Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
Kyrith
Tracking down Leo is painfully easy.
He’s hiding in the Astrology Room, lounging in his chair with five books floating around him and papers spread across his lap. Has he given up on the university entirely? I haven’t seen him even pretending to study recently.
“Go away, Kyrie. I wouldn’t want you to get ideas and start—”
“If you finish that sentence,” I interrupt, “I will stop helping you. Are we clear?”
His jaw snaps shut, eyes glowing with ice sharp enough to cut. “Are you blackmailing me now?”
“Boundaries aren’t blackmail, and I am not a punching bag for you to work out your frustrations on. I’m trying to help you.”
The battle of wills between us is tight, twisting and strained, and his scowl only intensifies the longer our staring match goes on.
“Is it help, really? You seem too distracted to get anything done. You’ve fucked five different heirs in less than seventy-two hours.”
“That’s not true.”
His knuckles turn white on the arms of his chair. “So you didn’t fuck Lambert after the game? And I didn’t walk in on you sucking North dry two nights ago? I suppose Jasper’s hickeys were my imagination, too?” He scoffs. “Those three I get. But Pierce? Then Dakari straight after?”
“I was arguing with Pierce. There was nothing sexual about it!”
“Did you fuck him?”
“What?”
“Dakari. Have you fucked him?”
The realisation crashes into me like a bolt of lightning. “This isn’t about the ensorcellment at all. You’re jealous.”
His teeth gnash together. “Jealous?”
“You turned me down. Now you’re upset because Dakari didn’t. You hate the Talcotts, and you hate the idea of him having me even more.”
Somehow, I’ve drifted closer, until I’m standing between his spread knees, so I catch the flash of panic that runs across his features.
“Maybe I do,” he retorts. “Maybe I wish it was me, not him, who got to peel back your layers and make you beg. Maybe I stay up all night, cursing you for haunting my dreams, and the idea of that eejit touching you makes me want to beat his bloody head in. But unlike him, I’m trying to protect you, and what thanks do I get for it? ”
I shake my head. “You don’t have to be jealous of any of them. You had a copy of the contract. You could—”
“Don’t.” He’s out of his seat, looming over me in the span of a single breath. “Don’t tempt me, Kyrie.”
Those eyes finally leave mine, dropping to my lips with deliberate slowness before returning. His right hand rises, wrapping so delicately around the column of my throat.
For some irrational reason, my clit pulses in answer.
“You couldn’t handle what I’d do to you.”
His thumb caresses the line of my jaw. He’s still doing it, I realise. He’s still trying to scare me off.
It’s intentional. I’m sure of it. How much of this is true anger, and how much is an act meant to keep everyone at a distance?
If he learns about the bond between us, his efforts will only redouble.
“I think you’re scared,” I whisper tauntingly against his mouth as our breath tangles.
“I think you’re so good at driving people away that you don’t know what to do when you desperately want them to stay.
That’s why you provoke me and then spend hours stroking my hair.
Stars, you even admitted—How could I miss it? ”
“Don’t.” His face is a dead mask.
“You said it would be easy to fall for me,” I challenge. “You knew that because you’re already half-way there. And if you let yourself sign the contract, if you stop needling me like you do, then you think I’ll be the one your ensorcellment steals from you, not Lambert.”
Leo hasn’t moved a muscle. He may as well be a statue. In contrast, my heart is beating wildly out of control, throat bobbing under his grip. Every breath I take is him. Windstorms and fresh paper; a masculine, bookish scent that makes me want to crawl into him and steal it for myself.
“What if I said I don’t care about the curse?”
“Don’t act foolish, Librarian. It doesn’t suit you.”
“We can untangle it in time. We’re so close—”
“Then do it,” he snarls. “Do it so I can hug you, kiss you, and then pass you to my brother and let him do the same. But until you do—until you and Lambert are safe—I won’t stay here. Keep your Sanctuary for those who need it.”
My body sways into him, drawn into his orbit despite his words.
His eyes dip to my lips again. For an instant, I think he might give in.
Might finally kiss me. No. Instead, he relinquishes that proprietary grip on my throat, blindly grabs his papers, and swoops from the room like the hounds of hell are chasing him.
In the process, he brushes past Lambert, who’s frozen at the top of the stairs, wearing a stricken expression. Time seems to slow as the magiball jacket falls from his grasp, landing on the floor with a soft thump.
Oh stars. How much did he hear?
