Chapter 11 #2
“And the rest of yous can clear off,” his father adds. “Nosey bastards, the lot of ya.”
“What happened?” Dakari asks me as the others disperse.
Tucking my face against his chest, I use his body to muffle my reply. “I’ll explain when we’re all together. It’s not good.”
I wonder if he’ll press me, but he simply exchanges a look with Jasper, who nods and heads for the keep at a jog. Good. He’ll find the others.
Isidora and Mathias just killed a parriarch. Did they go after Georgina because they knew Lambert had been involved in my rescue? Or simply because she was the one with the fewest defences?
If Mathias did what I think he did and used the dagger to channel her power into the Arcanaeum, it could mean that he’s trying to forcibly reopen the Library.
If that’s the case, then the other parriarchs are at risk of suffering the same fate, along with anyone else with significant magical power.
Halinor is safe here behind the wards, but what about Artemius ó Rinn?
Someone needs to convince him to step out of isolation for his own safety.
Dakari starts walking, and I glance behind him only to instantly regret it.
Galileo is standing at the edge of the dispersing crowd, staring at me. He doesn’t approach, merely inclines his head to one side in a silent question. Doing so lets the midday sun expose the dark, swollen discolouration around his eye, and I frown.
Who gave him that?
I turn my head and pretend I don’t see him. He has no right to ask after my well-being, not after what he did. And I don’t care if he’s injured. I just wish that those angry thoughts were backed up with real fury rather than wilting despondency that chills my bones.
I shiver, and Dakari reacts by adjusting me so I’m buried impossibly deeper in his embrace.
I can’t hide from Leo forever, and I need him to be at this meeting. I’m perfectly capable of putting my personal feelings aside for the good of the Arcanaeum.
“Benjamin, would you join us?” I ask.
Pierce’s grandfather knows more than he lets on, and maybe the outside influence will encourage the rest of them to be on their best behaviour. I hope so, because when I was confined to bed, reflecting on all the things that led to us losing the Arcanaeum, one thing became painfully obvious.
I was overwhelmed and isolated. I made mistakes—chief among them being lax in hiding the dagger and not noticing the changes in Eddy’s behaviour. Leo, Pierce, and Dakari didn’t trust one another when they went to that dinner, and as a result, they were separated and cornered.
In the end, it was our own divisions that handed Mathias the advantage.
That ends now. I don’t have to let Galileo as close as he once was, but he knows as well as I do that he owes me a debt larger than he can ever repay. It would be stupid to drive him away when we’re short of allies as it is.
Dakari sets me down on a long bench, and my gloomy thoughts flee as I take in the large room.
It’s a banquet hall, more than large enough for our meeting, and I lay my grimoire on the table.
I’ve got a warding spell that should deter eavesdroppers and casting it will bring me one step closer to a full bond with the book.
It also serves to fill the time while we wait for the others to get here.
Jasper ushers in North and Eddy, then deliberately releases the door just before Leo reaches it in a subtle snub that the ó Rinn heir doesn’t comment on.
Pierce enters a second later, having been fetched by Benny, and Lambert is last, carrying Westley under one arm as he shuts the door behind him with a smile that makes my heart ache.
He takes a seat by my side, nudging aside Dakari, who just rolls his eyes. All six heirs, Eddy, and Benjamin watch me cautiously as I struggle with the words I know they need to hear.
“Georgina Winthrop is dead.”
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that follows. Lambert’s hands freeze midway through petting the cat, and I drop my hand to his thigh beneath the table, squeezing. She was his aunt, but I don’t think the two of them were close. Will he be upset by her passing?
“How?” His single word tells me nothing, and he resumes stroking Westley.
“Isidora and Mathias interrogated her, then killed her with the same dagger and incantation that he used to sacrifice me.” I turn to Benny. “He’s trying to force his way back into the Arcanaeum.”
“It could work,” he muses. “But the dagger is simply a key. Without the spire to funnel the power into the Library, most of the magic he pulls from others will end up wasted. It’s inefficient at best.”
“If he kills enough people, that won’t matter,” North surmises. “How do we find him and stop him?”
“We won’t have to find him.” Benny shakes his head. “Mathias will come here as soon as he realises this is where Kyrith is. He needs her if he’s going to restore the Arcanaeum’s magical well.”
“He can’t have her,” Dakari grumbles. “Has anyone figured out how to kill him yet?”
