Chapter 17 #2
“Hey, Kyrith?” Lambert broaches. “This place is really great, but what about the covenant?”
Turning, I find them clustered in the middle of the mat-covered floor.
“Don’t worry about it. This is a separate building from the Library, and there are no books in here that you can damage.
” I was careful when creating the structure to ensure that it was magically distinct from the Arcanaeum.
“Now, you’ll need your grimoires out. Northcliff, you need both hands for destruction magic. ”
Every cell in my body groans as he stoops to put the book on the floor.
“Hover it,” I correct, the corners of my mouth turning down at his blatant hesitation. “Lambert can demonstrate.”
The Winthrop heir just blinks at me. “Erm, boss?”
Magic. Why is he raising his hand when I’m already addressing him? “Yes?”
“I don’t need to. I’ve got everything I need right here.” And then in a moment of pure vainglory, he grins and pulls back his sleeve, flexing the runeforms on his biceps.
While those muscles may be nice to look at, I wasn’t born yesterday. No amount of posing will change the fact that he clearly doesn’t know how to hover his grimoire either.
I shake my head. “Those tattoos don’t allow you to use destruction magic.”
Lambert just shrugs. “No, but I can do this!” His lower arm transmutes into a long blade that touches the floor, and the other into a gleaming steel shield. “Check it out. Spartan mode.”
The worst part is that Eddy and North are both gaping at him like what he did was impressive, and not a blatant admission of ignorance.
Deep breaths.
“Be that as it may, we are here to teach Northcliff destruction—”
Pierce sighs, drawing his grimoire out. Without a word, he places it in the air beside him, letting it hover in place, and the pages blur as they flicker open.
A bolt of lightning zaps through the air, hitting Lambert’s shield in a crackling wave.
The scent of ozone fills the room, and I cringe as Lambert goes rigid, muscles locking under the current.
Still, Pierce doesn’t let up. I debate intervening, but before I can, a shield spell slices into the space between them.
Lambert collapses to the ground, out, but not seriously harmed, thank the stars. However, his head smacks into the mat with a thump that tells me I need to increase the padding.
I’m so focused on him that I don’t immediately notice Leo storming towards Pierce, grimoire out and floating by his side.
“Try that again, ya fecking gobshite,” he demands as the twins move to back him up.
Great, even Eddy is ready to do battle.
Scrubbing my hands down my face, I pray for patience.
I knew this would happen, and I’d resolved to stay out of it, but this is just, urgh!
I wish I could banish them for longer than a few hours.
Summoning a handful of books. I smack all of them—Lambert, Jasper, and Dakari excluded—over the head without warning. Then I do it again for good measure.
“The next spell that anyone casts without my say-so will be inflicted on them a thousandfold,” I warn. “You are here to learn. So—”
“I haven’t learned anything since I started attending these sessions,” Pierce interrupts. “I’m beginning to think this is a waste of my time, and you aren’t capable of more than teaching magical basics to imbeciles.”
If only he knew…
“Leo, will you instruct the twins and Lambert on hovering spells?” I ask, keeping my tone calm. “Jasper, can you—”
“Aye. I’ll patch the dafty up.” His grimoire is already open.
Pierce’s satisfaction is plain on his face as I turn to him, the others clearing out of the way.
Spreading my hands wide, I sigh. “Attack me.”
The Carlton heir doesn’t hesitate, not that I expected him to. The same lightning spell arcs towards me. I’d hoped for something more original. Oh well.
With a soft smile, and a tug on the magic of the Arcanaeum, I reach out to meet it with one finger.
Watching his eyes widen as his magic shatters into a hundred tiny fireworks around us is incredibly satisfying.
He doesn’t give up, of course. I wouldn’t expect such a proud man to concede so easily. A bolt of ice the width of my hand soars straight at my head, followed up by a wave of fire.
Magic. They’re powerful attacks, but I have to wonder…
is he even trying? I allow him to continue, banishing attack after attack.
Even when he gives up on a direct assault and tries to catch me from behind, my shield is there.
To make it fair, I only draw from one grimoire at a time, keeping my defence to what would be considered reasonable for a normal opponent.
Sweat drips down his brow, and I tut under my breath.
“All those spells in your grimoire and yet…you lack the imagination to even use them properly.” I can’t hold back the mocking in my tone. “Really. Were you even ready to start playing with magic from a master-level school?”
It’s a stab in the dark, but it hits true. Pierce jerks, his eyes flying around the room, as if to see if the others heard.
I didn’t specifically mention necromancy, but we both know I wasn’t talking about restoration. With him distracted, I take my chance and switch from defence to offence.
“Take note,” I tell the others. “There are three main types of destruction magic.”
My own lightning arcs over the ceiling, stopping inches from Pierce’s face before the illusion dissipates, revealing the real thing behind him as it zaps him on his too-toned ass.
He shoots up like a rocket, and I smile because the scent of burned fabric tells me there’s now a hole in his perfectly pressed trousers.
Fire runs along the ground between us, and he raises a full shield to counter the strike, only to curse when I pull out another spell and banish his feeble excuse for protection.
If he’d only thought to learn a little divination, he’d have seen the lightning for the trick that it was. And if he’d properly mastered basic nullification, he’d have the skill to create stronger shields.
Pierce is all brute force, and it shows as his suit catches fire, only to be extinguished by spikes of ice that knock his grimoire out of his reach and imprison him in place.
“Lightning, fire, and ice.” I continue the lecture as Pierce struggles to banish my spell with only a scrap from his pocket, launching himself at his grimoire the moment he manages it.
“Fire is the most common and probably the easiest. Ice takes more patience to master, and lightning can be finicky, which is why we won’t be learning either of those today. ”
I let Pierce retrieve his grimoire, but I’m not interested in continuing to make my point.
So when he launches another bolt of lightning at me, I flick it back at his feet, blowing him back into the stained glass.
My reinforcement spells hold up nicely. The glass bends like rubber under the sudden impact, bouncing him back to his knees.
“You—” Pierce heaves out on a choking cough as he tries to speak past his windedness. “How—?”
“Being murdered tends to leave one singularly motivated to learn self-defence,” I retort primly.
“And death left me with plenty of time in which to learn. Now, if you’re quite done humiliating yourself, might I suggest finding a book?
It appears you need to study just as much as everyone else here. ”
I turn my back on him, swiping away the bolt of fire he aims at my skull with a huff of impatience, then drop a book on his head in retaliation.
“Now, how are the hovering spells coming?”
The others are all gathered around Lambert, who’s propped up on his elbows on the mat.
North’s jaw is on the floor. Lambert’s grin could melt chocolate, and Leo… Leo is just shaking his head.
“That was hot as fuck,” Jasper blurts, then blushes.
Something in my chest warms, but I dismiss it and the smile that threatens to follow before I can get distracted. “Come on. You had one task, and I haven’t got all day.”