Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
Kyrith
“The Cotswolds?” North grumbles under his breath. “Figures an evil undead wanker must feel right at home with all the celebs and politicians.”
I raise my eyebrows at him and make a slashing gesture across my throat. The four of us might be in our own little bubble of invisibility, but Mathias has covered his home with alarms and wards.
It took me ten minutes just to create a gap in the protective spells around the perimeter.
I’m still antsy because the other three aren’t here. Pierce, Lambert, and Leo have taken the arguably more dangerous task of freeing Benny before his execution. Now worry for them is a Gordian knot in my gut, one that winds tighter with every step.
Thud.
I jump, but it’s just Dakari’s grimoire snapping closed. I squeeze through the hole in the hornbeam hedge after him, followed by Eddy, with North bringing up the rear. Once our entire group is through, Dakari waves a hand and branches return, erasing any proof of our trespassing.
On the other side is a manicured lawn, and beyond it, the country manor where Jasper should be. In North’s hand is a tiny compass which I enchanted last night. It points straight at the main house.
My job is to keep us so well-hidden that Mathias doesn’t notice we’re right under his nose. Most of my attention is caught up in directing the flow of magic through my grimoire. That’s good. It means I can’t fret as Dakari leads us around the edge of the manor, peeking in windows as he goes.
Eddy sticks so close to me that our sides brush.
North didn’t want to bring his sister. He only agreed when I pointed out that he’d be with her, and that she’s the only person in our group who can’t be controlled by the dagger.
If we go up against Mathias, her job is to cast the transport spell that will get us all out of there, using the beacon I’ve already set up for her. It will probably wipe out her magical reserves, but that’s why it’s our last resort.
The men in front of us stop beneath a bay window, and my heart skips a beat as they exchange a look.
“What?” I whisper.
“It’s the study,” Dakari murmurs. “But there’s a revenant in there, and… Jasper isn’t conscious.”
“We prepared for that,” I remind him. “We won’t leave without him.”
“You will,” Dakari objects. “You promised to go back to the cottage, without arguing, if Mathias showed up.”
I grit my teeth but acquiesce. “Fine.”
It’s logical. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.
We’re counting on Mathias attending the execution, making this the arguably less dangerous mission. That was precisely the reason I suggested Dakari should accompany the others to find Benny, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
The man is annoyingly protective.
His grimoire glows as he presses a hand to the window. He breaks through the protective spells, then transmutes the glass into air before slipping silently inside.
Seconds later, there’s a loud thump, and when I peek over the sill, he’s standing over the unmoving revenant, blood coating him.
Oh. He crushed its skull.
That’s an efficient way of destroying the brainstem, I suppose. But there’s no way Mathias won’t notice the resulting gore. My stomach does a little flip, so I focus on the man slumped behind bars in the far corner of the room.
The exterior of the house might be quaint and old-fashioned, but the interior is brutally modern. At least the minimalism means there’s less in the way as I lean through the window, trying to get a better look at Jasper’s injuries.
A gleam on the desk catches my eye.
No. It can’t be.
It wouldn’t be that simple.
Would it?
Dakari takes a step toward the dagger.
“Don’t touch it!” I hiss.
If Mathias has left the heart of the Arcanaeum and his phylactery on his desk, there’s absolutely no way they aren’t protected by the strongest magic the lich knows.
Why would he ever let them out of his sight?
I suppose if he took them to the execution, the risk of enforcement questioning his need to carry a blade would be too high. If any of them scanned it for dark magic, it would probably light up like a Christmas tree.
The knot of anxiety in my stomach untwists fractionally at the thought.
Pierce, Lambert, and Leo are safer for it being here, even if the opposite is undoubtedly true for us.
“Trap,” I mouth at Dakari.
Only a fool would think otherwise. Have we already sprung it?
His eyes harden. “Go.”
I glance at Jasper, then at the dagger, and shake my head.
Deep breath.
I can do this.
If Dakari was going to trigger something, he would’ve by now. Whatever the mechanism is, I can disarm it.
First, we have to be able to see what we’re up against.
“Do you know Magister Tierney’s third incantation for dispelling illusions? I would cast it, but—”
“I know it.” He flicks through his grimoire; the page with the correct runeform already dog-eared like he’s used it multiple times before. “Keep the disguise spell up. I’ll sort this.”
“It might not be enough.”
