Chapter 16
Sixteen
Kyrith
The entire clan is crushed into the hall. It’s loud, crowded, and nearly impossible to hear what anyone is saying. Jasper sits at the head of the immense table, Halinor on one side and Benny on his other, the two of them at each other’s throats.
Most of the heirs, Eddy, and I have managed to find seats at the main table, with the exception of Leo, who was shoved away when he tried to sit beside a scowling North.
Now he stands on top of a table at the back of the hall, surveying the room quietly from his perch, alongside several of the more vocal McKinleys.
It’s chaotic, which isn’t helping the splitting headache that I’ve sported since I woke up. If there were any way I could slip out unnoticed, I would, but I’m sandwiched between Pierce on Benny’s other side and Dakari, whose shoulder I’m currently using as a pillow.
I had no idea how groggy a knockout spell could make you feel. As it is, I’ve barely processed Dakari’s clipped recounting of the conversation, or his revelation that Isidora may now also be a lich.
“You may as well have started a war!” Halinor accuses, and half of the room shouts in agreement.
“If you thought it would take anything less to stop my daughter, then you’re a batshit old fool,” Benny retorts.
“Yes, I baited her. Because of that, you were able to stream Isidora’s murder of enforcement officers—an ingenious move on your part.
She looks guiltier than ever, and she can’t blame their deaths on us as she planned.
Wars are won and lost on public opinion. ”
“She’s already calling it a fake.”
I rub a hand over my eyes, cringing as the volume rises all over again.
I don’t blame them for defending Hazel. The poor girl has apparently been the subject of constant online abuse since she streamed Isidora killing those officers.
Thankfully, her family is caring for her.
Her phone is off for the foreseeable future. She’s strong.
I absolutely think she should never have been put at the centre of this, but at the same time, their yelling is killing me.
I miss my Arcanaeum. What I wouldn’t give to banish every one of them for shouting… It’s not even productive. What’s done is done. Would I have stopped Benny if I’d been aware of his plans? Probably. But I tend to be more cautious than most.
“And you freed Anthea,” Halinor adds. “You had no right to do that. She was a Clan McKinley prisoner and a proven necromancer!”
“One who gave up her grimoire and allowed me to remove all of her memories of the runeforms and spells she’d learned. She’ll remain in exile or suffer the consequences.”
So that’s what he’s been up to? Protecting Anthea?
“She was a vital source of information. We hadn’t finished interrogating her. As it is, no one has asked him what he knows about his mother’s schemes.” Halinor points an arthritic finger at Pierce, and I stiffen.
“Pierce has been on our side and reporting on his mother’s activities since he was far too young to carry out the task,” Benny dismisses. “And Anthea wouldn’t have given you anything useful. At least she’ll keep Isidora occupied chasing her across the country.”
Halinor’s wise gaze hasn’t left Pierce. “And how much necromancy has he learned?”
“None.” Benny’s lie is so bold that I can’t help checking his grandson’s face.
No reaction.
“Necromancy is vile,” Pierce adds calmly. “I’ve witnessed my mother use it, and that was enough.”
More lies. My jaw locks, gut curdling as I wonder whether I should speak up, offer the truth.
It’s only the memory of the scars hidden across his skin that makes me hold my tongue.
Pierce knows necromancy. I’m certain of it. However, I don’t believe he was ever in a position to refuse to learn. If he’d told his mother or Mathias no, he’d likely have died.
I can’t blame him for surviving, which puts his use of it into more of a grey area than I previously believed possible.
If that changes, if I even suspect that he’s using it now that he’s free of them, then I’ll reveal the truth. Until then, he deserves a fair chance.
“What are your thoughts, lass?” Jasper asks.
I’m so lost in my musings that it takes a long while for me to realise I’m being spoken to. Even the loudest of the McKinleys has fallen silent as they await my answer.
I straighten, my head leaving Dakari’s shoulder.
“What’s done is done. Benny acted without consulting anyone, but I’m certain that won’t happen again.
” There’s enough warning in my tone that the older man bobs his head in reluctant obeisance.
“We need to move forward as allies. There will be plenty of time to pick apart blame if we survive this. Right now, we have bigger concerns. Mathias knows I’m here.
