Chapter 6
Six
Lambert
“How could you?” Eddy snarls, smacking her twin’s arm for the tenth time.
North, to be fair, looks suitably sheepish as he accepts the reprimand. “I said I was sorry!”
“Your own twin. Your sister. The person you shared a womb with, and you didn’t even notice I was body snatched and then replaced!” Eddy’s voice is nearing a screech—not for the first time—and my face scrunches up as I brace my eardrums. “I don’t even get migraines, you dumbass!”
“I didn’t know that! It might’ve been one of those period things!”
I wince on his behalf as Eddy hits him again. Dude really needs to learn when to shut up. You can’t just invoke period-ignorance as an excuse.
“When were you ensorcelled?” Jasper asks, cracking his neck from side to side as he sets his grimoire down in mid-air, letting it float effortlessly beside him. “I reckon they probably replaced you when you went shopping with Pierce, but you didnae leave our sight before then.”
“It was Anthea.” She glowers at the floor like she can see down into the dungeons. “She gloated about it while we were in the Carlton’s basement together. When North was summoned for the meeting about Mathias being made vicegerent, she used the opportunity to hit me with a bunch of spells.”
“That bitch.” North looks about two seconds away from marching downstairs and pummelling Anthea, but Eddy’s soft words stop him.
“I don’t even remember it. There are so many blank spots in my memory. I don’t even remember going shopping with Pierce or getting in the car when they replaced me with that revenant… Why wouldn’t I think that was weird at the time? I should’ve noticed!”
“There were a tonne of ensorcellments on you,” Dakari points out, his finger tracing the runeform in his grimoire as he checks it against the one in Kyrith’s letter.
“You were alone with Anthea for long enough for her to plant a tracker, subjugation spells, and more. I’d be more shocked if she hadn’t added something to keep you unconcerned about what was going on. ”
Eddy’s jaw drops, and I grimace all over again. Yeah. Ensorcellment is a shitty school. Destruction gets a bad rep, but any magic that lets you take over someone’s mind is just awful.
Worse, I feel like a terrible friend. They got to Eddy not once, but twice, and the second time they replaced her entirely, and I didn’t even notice? I suppose North didn’t either, and he’s her brother, but that doesn’t make it better.
I stretch, grimacing as the motion brings Leo into my field of vision.
I’ve been doing my best not to think about him. Eddy’s return distracted me, but every time I have to look at my brother, everything he did comes rushing back.
A fine sheen of sweat covers his skin, and his bones are stark in this dim room.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool that the McKinleys have an honest-to-god castle, but the tiny windows barely let in any of the morning sun.
What little light there is only seems to highlight the obvious signs of his self-neglect.
He shivers. I should do something about it, but my jaw clenches, and I lean over the table instead.
My gut twists with nerves as Jasper silently mouths the incantation, practising.
When he heals Leo, I have to face him. I’m not sure I can do that without putting him right back into a coma.
I don’t believe in grudges or violence…usually.
But he did this. He let Mathias into the Arcanaeum.
Whatever happened to our girl is a direct result of his actions.
Even if he hadn’t, he’s broken her heart over and over again.
Sure, Mathias could just have easily used Dakari or Pierce in his place, but they would’ve fought. Would’ve gone in prepared for battle and done everything to protect Kyrith and the Arcanaeum. It makes me sick that I can’t say for certain if Leo did the same or if he just handed himself over.
And for what? He’s still cursed, and we’ve probably lost the boss lady because of his stupidity.
When I was younger, I always wanted a brother or sister. Now?
I think I’m about to have my first sibling argument.
I’ve done a lot of work to calm myself to the point where I can think past the instinctive rage. It doesn’t help that the breathing exercise I’m doing is one he taught me.
How very like him to do big brother shit when I didn’t even know he was my big brother.
“I’m ready.” Jasper scrubs his fingers through his beard and looks at the back of the sofa like it pains him.
“About time.” Eddy shoves out of her seat. “I have some words for this knobhead.”
“As do I.” Dakari shifts, cracking his fingers one by one. “I’m almost done. Check him for any other ensorcellments too, while you’re at it.”
“I did that before you got here,” Jasper says. “There are wee’uns here. I wasnae taking chances.”
He picks his way around the furniture until he’s staring down at Leo, grimoire still floating beside him. My feet move, and I’m beside him before I really know what I’m doing.
“Will it hurt?” I ask grudgingly.
“Not enough.” Jasper’s hand flattens on the runeform. “It’s mostly just…crushing. He deserves worse.”