Pierce clears his throat. “I have a theory about where his soul vessel is, but it’s not going to be easy.”
“You do?” The disbelief colouring my tone makes him roll his eyes.
“If I’m right, it’s been sitting in the Library for five hundred years. Now he doesn’t let it out of his sight.”
My jaw drops. “The dagger. The ruby in the handle. I thought it felt…”
Oily. So very similar to the necromantic magic the Arcanaeum sensed on grimoires. The blade itself wasn’t affected at all, but that gem…. Why did I not put two and two together?
Mathias’s soul was part of the knife pinning me to the altar for centuries. Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.
I had it all along. I could’ve destroyed it thousands of times.
Instead, I unwittingly protected it along with everything else in the Vault. I dismissed it as just another gaudy part of the golden blade.
Was it protected by the time loop, like I was? It would explain why the weapon never tarnished, no matter how long it sat down there in the dark.
If that were the case, I wouldn’t have been able to destroy it, even had I known.
It’s a small comfort. Magic. How could I have been so blind?
I sway, but before I can catch myself, Jasper is there on my other side, his arm coming round my shoulders in a protective embrace.
“We’ll destroy it and him.”
How can we when the dagger has the ability to turn me into a puppet? When he invaded the Arcanaeum, I was less than useless against it. My head starts to pound, so the door creaking open is a welcome interruption.
“Food!” Hazel McKinley announces, hefting a tray on her hip. “Ma made enough for everyone.”
In short order, she and her parents join us, filling the table with more food than it could reasonably be expected to support. I swear, at one point, the wood starts to groan, but the sound is drowned out by the eager clatter of a dozen people digging into roasted meat and vegetables.
The pause in heavier conversation provides space for me to observe Lambert.
He seems to be coping well with the loss.
I’d hoped as much. He never speaks about anyone in his family besides his father, and he’s not the type to hide his feelings.
The easy way he chatters with Jasper’s family is a good sign.
The meal also gives me time to think.
My task is simple and impossible.
Get the dagger, break the stone, and find a way to give the Arcanaeum its magic back, even if that means I never leave the building again.
My freedom was all I ever wanted, but I’d give it up in a heartbeat if I thought it would bring back the Library.
Even if I do find a way to merge our magics again, who knows what happened to the other librarians when they sent me away.
Are they still trapped there? Are they…gone?
Would it be better—kinder—for them to have finally found some peace?
Is it selfish that I don’t want that to be the case? The Arcanaeum was my best friend. I can’t even imagine re-entering the building to find it cold and lifeless.
My ruminations last until the plates are cleared and Jasper’s family have left, taking with them their good mood and easy company.
On my left, Benny rests his chin on his fist and continues where our earlier conversation left off.
“Mathias’s aim has always been to possess the Library, and from it, rule arcandom.
He’s ruthless in his pursuit of those goals.
If he should achieve them, the world as we know it will cease to exist.”
Lambert frowns, lowering his fork. “What are you saying?”
“He’s saying Kyrith’s in danger,” Eddy interrupts. “Aren’t you?”
“Indeed.” Benny nods his head. “Without the Arcanaeum’s power to back you up, you are at your most vulnerable. One house won’t be enough to defend you. All six might not be sufficient.”
“I need to return to the Library. If I can restore my connection to it, and use that—”
“That’s a terrible idea.”
Benny’s words stun me to silence, but Pierce is already agreeing with him. “The Arcanaeum locked you out to protect itself. The moment Mathias finds you, he’ll use the dagger to control you, just like last time. If you’re reconnected to the building while he’s in possession of that blade, he wins.”
“Well, what would you have me do?” I demand, then rear back as I read the truth in his eyes, then North’s, then Lambert’s… All of them. All of them are giving me the exact same look. “You want me to hide.”
The very idea grates. Hiding? Doing nothing as he murders his way back into the Library?
“Not hiding,” Benny corrects. “Waiting. You’re not the only one who has been working against Mathias. I have an extensive network in place, with people in enforcement and Isidora’s household.”
“Carltons and their spies,” Dakari mutters under his breath.
“Teach us what we need to know to go after him and let us do it,” North suggests. “Fuck this creeping around bullshit. He’s a danger to everyone, and we’re strong enough to defeat him. We know the phylactery is in the knife, right? Problem solved.”
Lambert nods, like he thinks that’s even possible.