He will come for me, and we have to prepare for that. ”
“We need to leave,” Dakari says.
At the same time, Halinor replies. “Let him try. Our walls have withstood more than one disgruntled Ackland.”
“Were our ancestors all dicks?” Eddy asks of no one in particular.
“I can’t ask you to shelter me.” I take a deep breath. “As long as he has that dagger, I’m less than useless when it comes to helping defend your home. It would be wiser for me to leave.”
“And go where?” Benny pushes. “I evaded Mathias for years by travelling to the farthest corners of the world, and it still almost wasn’t enough.
You’d be taking all six of the most powerful arcanists we have with you, two of them parriarchs.
It would weaken the defences here, leaving us at a disadvantage, and your absence would slow or stop any efforts to stop Mathias. ”
He’s right.
If I leave and the others come with me, there’s no one to stop the liches.
Halinor’s posture sinks. “No one is asking you to leave, Librarian. You’re a friend of the clan.”
Jasper stands, cutting both of them off. “All in favour of continuing to shelter the Librarian, say ‘aye.’”
The resulting yells fill the room, splitting my head open anew. My shoulders creep towards my ears before I can help it, then I jerk.
Pierce’s hand has wound behind me to rest, warm and hesitant, against my lower spine. I can feel the heat of him through Leo’s coat, an anchor offering comfort in the storm.
“Thank you,” I murmur, both to him and the clan.
“We need to continue to build up our strength and reach out to our allies,” Jasper concludes. “I think we can count on Talcott—”
“And ó Rinn,” Leo adds. “I’ll talk the old man around.”
I know he means well but hearing him speak up only makes me tense. Pierce notices, and his thumb strokes up and down in the subtlest of caresses.
“The problem is the other houses,” Benny adds. “Carlton is obviously against us, Ackland is tied to Mathias, and Winthrop is leaderless. All Isidora needs to do is install another puppet vicegerent, and they’ll fall in line.”
There’s another outpouring of discontent at that.
“With proof that she was responsible for their parriarch’s murder out there?”
“Can we not just do away with the magister exams and make the heirs parriarchs?”
“We showed them proof; they cannae bury their heads in the sand.”
Everyone in the hall seems to have something to say. Over a dozen suggestions are floated, half of them good, but I’ve lost the ability to focus, if I even had it to begin with.
“Want me to get you out of here?” Dakari asks. “You’re dead on your feet.”
I shake my head, but swivel on the bench, ready to leave. “Stay. You’re a parriarch now. You need to be here.”
Pierce stands, offering me a hand. “I’ll go. You shouldn’t be alone.”
I crave silence and peace, but I see the wisdom in having him with me. Mathias could come back. If I’m on my own, there’s a good chance he’ll be able to puppeteer me into walking straight out of the gate without complaint.
Magic, if I let myself think about that too deeply, panic starts to set in.
As I stand to leave, Benny taps my arm, handing me a small blue potion from a pouch at his belt.
“Headache tonic,” he explains, then goes straight back to arguing with the others.
I nod my thanks, accepting it, even as I silently wish he’d given it to me earlier. Leo’s hawkish gaze tracks me as I leave the room, his jaw tense. Has he noticed Pierce’s hand glued to my lower back? Does it matter if he has?
He has no right to be jealous.
After my outburst, I expected him to push, to capitalise on the weakness I revealed. Instead, he’s been distant, quiet. Maybe he’s too busy with his family’s runeforms to bother pursuing my forgiveness, but I’m not certain that’s the case.
It feels more like a temporary truce.
He’s put his intentions out there. I need to set some boundaries now, before the full force of Storm Leo hits and I do something absurd, like seriously consider his ridiculous offer.
“You’re quiet,” Pierce notes as the heavy door to the hall swings shut behind us.
Instant relief.
Stars, I missed having a body, but on days like today, I’d give anything to ghost away from the burdensome symptoms of existence.
“My head is killing me,” I admit, uncorking the blue potion and downing it. It tastes like spun sugar, and I make a mental note to thank Benny for his thoughtfulness as I wait for it to kick in. “I was trying, but I can’t help anyone like this.”
