Chapter 6
Six
Lambert
Kyrith’s departure steals the warmth from the room, literally. All six of us are frozen, staring at the empty circle of Dakari’s arms as we try to process what just happened.
She was going to fuck some stranger, and then she was dragged back inside the Arcanaeum like a doll forced back inside her dollhouse. I’m not sure whether to be relieved or angry on her behalf.
If I’m honest, I’m still trying to get my head around the way she shattered in my arms three days ago.
It was better when she was here, and I could see for myself that she was okay.
Hugging her went a long way towards putting the broken pieces of me back together, but her absence brings all of my panic back to the surface.
In for five, hold for two, out for seven… She’s okay. She just needs space.
“She’s still tied to the building,” Leo murmurs unnecessarily. “Whatever the cracking was, it gave her a body, but she can’t leave. Interesting.”
Interesting? More like tragic. God, the look on her face…
Eddy’s eyes are shiny as she looks at the red door to Kyrith’s room. “She’s been trapped here for so long. She was so looking forward to—”
“Her first one-night stand, we know.” North’s hand fists on the table.
“Don’t be an idiot.” His twin walks over and slaps him upside the head. “That’s not what it was about, and you know it. If any of you want to apply for the position of her boyfriend, then grow a pair and tell her that, instead of acting like a bunch of jealous knobheads.”
Without another word, she huffs and heads for the staircase, slamming the door behind her in a clear sign that the rest of us aren’t welcome.
“For the record,” I say, trying to lighten the mood even though my tone falls flat. “The boss isn’t taking applications from heirs.”
I’ve never hated the title quite so much. I mean, I always thought I was a pretty bad candidate for the parriarchy, but I never realised it would completely dismiss me from having any chance with our favourite ghost.
“For good reason,” Leo says dismissively. “If she dated any one of you, it would call the Arcanaeum’s impartiality into question. It would lead to accusations of favouritism, whether she wanted it to or not.”
His observation niggles at me. Eddy said we were acting jealous. Could she have meant…all of us?
Jasper loves her. That much has always been obvious. His face as he healed that wound in her chest just confirmed it. Even now, his eyes stray up to the ceiling every few seconds, like he can see all the way up to the top of her tower.
Dakari called her baby girl and held her like she was made of glass. The dude has a reputation as a stoic, hard ass, so I can’t see him comforting just anyone.
“Show of hands,” I blurt. “Who here loves Kyrith?”
I stick my own hand in the air happily, because someone always has to go first, then look around to see if I’m right.
Jasper pauses midway through reaching for another slice of pizza, half raising his hand.
Okay, that’s one.
Dakari levels me with one of those dark, assessing looks before the corner of his mouth twists down. “I’m not going to fight over her. She makes her own decisions.”
“That’s not where I’m going with this. Are you in love with her? In fact, don’t bother answering. You are. Right, who’s next? North?”
The Ackland heir’s brows rise, and he leans back in his seat. “Love? I mean… No? She’s hot, but she also hates me, remember?”
For good reason, but alas, we’ll get to that later.
“If she asked you to sleep with her, you’d say yes?” I push.
He spreads his hands. “This is ridiculous, but sure. Why the fuck not? I owe her.”
Hardly a sonnet of devotion, but I’ll take it. The perfect plan in the back of my mind sparkles, and I turn my attention to Leo.
His pose is contemplative as he rests his chin on his steepled fingers.
The menacing blades of his cheekbones have become more pronounced with the weight he’s lost, and he definitely hasn’t eaten enough pizza, either.
My smile dims. I’ve got to do better at keeping his hopes up.
He’s looking a little too much like he’s about to embrace the Dark Side of the Force.
Convincing him is the hardest part of my idea. He doesn’t do relationships or even friendships because of his curse. He’s only here with us because the Arcanaeum wouldn’t let anyone leave until Kyrith woke up, and he’s been doing his best to build those walls of his even higher recently.
“Lambert,” he begins, in that tone. “You know—”
“You don’t love her,” I tell him, because the alternative could be very, very, bad. “But you’ve slept with girls before.”
