Chapter 10 #2
Great. Fucking great.
The bang comes again, and this time a scream follows it.
What the…? Kyrith rolls her eyes, and without meaning to, I start striding past the rows of plant-laden shelves.
She pops up in front of me a second later, and this time we collide.
The contact turns her solid and almost sends her flying.
I grab her waist, snatching her against me before she can fall on her too-round ass.
As it is, I get an armful of lush, sweet-smelling Librarian pressed against my front before she shoves away.
“Watch it,” I snap.
“You can’t just barge in there—”
“They’re causing trouble for you, aren’t they?”
She tips her chin up stubbornly, and I know I’m right. I stride past her, and she has to return to her ghost form just to keep up with me. But when the door at the end of the hall swings open, the foyer beyond is…empty?
The floor is littered with discarded grimoires, but there are no arcanists to be seen.
I don’t understand. There was literally just…
A single arcanist drops face-first from the ceiling.
I expect him to go splat, but he’s caught by an invisible hand when only inches separate his nose from the floor.
A moment later his body drops the rest of the way with a muffled thud, and he scrambles to his feet, snatching his grimoire up indignantly.
Kyrith doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that he’s now armed, but I tense.
“Librarian, unhand my men this instant!”
His men? Slowly I look up, craning my neck to see the ceiling.
Jesus fucking Christ.
I can’t hold in my snort. There must be at least a dozen more of these magical military twats up there.
Most of them are crushed in awkward positions against the rafters with their mouths sealed shut.
One particularly unlucky blonde woman is bent double over a beam, being repeatedly spanked on the ass by a huge tome as her face grows steadily redder and redder.
The noise earns me a scowl from both the Librarian and the man she released, whose grimoire flicks through pages of runeforms without him saying a word.
Kyrith just waves a hand, and the book goes flying.
She puts herself between us, clasping her hands demurely in front of her.
“Kicking or damaging the furniture is against the rules of the Arcanaeum, and that includes the doors, which your men attacked. For that alone, you’re lucky I haven’t banished all of you.
It’s only the seriousness of the matter that stayed my hand.
Now, dismiss your men, and I shall perform a truth spell on young Northcliff that will clear this matter up without further injuries. ”
“Further injuries?” He scoffs. “Librarian, this is—”
“A reasonable response to aggression directed at the Library,” Kyrith cuts him off. “Now, enough unpleasantness. Testimony under my truth spells has been sufficient for the parriarchs on several prior occasions, a list of which you’ll find here.”
A piece of paper appears between them, and the enforcer frowns as he snatches it out of thin air. “There are allegations of necromancy.”
Kyrith snorts. “Officer ó Rinn, I can assure you that is not the case, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll ask him about them once the spell is cast.” Then, without so much as a warning, she turns and pins me with a look. “Virecot,”
Just like last time, a compulsive wave sweeps over me like a fog, seeping into my skull before it settles on my tongue with a tingle.
It reminds me all over again of trying to break into the Vault and Kyrith’s furious reaction.
I bite the inside of my cheek to hide the grimace trying to break through.
No need to look any guiltier in front of this prick.
“Did you kill Parriarch Josef Ackland?” Kyrith asks without preamble.
I meet the eye of the guy in front of us and smirk as I reply. “No.”
But the asshole isn’t satisfied. “Were you involved in his murder in any way?”
Ugh. “I wasn’t. I had no idea the wanker was dead until I was dragged out of class because of this shit. And for the record, I’ve got no fucking clue how to do necromancy, either.”
Kyrith’s magic fades, and the enforcer takes a step back.
“Now you have the truth,” Kyrith informs him primly.
The officer shakes his head, looking pointedly at the silver letters on the floor. “The truth is a dangerous thing, Librarian. You, of all people, should know that. Release my people, and we’ll be going.”
The roof shakes, beams groaning in protest, and the remaining enforcers drop from the rafters, landing unceremoniously all around us. The woman who was being spanked by a book meets the floor with a sickening crunch, and Kyrith summons her card into her hand with a tut.
“Second strike, Ms Wevill. You’re banished.”
The Librarian presses her finger to the card, and I barely have time to read the name Charlotte before a second red mark scratches itself across the first in an ‘X.’ The woman—who’s unconscious from the fall—is dragged through the nearest door like a rag doll, her card dissipating.
The enforcer sighs. “Was that really necessary?”