He nods. “I should’ve picked a gentler spell.”
“No. You did the right thing. The hall was just overwhelming.”
Gravel crunches. Somewhere beyond the walls, a bird calls out into the night.
“Speaking of knockout spells,” Pierce begins a moment later. “Would you like me to cast one on the Irish prat following us?”
My answering sigh is long, but I shake my head. “I suspect he thinks he’s protecting me from you.”
“Do you think you need protection from me?”
It’s a careful question, and I hear the unvoiced one beneath it. Does his being a necromancer make me feel unsafe?
Once, the answer would’ve been yes. Now…
“I’d like to ask you something before I answer that.”
I slip my grimoire from its holster and flip through the pages manually until I find the one I want. Muttering the incantation, I allow myself a tiny, satisfied smile as the gravel behind us changes colour, forming a red line that even an idiot like Leo can’t misinterpret.
Pierce watches it with a raised brow. “Go on.”
“Do you intend to keep using what your mother taught you?”
He’s already shaking his head, disgust wrinkling the corners of his mouth. “I never wanted any of it. The consequences if I refused were…unpleasant. It was marginally more bearable to be the one holding the knife. Not that it stopped her bleeding me for my magic when she needed it.”
He’s talking about his scars. I anticipated that they might be the results of abuse, but I never thought that Isidora would butcher her heir to use his magic for her own purposes.
“The bracelets were a smart touch. Your choice or…”
“Hers.” His hand drops from my back, adjusting the band hidden beneath his coat sleeve like he’s checking it’s still there.
“I have other ways to hide them when the bracelets aren’t appropriate.
I had to tweak the enchantment when I started faking the covenant mark, but it wasn’t hard.
Without it, I’m…not as perfect as a Carlton heir should be. ”
“Without it, Isidora wouldn’t be able to play the perfect parent,” I correct. “Your value is not diminished by whatever she did to you.”
Pierce misses a step but recovers. “Of course.”
So high, those walls of his. The confidence, the regal behaviour…it’s all a front for a wounded man. How did I ever miss that?
Probably because he’s spent his life pretending to be that person. He’s good at it.
“No,” I decide, as we push through the heavy door to the keep. “I don’t think I need protecting from you. You’ve been hurt by Mathias and your mother more than I have.”
A flash of something darts through his expression, there and gone before I can name it.
“Good.” He pauses, taking my coat and hanging it by the door beside his. “Where are we going?”
I turn onto the stairs that lead up to our rooms. “I didn’t really have a destination in mind. I just needed to get away from the noise.”
The conversation tapers off. When we reach our landing, I hesitate. I should go to my room, close the door, and go to sleep. It’s been a long day. But now that we’re here, alone, I want to know…
“Why did you kiss me?”
If there’s a hint of vulnerability in my curious question, he’s polite enough to ignore it as he leans against his door.
“Why did you kiss me?” He turns my question on its head.
“I died again,” I answer easily. “And I would’ve stayed dead, having never followed through on the attraction. You frustrate me, confuse me, and drive me up the wall on a good day, but if I met my end without discovering what it was like to kiss you, I knew I’d regret it.”
It’s not an outpouring of love, or a particularly good reason, not really, but he accepts it.
“What happened in the Vault changed everything,” he agrees.
“If not for my mother’s spell, I think I would’ve jumped in front of the blade for you, and not just because my grandfather told me to protect the Arcanaeum.
You’re…not what I expected. I thought you were this all-powerful figure who could’ve fixed everything.
I put you on a pedestal and in the same breath blamed you for what Mathias and my mother were doing.
That wasn’t fair. You suffered, too, more than you’ve ever let on.
In spite of that, you were still able to look past my bullshit and see me.
I think you’re the only person, aside from my grandfather, who’s ever made the effort. ”
The unexpected burst of insight is stunning; his candour unvarnished and raw. It cracks between us like glass.
“It was a good kiss,” I breathe, my eyes falling to his lips.
One of his brows rises. “Enough to satisfy your curiosity?”
I tug at my sleeve, allowing myself the tiniest shake of my head.