“I’ve had temporary contracts with submissives,” he retorts. “Ones with set time limits and boundaries. Nothing longer than a week. No seeing each other afterwards. Kyrith isn’t that kind of woman. Whatever you’re plotting—”
“Kyrith wouldn’t have to worry about breaking impartiality if all five of us offered her what she wants,” I say. “She’d be safe with us, and we could keep it to ourselves. Carlton wouldn’t have to know. None of the parriarchs would either.”
They all go quiet. You could hear a pin drop. Even the shelves seem to lean forward, crowding us. I don’t think it’s Kyrith, just the Arcanaeum being curious.
“You want to share her?” Jasper blurts, then his face falls. “That wouldnae work… Right?”
“I mean, I was prepared to, anyway,” I reply. “It was pretty obvious you two were an item as well.”
As if in answer, a half-dozen books drop onto the middle of the table, shifting the pizza boxes aside. I barely manage to read A History of Polyandry in Ancient Civilisations before Jasper drags them towards himself.
Eh, he’s welcome to them. If I need to know what they say, I’ll just ask Kyrith. She’s probably read them.
There’s a risk that she won’t like the kinky shit Leo does, but there’s hate-fuck chemistry between her and North, and he definitely doesn’t give submissive vibes either. I’m willing to bet that our Librarian is so eager to experience life that she’ll enjoy having her own variety pack of men.
“You’re forgetting something,” Dakari says. “Her dislike of heirs isn’t just because she wants to stay impartial. Six parriarchs murdered her. She might want nothing to do with any of us.”
I shrug. “I’m not forcing her into it. I just want to give her the option.”
Leo stands. “Look, this is a waste of bloody time. She won’t go for it.”
“But if she did,” I press. “Would you?”
Leo touches his side subconsciously, and I grimace. He’s thinking of his curse. It must be so tough not knowing what he’ll lose. I wish I could fix it for him. If we’re lucky, Kyrith still might manage it, but she’s understandably distracted now.
“Not if I have to share her with him,” he finally says, with a glare in Dakari’s direction. “Now, I have things to do.”
“Like eat,” I say, passing him one of the few remaining unopened boxes. “And when was the last time you slept, dude?”
For one small, unguarded moment, Leo’s exhaustion shines bright in his cold eyes before he shutters it away. Silently, he accepts the box, swiping napkins from the table as an afterthought.
“You know where to find me,” he mutters, then glances towards Kyrith’s stairs. “You should go check on her. She likes you.”
The moment he’s gone—headed for the Divination Tower, no doubt—I let my grin loose of the stranglehold. Leo is definitely on board. He wouldn’t have suggested checking on her if he weren’t.
“You do realise he just told you ‘no,’ right?” Jasper asks.
“Nah, he didn’t.” I turn my best pleading look at Dakari. “Hey, so I know you don’t trust ó Rinns, but I promise if you hang out with him, he’s really a good guy.”
The collector leans back, folds his arms, and flicks his dreads out of his face with a small shake of his head. “He hurts her every time he opens his fool mouth.”
Wincing, because yeah, he does have a point there, I go to respond, but Dakari isn’t done. “My answer is no. You’re not forcing her into some convoluted arrangement just so you can add another notch to your bedpost.”
“That’s not what it’s about,” I protest. “And why does everyone keep assuming I only want to sleep with her? Kyrith is awesome.”
“Awesome enough for you to stop sleeping with everyone else?”
“Despite what you might think, I don’t have a different girl in my bed every night.” Ugh, I roll my eyes. “The last time I got laid was months ago.”
North snorts. “Larissa sat in your lap for like a full week at the start of term, and your eyes weren’t on her face.”
“Because her best friend and her ex are in our class. She was nervous about facing them both again after she caught them banging on her kitchen table. I was just her casual rebound guy, and we’ve been over for months.”
What better way to show you’ve moved on than fucking the star reaper of the UAA’s magiball team?
I can’t help it if I’m a catch. And in exchange, she showed me the plant store where I managed to get those apology presents for Kyrith.
It was fun, but neither of us was looking for feelings, and we haven’t fucked each other since the boss lady agreed to tutor me.
North chokes on his pizza.