Northcliff
“Brother?” Lambert repeats dully as Kyrith presses a hot chocolate into his hands. “I have a brother, and none of you guys thought to tell me that he’s been right under my nose for years?”
“I didn’t know,” I raise both hands, one still clutching my Newkie Brown.
I was saving the drink for his game later, but when shit hit the fan, I figured I might as well start early.
“Neither did I. I’ve been out of the loop, what with the kidnapping and all.” Jasper accepts a hot chocolate from Kyrith, then steals her hand before she can draw away and presses a kiss to her knuckles.
I wait for the jealousy to hit, but it doesn’t. Instead, I’m just fucking relieved that she has someone who can do all of that romantic shit. I suck at it.
“I thought you knew,” Dakari says. “Your mother and Atlas ó Rinn divorced when Leo was two. She moved on, but Atlas didn’t, and then he decided to take his own life when his curse killed her.
It was big news. Your mum was the Winthrop heir.
When she died, your aunt Georgina took her place and… Well, look how that turned out.”
I swig my beer, trying to remember what Lambert told me about his aunt. Not much. She’s some kind of socialite, right?
Kyrith purses her lips, but Lambert’s too shocked to notice the guilty expression on her face. How much did she know?
Probably all of it, given the way she can’t even look at him.
Eddy plops down onto the sofa on my left. “Does it matter? You weren’t raised together.”
“It matters,” Kyrith says. “Leo is obsessed with ending his ensorcellment because Lambert is the person he thinks will be affected.”
“So I could, like…die?” Lambert blinks at her. “Leo’s been trying to save me because I’m his brother?”
“I thought you knew about the curse,” I point out.
“I always figured he was just being paranoid.” Lambert gives a single, heavy shrug. “It made no sense. We were just friends, right? He spent more time with his books in the Astrology Room than with me. It would’ve made more sense for him to lose the ability to read or something.”
The room lapses into silence, most of us faking interest in the ads flashing across the screen. Kyrith’s hands flutter around like she isn’t sure whether to offer Lambert comfort or give him space. When her eyes catch mine, I tilt my head slightly towards him, answering her question.
Touch is Lambert’s lifeblood. He’s one of those rare blokes who hugs his male friends and doesn’t give a shit about what others think.
Her hands fall onto his shoulders, rubbing gently at the runeforms exposed by his magiball uniform.
“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” Lambert murmurs, resting his head against her arm.
I snort. I can’t fucking help it. “Come on. He’s trying to protect you by keeping you at arm’s length. If you knew he was your brother, you’d be up his ass trying to build sibling bonds and shit when you should’ve stayed away.”
“Well, maybe I should’ve been able to make that choice!” Lambert’s gaze darkens with a hint of temper, and he shrugs off Kyrith’s hands. “People are always making decisions for me. I’m an adult. I can decide what risks I’m willing to take.”
The Librarian freezes, her cheeks creasing with a small smile, before she schools her expression.
“I’ve made a similar argument,” she admits. “But he’s just as stubborn as you are.” She pats him gently before moving away to the kitchen island, where a bunch of papers are already popping into existence. “Try not to worry. I’m almost there with the next runeform. With luck, it won’t matter.”
She drifts, so she’s lying in mid-air instead of using the chair like a normal person. Even though she has her real body now, she seems more comfortable as a ghost most of the time, especially when she’s reading.
“Well, isn’t this cosy?” the Carlton prick says, busting in uninvited as usual.
“Did you know—actually, don’t answer that.” Lambert drops his head into his hands. “I’ve got a game to play.”
“You want me to come?” I offer, already putting my beer down.
He just waves me away, glancing at Leo’s empty chair with a grimace. “Nah, dude, I’ll be fine. Magiball will clear my head.”
Ordinarily, I’d take him at his word, but right now, something is off in his smile. Before I can push, he’s out the door, jacket abandoned on the sofa.
The beams above sag slightly as the jacket floats over to Kyrith, landing around her shoulders as best as it can while she’s a ghost.
“Was it something I said?” Pierce slips into a chair at the island, too close to Kyrith for comfort.
She doesn’t even look up at him. The stiffening of her shoulders is the only indication that she’s even noticed the knobhead staring at her.
Fuck. There’s some tension there.
“While you’re here,” she says. “And we’re on the topic of Leo’s ensorcellment, I need four of you to help me break it. Dakari has already agreed.” She offers him a grateful smile.
“I’ll help,” Jasper volunteers. “I’ve always thought the curse was awful.”
“Good. Pierce?”
“Me?”