Chapter 19
Nineteen
Kyrith
“Aparty? Now?” I protest, but Eddy shoves me back into my room. “But I had a—”
“Get your butt in here. You’ve been working for days. How many runeforms are even left, anyway?”
“None,” I grumble under my breath.
I should be happy about it, but the best I can summon is relief. The last ensorcellment was particularly stubborn, having degraded no less than six times. The elderly man to whom the runeform belonged had been waiting seventy years for it to activate. It had had decades to deteriorate.
He’s one of my regular patrons. Over the years, I wondered absently why he never married, never had children. Now I know.
He was living half a life. The depressing truth has hardly made me eager to attend Eddy’s Valentine’s gathering.
“Perfect, so you can let your hair down and celebrate.” She grins, completely oblivious to my low mood.
She’s already wearing a red leather dress with cut outs at her waist. Gold chains adorn her ears, neck, waist, and wrists, matching her eyes perfectly.
“Halinor let me set this up because everyone needs cheering up right now. They’re all going stir-crazy waiting for Mathias to do something, and you’ve not even really given yourself a chance to breathe since you left the Arcanaeum.”
Because I have to distract myself, or I’ll go mad. I want to retort, but I stop myself.
She’s right. Overworking leads to mistakes. Nevertheless… “I still have to work out how we can destroy soul vessels.”
The ó Rinn ensorcellments were my main focus, but now they’re done. Finished. And the sooner we can deal with Mathias and Isidora, the better.
Society outside of Fort McKinley is creeping toward a boiling point. I may dislike that infernal library tablet, but it’s become my habit to check the news each morning, and what I’ve been reading has made my blood chill.
The articles are beginning to follow a predictable pattern.
References to studies on the increased prevalence of necromancers in liminal bloodlines, where the sample size wasn’t adjusted for population.
Line graphs showing a rise in magically weak children, where the y-axis didn’t start at zero.
Carefully selected stories focusing on adept families who were torn apart, but whose deaths Abe chose to keep quiet so as not to scare the public.
Reports on the frailty of Halinor and Artemius, speculating on their mental acuity. Non-peer-reviewed studies.
It’s blatant manipulation of facts and figures to support a singular narrative: necromancy is on the rise, adepts are suffering, and liminals are both somehow responsible and weakening the population.
Isidora and Mathias alone are arcandom’s last hope to fix the mistakes of her blundering predecessor.
Manufactured crisis plus perfect scapegoat equals strong saviour needed. It’s the same textbook equation used by every budding authoritarian regime since the dawn of time.
Just thinking of it makes my mouth uncomfortably dry.
“I’ve been taking care of myself,” I finish lamely. “As much as I can.”
“If you call letting my brother and Lambert lure you into bed every night taking care of yourself, then yeah, sure. You’re not a ghost anymore, Kyrith. You’re spending all of your time in a body that needs to relax and have fun every now and again.”
She is more of an expert in corporeality than I am, and she’s determined. So, with a groan, I let her shut the door, then watch quiescently as she opens the garment bag hanging on the back of it with a flourish.
“What. Is. That?”
Eddy gives me a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat. “Two words: Leo’s face.”
I pin her with my best glare, but after years of dealing with North, she’s immune to sour looks.
“What? I thought you were torturing him with what he can’t have?”
“That was one moment of selfish pettiness.”
After overthinking it, I’ve come to the decision that it was done in poor taste. I resolved to remain professional, and in the next breath decided to orgasm loudly against his door.
“Then what do you call all the other noises coming out of your room at night?”
I raise a brow. “Do tell me, how is Lydia? North may be ignorant, but you’re not exactly discreet.”
Eddy raises one delicate shoulder. “She’s very well, thank you, and we cast a silencing ward around my room before we get busy…unlike some people. You’re dodging the subject and the dress. Strip.”
I roll my eyes as I follow her orders, but I keep my mouth shut.
Of course, Eddy being Eddy, that isn’t enough for her.
“If you’ve broken the last ensorcellment, does that mean…?”
“It means he should have no incentive to betray me to Mathias a second time.” I pause. “And we no longer have any real reason to speak to one another.”
Ever since I handed him that final piece of paper this morning, it’s like a weight has been lifted, and another has taken its place.
On the one hand, I no longer need to fear that he’ll run off to Mathias should I not manage to free his family.
I can rest easier knowing that I’ve saved dozens of people.