Kyrith pins him with the most venomous look I’ve ever seen. “The others I’ll let go with a warning, but the use of fire in the Arcanaeum will never be tolerated. Good day, Officer.”
With that, she turns and floats back towards the Botanical Hall, the doors opening to reveal a small crowd of nosy arcanists hovering beyond.
“Don’t you all have some reading to do?” she asks.
They disperse like she might decide to spank them with her books next, and this time I have to lengthen my stride to catch up with her until we reach the Rotunda. Leo must’ve forced Jasper and Lambert to return to class, because there’s no sign of them.
“What did he mean?” I ask as she approaches the desk. “About you knowing the danger of truth?”
Kyrith groans. “Did you even pay attention last term? It’s the Arcanaeum’s motto. Well, more a warning, I suppose. It’s written across the floor in the foyer in Latin.”
“I must’ve missed that bit.” I spent most of the first few lessons so out of my depth I could barely follow what Hopkinson was saying. A fucking motto was the least of my concerns.
“Veritas Absoluta Periculosior Est Quam Potestas Absoluta. Absolute truth is more dangerous than absolute power,” Kyrith recites. “Officer ó Rinn was merely pointing out that all of the power I just displayed was useless in the face of whatever the parriarchs might say about me.”
“He was threatening you.” My hands fist by my sides, but it’s too late to punch the wanker.
“Precisely. Though that’s not what the motto was intended to mean…
” Her eyes go a little vacant as she ghosts through the desk and stares back the way we came.
“It’s supposed to be a warning against zealotry.
Truth never claims to be absolute. It welcomes challenge and debate and the chance to prove itself.
When one’s truth is so steadfast that evidence will not change it, then one becomes an ideologue, a bigot unable to listen to reason.
Without reason…” she trails off, waiting like I’ll have something insightful to say on the matter.
The disappointment in her gaze when I shrug cuts, but fuck if I have time for philosophical bullshit.
One thing is obvious, though.
“You’re worried.”
Stress leaks from her pores, giving me the oddest urge to follow Lambert’s example and hug her.
Like she’d even let me. Knowing my luck, she’d interpret the gesture as an attack, and I’d be the next person stuck in the rafters having my ass spanked by spellbooks.
Kyrith’s long, drawn-out sigh ruffles the papers scattered across her desk. She waves a hand, summoning yet more reams of the stuff from nowhere.
“Come, I’ll put together a list of materials you need to study to become a magister. I take it your father wanted you to specialise in destruction magic, given your injuries?”
I grimace, both at her calling Josef my father again, and the memory of this morning when he beat me to a fucking pulp in the name of ‘training.’
“Northcliff,” her tone sharpens. “Of the four advanced schools, which one do you want to specialise in? This is important.”
My exasperation bleeds into my tone as I say, “I don’t give a shit. Whichever one gives me enough money to live and keep Eddy out of trouble.”
She looks about to press the issue, then she stops, taking a deep breath.
“Whatever life you knew before, the life of a parriarch isn’t one where finances need to factor into your decision.
You’re still thinking like an inept. Any material object you require can be conjured, with a few exceptions.
You have the privilege of preference. If you enjoy what you’re learning, it will be easier for you. ”
No. I don’t have that luxury. I never have. I don’t know why I expected her to get it, but I huff out a disappointed breath anyway.
“Destruction.”
No use putting what little Josef managed to actually teach me to waste.
Those big colourless eyes pin me in place, examining me for a long minute. I wish she were physical, so they were that pretty, expressive shade of brown. As a ghost, she always seems so much more distant. Harder to read.
Eventually, she nods. “Then I shall add it to our tutoring sessions.”
“Why? That’s next year’s stuff.” I have no desire to take Josef’s place any sooner than I have to—and I might still work my way out of it. Maybe someone stronger will turn up in that time. There’s always hope, right?
Kyrith shakes her head. “You completely missed half of what just happened, didn’t you?
You were just framed, North. One of the other parriarchs loosed those enforcers after you, hoping you’d be an easy target.
One of them is trying to make a move to take over your house, or worse, destroy it altogether.
They might even be responsible for Josef’s death.
The threat Officer ó Rinn made wasn’t just aimed at me.
They’ll try to discredit you or kill you to stop you from taking your seat on the council. ”
Of course they will. Fucking political wizard bullshit.