“I can follow it with Geyer’s magnifying spell.”
Eddy and North look between the two of us like we’re speaking a foreign language, but my shoulders sink a little in relief. I nod, gratitude surging through me. Without the Arcanaeum, I can’t cast as many spells at once, and that’s never been as frustrating as it is right now.
Dakari rushes through the first incantation, and soon spidery white lines—so faint they might as well be cobwebs—crisscross the room and the grounds around us.
After the second spell, they solidify, the colours changing from barely there pale to bright jewel shades that indicate what magic we’re dealing with.
The room is smothered in it. The door and the bars of Jasper’s cell glow from how much power is in them, and the imposing black desk is almost invisible under the glow.
Dakari’s route has taken him over several, but by some miracle, they remain dormant. There’s a circle around where the revenant was standing…
They must be tied to the use of magic. As the revenant is a magical construct, it would’ve triggered them had it moved over one. That’s why Mathias had to leave the area around it free of alarms. If Dakari hadn’t gotten as close to it as he did before killing it…
We probably would’ve been caught straight away.
“New plan,” Eddy whispers. “We’re taking the dagger home with us.”
“Agreed,” North says, hopping over the window and landing in the safe spot on the other side with a muffled thump.
We can’t let this opportunity pass, but my heart transmutes into lead.
Do we have time? That thing must be coated in protective spells. Mathias won’t be gone forever.
“Come on, Ice Queen. I’ll help you up.” North is already holding his hand over the windowsill.
“What about me?” Eddy mutters, but the moment I’m steady, he helps her over, too.
I hold my breath. Surely, now we’re all inside, something will happen, some trap I’ve not accounted for will spring.
Nothing.
Cautiously, I move through the webs of magic, picking my way over to where Dakari is already staring at the bars between us and an unconscious Jasper.
“Can you take over keeping us hidden?” I ask. “Eddy, it would be helpful if you could keep watch, but don’t touch the desk or the door.”
Those are the places the magic is thickest.
Dakari nods once, and the other two move closer to the window. Once everything is in place, I open my grimoire, drawing a pen from behind my ear as I examine the first spell.
“We could be here a while…” I mumble.
I work with brain-numbing speed, my pen strokes hasty as I unravel a dozen enchantments from the bars, then cast a host of divination spells for every conceivable piece of magic I might’ve missed.
Finally, when I’m sure that there’s nothing between us and Jasper but cold steel, I give Dakari a nod.
The cell crumples, the metal bending silently apart as Dakari strides forward, hefting Jasper’s arm over his shoulder.
The Scot groans, and I wince at the burns and bruises across his tanned skin.
I’ll tackle those when we’re out of here. He’s alive. I can fix anything else.
A noise at the window has my heart in my throat. I whirl, grimoire flicking to a transport spell—
North is already bending over, picking up the metal sculpture he knocked over with a sheepish smile. I grind my teeth together and shake my head at him.
He almost gave me a heart attack.
“No word from Pierce or the others?” I ask Eddy.
“Nothing.” Her eyes are bright with worry. “Do you think—?”
“No news is good news,” I decide. “Dakari, can you take Jasper past the wards, transport him to Rathlin Island, and then come back? Take these, too.”
I unbuckle my belt and hold it out.
He’s not a master of restoration, but there are dozens of small vials strapped across the leather. Most of them are healing elixirs.
“I can try.” He accepts the belt, scanning the labels reluctantly. “You promise—”
A noise deeper in the house silences all of us. We pause, waiting.
It doesn’t repeat itself. No footsteps draw closer on the old hardwood floors.
“I’ll break a hole in the wards and cast a transport spell the second we’re in danger,” I vow, meaning it.
“Stay safe. I won’t be gone long,” Dakari finally mutters, with a meaningful look at North.
I didn’t even notice Jasper’s grimoire on the desk, but Dakari must recognise it because he holsters it alongside his own. With a final warning stare at me, he heaves the fallen Scot through the window and drops out of sight.
“I’ll stay on watch,” North adds, and no one argues.
Thank magic, we don’t have time for debates. I tune out the twins’ whispered conversation. This is fine magic, delicate work.
And the consequence of mishandling any of these spells is death.
I imagine if I told them that, they’d try to stop me.
But this opportunity is too golden to waste. The key to re-entering the Arcanaeum is right here.
I have to try.