There’s always the chance that more children will be born with ensorcellments in the future, thanks to the sizeable number of ó Rinns who had already lost what mattered most to them, but I understand the pattern now.
By the last runeform, I knew where to look and which constellations the magic favoured when it deteriorated. I was limited mostly by my own speed and my methodical need to check every last nullifying runeform for errors before I handed it off to Leo.
For days, I’ve been working side by side with him, wishing it felt the same as it once did.
It didn’t.
He’s stopped calling me Kyrie. I asked him to, and he obliged. I should be happy. But with every single ‘Kyrith’ or ‘Librarian’ that passes his lips, I grow more and more frustrated.
He’s perfectly polite, constantly reminds me to take breaks, and never brings up anything outside of work.
It’s like having a respectful, robotic assistant.
Surely that’s an improvement? It’s certainly the opposite of the man who worked with me until we both passed out and begrudged me taking time away from his ensorcellment for myself.
“You miss him,” Eddy comments as she unhooks the dress and loosens the laces at the back.
“I miss what we had,” I correct, peeling myself out of my stays. “I miss the ease of it. Only a fool would expect that to return after what he did.”
At no point during our work did I feel comfortable enough to slip back to my knees on the floor like I used to.
My logical brain knows that could be due to any number of reasons, not least of which is the unfamiliar location and witnesses.
But my heart mourns the drugging warmth and comfort of his hand in my hair.
“You don’t have to force it,” Eddy reminds me, helping me step into the fabric. “Or even take him back.”
I clutch the dress to my breasts, and she laces it up behind me.
It’s good that she can’t read my expression, because I’m pretty sure it doesn’t reflect the same resoluteness I force into my voice as I reply, “I’m not planning to.”
“Okay.” Her agreement comes too easily. “Fuck him. Good riddance. You’ve got five better boyfriends anyway, right?”
Tiny leaden weights drop through my stomach with each supportive word. “…Right.”
I just need to grieve what could’ve been and move on. Not seeing him every day is a good thing. Honestly, what was I thinking, allowing him to even think he had a chance at repairing what he broke?
It’s never coming back. It was all toxic anyway. I’m better off without his brand of love.
Eddy finishes yanking me into the dress, then walks around me to inspect her work. She stops, eyes widening as she takes in my face and wordlessly drags me into a hug.
“I’ll kill him,” she says.
My hoarse chuckle just makes her hug me tighter. “Maybe later. Killing off our allies while arcandom is falling into civil war is ill advised.”
It’s also another good reason why I should turn my mind from all things Leo. I don’t need more heartbreak distracting me.
When Eddy finally releases me, I look down at the dress and smooth my palms across the fabric. It’s got alternating panels of black lace and heather-grey tartan, all flowing neatly down into a ruffle skirt that barely makes it to mid-thigh.
“This is short,” I comment, checking the length in the mirror.
Should I adjust it? My fingers twitch.
“It’s Valentine’s,” she dismisses. “The point is to get laid.”
A light chuckle comes from the other side of the room.
“I can help with that.”
I whirl, grinning when I see Dakari leaning against the doorframe.
“You look stunning, baby girl.”
I cross to him with open arms and an easy smile. “You’re here.”
He’s been coming and going more than the others, and it sets my teeth on edge even as I understand the necessity of it. Talcott is one of the largest houses, and while Abe left things in good order, it’s a large burden to shoulder.
He nods. “Finally got my family to stop arguing long enough to get shit done, but then there’s the mess that Benny left of enforcement.”
I expected as much. “If they remain in disarray, they’re not going to be much help.”
“At least they can’t get in the way,” he says. “I’ve exiled every Talcott that Benny had evidence against, but enforcement is splitting in two, taking sides and screaming at each other.”
“You’re both talking about work again,” Eddy protests, handing me a pair of heeled boots that are taller than anything I’ve ever worn. “This is a party, not a war meeting. Shoo. Go have fun. I’ll meet you there when I’ve done my face.”
Dakari offers me his arm to lean on while I zip up the boots and pin her with an exasperated look. I have no doubt that rushing us out the door is a ruse so she can sneak out and find Lydia before the dance.
Sighing, I let her get away with it this time and allow Dakari to lead me from her room, only to pause when we pass mine. In Eddy’s haste to get rid of me, I’ve neglected my own makeup.
“One second, I just want to—”
I twist the handle and step back in surprise.