I run a hand through my hair, fingers catching in my braids. I can’t disagree, but…yeah.
Jasper’s mouth thins, then he forces his jaw to unclench so he can cast.
I don’t recognise the incantation, not that I expected to. This is advanced spell work. Difficult magic, even for a master.
It’s the kind of thing Kyrith could do with her eyes closed.
A bead of sweat forms at Jasper’s hairline as golden light turns to smoke, heading for my brother’s hands.
It sinks into his skin, and Leo jerks on the sofa, giving a low groan.
Is Jasper sure this doesn’t hurt? Maybe Kyrith cast something to numb the pain when she did it?
Either that, or the Scot is being rough on purpose…
Leo twitches again, hands balling into fists.
The others flank us just as my brother’s eyes fly open. His jaw snaps shut as he regains consciousness, but the pain rages behind his pinprick pupils.
“Is it almost over?” I ask.
Jasper, of course, can’t answer. He’s too busy finishing the spell.
When he finally staggers back, I catch him. He sways once, then recovers, patting me on the arm in thanks.
On the couch, Leo’s face scrunches up. Each muscle in his body methodically relaxes one by one, like he’s intentionally collecting himself. Eventually, he blows his breath out between pursed lips and shoves into a sitting position.
It doesn’t last.
He’s forced back down as Dakari swoops in from behind, shoving him into the cushions. Leo fights, but North and I are already there, pinning him. I have his wrists, and as much as he tries, he’s not getting away.
He would never let a Talcott cast this spell, so there’s no way we’re giving him a say in the matter.
It barely takes any effort. He’s pathetically thin, like he’s starved himself.
Nope. Not feeling pity for him.
“Rimuvi thoscarsi, ginire tou nel biguni…” Dakari chants, one hand on Leo’s curse mark.
“FECK!” Leo screams as the magic battles across his skin, the red turning black, then back to red. “WATCH YER FECKING—ACKH.”
His words cut off like he’s being strangled.
The red light turns searing. I have to shut my eyes or risk being blinded. Even then, it stabs through my eyelids.
I count to five after Dakari finishes the incantation, ears straining for anything beyond the sound of our laboured breathing before I dare a peek.
The runeform is gone. Nothing more than the faintest pink lines across his skin to suggest it was ever there to begin with.
And Leo… Leo is staring at his chest like he’s completely unable to comprehend what just happened.
North has already released his ankles, and I belatedly let go of his wrists. His fingers drop straight to his ribs, tracing the space where the magic should be, clawing at it, leaving red marks.
I reach down and slap his hands away. “Stop it.”
“Yeah. It’s gone,” North says. “Kyrith sent the runeform through with you.”
Leo’s shoulders shake. His knees draw up, arms wrapping around them like he can hold himself together if he just squeezes hard enough. Still, he doesn’t say anything.
My heart cracks a little as I watch his lips part on an inhale that lasts exactly five seconds, then a pause, before he lets it out again. Five, two, seven. He repeats the pattern over and over before his gaze finally lands on me.
The lines around his mouth ease a fraction, only to return as he takes in the others.
Yeah. That’s right, brother. We’re alive and well. Unfortunately, Kyrith isn’t.
I turn my back on him, pacing back towards the window, my feelings somehow even more messed up than they were a second ago.
“Give him a minute,” Eddy whispers, holding her twin back when North tries to follow me.
“Lambert—” Leo breathes.
Dakari’s grimoire snaps shut, the noise deafening. “If the next thing out of your mouth isn’t a plan for killing the lich and getting our girl back, then we don’t want to hear it. We helped you so you can tell us what you know, but after that, you’re dead to all of us.”
“I—” He swallows audibly. “Thank you. I…I don’t—You’re a Talcott.” The last word is so lost, like he can’t possibly comprehend why Dakari would help him.
“Save it.” The larger man’s lip curls in disgust. “I did it for her.”
“We cannae get into the Library,” Jasper says, breaking the stony stare-off between them. “She’s shut us out.”
North runs a hand through his hair and strides to the door again. “Ad Arcanaeum,” he mumbles, knocking for the dozenth time.
I turn to watch, hope sparking again…
Leo’s face falls along with my heart as the door remains stubbornly fixed shut. “She was protecting her books—”
“She was dying,” I snap. “And she wasted her last minutes on you, rather than saving herself.”
I can’t get the image of her flickering in pain as she banished me out of my head. My jaw starts to ache from how hard I’m clenching my teeth, and I busy myself with the ancient window mechanism, not really breathing until it swings fully open and blisteringly cold fresh air slaps me in the face.