Dakari shakes his head. “You can’t really expect us, or Kyrith, to believe she was the only one? Did you not see how upset she was when you fucked around with Poppy?”
Okay, now he’s starting to piss me off. “Poppy’s just a friend, and she’s struggling with her home life right now. One of her older brothers is on the team, and he asked me to watch out for her, but I’ve never fucked her. So what if she has a tiny crush on me? Who doesn’t?”
Deep breaths. We all need to get along for Operation Boss to work.
Mentally, I start a list. The first order of business is obviously repairing the trust between me and our Librarian.
Fortunately, I have a plan. Step two has to be arranging some male bonding time for Leo and Dakari.
Maybe I can lock them in a cupboard or something and not let them out until they’re buddies.
Wait… On second thought, they might damage the Arcanaeum trying to get out, which won’t help my case with Kyrith.
Okay, step two needs work, but Jasper’s on board. I can just tell. We’ll both take any part of Kyrith she’ll give us. As for North… Well, his sister loves Kyrith enough that he’ll come around eventually. I hope.
Step three… Get Kyrith a present that makes her smile. She needs to relearn what laughing feels like, and I’m the perfect guy for that job.
“Look, if this was what Kyrith wanted, then it would be a different matter.” Dakari backs down.
“But you can’t push her into this just to get laid.
And what if Leo’s curse activates? You’re putting her directly in the line of fire.
Surely you, of all people, know what happens to the women who are involved with ó Rinns? ”
He’s giving me some kind of weird, meaningful look that I don’t understand, so I shrug him off. “So, as long as she’s on board, you’re in? Fuck yeah! I’ll work on the plan, and we can revisit this when term restarts. I’ll prove to all of you that I’m a changed man for our Librarian.”
I head for one of the doors, avoiding the beige one that rejected Kyrith, because her nail marks scratched into the frame are doing horrible twisty things to my stomach.
The Library refused to let us leave after Kyrith was embodied, but that changed when she woke up. North was able to go and get pizza, and the door opened for Kyrith, so I guess the place is open now?
Maybe the Arcanaeum was just tired? That would explain why it was so quiet as well.
I get that it probably did some insane magic to bring her back to life, but I’ve missed the post-match debrief. Coach is going to kick my ass, and my dad probably won’t be happy that I’m late getting home for vacation.
Honestly, I think time with him—away from the arcanist stuff—will do me some good. My dad is a great listener, and I could really do with a talk after everything that’s happened.
“You can’t just force Kyrith into this,” North says, standing as well. “Come on. I get what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work. And what about when one of us wants out? Sure, the whole thing could work casually, but anything long-term would fall apart.”
That’s what he thinks. It’s okay. Not everyone can be a visionary. One day, when he’s helping me teach our half-ghost kids to play magiball, he’ll see how stupid he was. I’ll bet the Arcanaeum could even make us a pitch somewhere.
But North, like Leo and Dakari, is going to need to be eased into Operation Boss, so I settle for offering him an easy grin.
“Oh, ye of little faith. Come on. I’ll fill you in on the first part of my plan at my place.”
He shakes his head. “We’ve been stuck here for days. Josef won’t be happy that I’ve disappeared. Not that he’s ever happy.”
My mood, which had improved while imagining how cool a magiball court in the Library would be, plummets. “Shit, dude, I’m so sorry.”
Stupid thing to say. This is North. The moment he detects sympathy, he shuts down. He grabs a last slice of pizza and heads for a different door on my left.
“Whatever. He can’t kill his fucking trophy, right?” He knocks louder than he needs to. “My house.”
That quickly, he’s gone, and I sigh as I follow his lead.
The six of us as a unit would solve so many problems. I can’t imagine Josef having the balls to keep up his brutal training regime if he knew North had Dakari on his side.
The Ackland parriarch doesn’t want his street to end up as a pile of rubble next.
Not that the Talcott heir has caused any earthquakes since he was a teenager, but still, his reputation lingers.
Once home, I head straight for my bed, and the phone I left there. Thankfully, it’s been on charge this whole time, so I don’t have to wait. Opening the messaging app, I quickly add all of the girls in our class to a group chat.
Lambert Winthrop:
Hi ladies! I need a favour…