pain and being marked for the rest of his life was enough to keep him from turning coat.

I take a step after them, then freeze. Pierce turns his head as they disappear around the corner. For the briefest instant, he’s staring right at me.

The wink, when it comes, is brief. A flash I might’ve imagined if not for the way he jerks his chin in the direction of the door to Isidora’s office.

The…open door.