“Lambert—Bertie… I…”
My frosty glare silences him. “Only my dad gets to use that name.”
Leo’s cheeks lose what colour they regained. “Mam called you that.”
The revelation doesn’t make it better. If anything, it makes the resentment stinging the inside of my skin worse.
“No. You don’t get to do that. You can’t just wake up, curse free, and start dropping facts about my mom while you—”
“Our mam,” Leo corrects again.
“Really? She left you.” I regret the words the second they tear out of my mouth, and I pinch the bridge of my nose as I suck in more cold air. “That was uncalled for. I’m sorry.”
I’m angry, but lashing out isn’t who I am.
His chin jerks down, but he says nothing.
“Sort it out later,” North grumbles. “There’s a bossy ghost on the other side of this door, and we can’t get to her.”
Leo nods, swinging his legs over so he’s sitting on the sofa properly as he checks his watch. “Mathias won’t keep the Arcanaeum closed forever. We have class on Monday. As soon as you can get back in, you can get the lay of the land.”
“We,” Dakari insists. “You’re not getting out of this.”
“I’m not fecking trying to.” Leo thrusts a hand through his dark curls.
“But as far as Mathias and his allies are concerned, I’m dying.
He ripped his way into the Arcanaeum through my magical well, and he definitely didn’t expect me to live.
I’m going to talk to my grandfather. Have him tell everyone that I crawled home last night, and I’m on my deathbed. ”
“Keeping your survival as a surprise,” Dakari surmises. “Do you really think that will give us an upper hand?”
Leo bites his lip and offers an uncertain nod. “I’ll cast as many spells against detection as I can and follow you in…but we can’t kill him.”
“Like fuck we can’t.” North starts to pace.
Leo continues as if he hasn’t spoken. “It’s beyond us. I had contingencies. I was prepared to defend myself or transport out in an emergency. None of it worked. He’s too powerful. He knows more about magic than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Are you honestly surprised?” Eddy demands. “You’re twenty-six. He has hundreds of years of creepy ass necromancy experience under his belt. Only an utter bell-end would think they stood a chance.”
“I didn’t have a choice!” My heart squeezes as Leo lashes out again.
“It wasn’t just about me. There are children out there who need a cure.
Bairns with active runeforms who are being neglected because their parents are shit scared of becoming attached!
Teenagers with no friends, terrified out of their minds because they don’t know when the bomb is going to go off. ”
A little of my anger tries to melt at that, but I cling to it like a lifeline. Our girl was in danger, and he chose kids he’d never met—okay. No. I can’t even say that. You can’t just abandon kids to a curse… Can you?
Silently, in a deep dark part of my mind, I wonder if maybe I would, and what kind of person that makes me.
An idiot who’s stupidly in love with our girl, most likely.
Squirming, I turn back to the window and take another deep breath.
Dakari is less conflicted than I am. “Kyrith needed you.”
The torn noise that escapes the back of Leo’s throat is almost pained. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
“Being a wee bit presumptuous there,” Jasper mutters, a shadow passing over his face as he takes a seat on Leo’s left. “She told you she was done.”
I want to tell my brother to stay the fuck away from our girl, but I guess there’s no point now. Despite Dakari’s words and her grimoire still not being summoned to the Vault, I’m not convinced she’s alive.
There’s no way Mathias would spare her. Like Eddy said, she’s the only one who really had a chance against him. But if he did—if there’s even a chance—we have to save her. And if she’s gone, leaving the Arcanaeum to be used by Mathias and Isidora would be like abandoning a friend.
I know I don’t stand a chance against them, but I have to try. The others will feel the same way, because that’s Kyrith’s library. The lich being there, messing with her stuff, is wrong.
“A lich’s life force is tied to their phylactery.” Dakari’s voice has taken on a lower tone. “If we want him dead, we have to find it.”
We can do that. “It has to be somewhere.”
Leo’s sigh is painfully familiar. “Lambert—”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” The words shouldn’t come out as harshly as they do. “Anyway, our first priority is getting Kyrith out of there. If she’s alive, we have a chance. She’s smart. She’ll figure this out.”
“She cannae leave,” Jasper says.
“Then we help her banish Mathias. Either way, I’m not abandoning her.”
My chest still aches at the memory of her throwing me out. It should’ve been my decision. I could’ve done something. We could’ve distracted them, if nothing else.
But when it came down to it, she chose to protect us instead of saving herself.
Boss. Why couldn’t you trust us?