Chapter 34 #2
“Yes. Of course.” Leo scrubs a hand down his face.
“But lots of us are regretting choices we made because of the curse. A few of my cousins are in loveless arranged marriages, which are breaking down because now they want a chance at the real thing. There are a couple of parents who didn’t have shite to do with raising their kids out of fear, and now they’re struggling to build relationships.
Some of the younger cousins are finding it hard to make friends because they never had any… ” He coughs. “You get the idea.”
My heart melts. “I’m glad you have each other.”
“Yeah.” He frowns, then rushes to add, “We’re all grateful, don’t get me wrong; it’s just…complicated.”
It was foolish of me to believe it would be over with the finished runeforms. The ensorcellments were a massive part of several dozen lives, indirectly impacting hundreds more.
“Are you being careful?” I ask. “You need to ward wherever you’re meeting.”
“We’re not taking any chances.” He backs toward the door with a small, reassuring smile. “I’d ask if you wanted to come, but…Carlton still has spies everywhere.”
“Maybe in the future, but for now, I have much to do here.” I turn back to the Botanical Hall with a sigh. “Although less than I did, thanks to this. Thank you. All of you. This means so much.”
I was dreading walking through the Library in the light of day, seeing all the things that Mathias changed or destroyed. This was my favourite room. It’s bad enough that it still lacks the rustling shelves and the rolling carts that usually keep it so busy even when there are no patrons.
I miss the Arcanaeum’s vivacity.
Leo knocks quietly on the door, mumbling something under his breath. It takes a heartbeat longer than usual for the wood to swing open. When it does, he steps through with one last hopeful look at me.
“It was all Leo’s idea,” Lambert says, the second he’s gone. “He set up the support group while we were in Scotland and hired a therapist to lead it. Kinda fitting, I guess, since he’s going to ask Artemius to hand over the parriarchy soon.”
“Artemius is alive?” I can’t contain my surprise.
“Apparently so. Tough old goat.” Dakari sighs into my hair. “He’s recovering, but he’s already sworn vengeance on Mathias.”
“He’ll have to get in line.” Pierce slips into Botanical Hall, carrying two shopping bags. “Now, has anyone checked on the kitchen? I can’t be the only one who’s starving.”
“Keep feeding us, and eventually we might actually like you,” North says.
Pierce snorts. “Don’t. One-sided friendship is embarrassing for all involved.”
“So, Leo did good?” Lambert steals me from Dakari with an arm around my shoulders, guiding me in the direction of the Clock Tower, following North and Pierce, who are still bickering.
I open my mouth, intending to diplomatically answer that all of their efforts are appreciated. Unfortunately, the moment we pass from Botanical Hall into the Rotunda, my words vanish and my heart sinks through the floor.
“My desk.”
The two words are all I manage to blurt before Dakari has his grimoire in hand, muttering a spell. North starts casting at the same time, and between the two of them, the grey plastic monstrosity is crushed into an ugly pancake before it catches fire.
“Fire in the Arcanaeum!” I scold, rushing forward, only for the flames to disappear in the next heartbeat.
North rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, I figured you’d make an exception.”
I sigh. Typical North; too proud to say sorry, but also one of the first to destroy the thing that upset me.
“We can conjure the old one, exactly as it was,” Lambert promises. “Or a new one, if you want.”
“Later.” Right now, I need to know if the Clock Tower is still as we left it. The anticipation haunts me as we walk through rows of characterless metal shelving. I’m so tense that I barely remember to undo my confusticating spells along the way.
The parapet is unchanged, except for a sleek sun lounger that I destroy with a passing thought. If only the lich had decided to take some time off and sit out here, enjoying the mists. Then he would’ve lost his mind, and we could have avoided this.
The door on the other side is missing. Even the decorative lintel is gone.
Is that a good sign? Only one way to find out.
I touch one hand to the stone and mumble an incantation.
The door reappears, exactly as it once was, swinging open to reveal…
“It’s still here.” My breath leaves me in a rush.
Sure, there’s a layer of dust covering everything, but the kitchen, table, and sofa are all exactly as they were. The stairs, too, are untouched.
“The Arcanaeum hid it,” Lambert guesses, pulling me over to our sofa and letting the others file into the living area.
Jasper, Dakari, and North instantly join us, collapsing into chairs with relieved sighs.
Pierce heads for the kitchen, dumping his bags and running a thoughtful hand over the worktops and the stove. Eddy alone races for the stairs, muttering about making sure the revenant didn’t mess with her stuff.
“Well, that’s one thing we don’t have to fix,” North says, letting his head fall back. “Thank fuck. Botanical Hall was hard enough.”
The Arcanaeum is massive. Even with their strength, it would take weeks for them to put it to rights.
We may have to reopen before the renovations are complete.
That thought sours a little of my relief, and Lambert notices.
“What’s wrong?”
I press my lips together and make a disgruntled noise. “It will likely be days before everything is back to how it was, but I don’t want to reopen while the Arcanaeum is still like this. Is that vain?”
“Yes.” Pierce’s bluntness is as expected as it is painful. “Leave it as it is. They need the reminder of what they almost lost.”
“But I don’t,” I retort. “If I’m going to be at the desk most of the time, I’d at least like to get the Rotunda and Botanical Hall back to normal.”
“Even then, having a few of the Arcanaeum’s scars on display might nae be the worst thing,” Jasper agrees. “Unless you plan to hide what happened?”
“I can’t.” I tug at my sleeves. “But once I open that can of worms… Once I make it clear that the Arcanaeum was under attack by Mathias, there’s every likelihood he’ll retaliate by divulging that the Library and I are the products of necromancy.”
That’s my greatest fear. The revelation that will turn enforcement and most of arcandom against me.
“It’s not, though, right?” Lambert says. “Not really.”
“Technically, it is.”
He shakes his head. “But it’s the good kind. Not the creepy, corpse-reanimating and killing-people stuff. Not anymore.”
Only Lambert could posit that there’s such a thing as ‘good’ necromancy.
“Regardless of whether it is or isn’t, revealing too much of what happened could put Kyrith at risk.” Dakari’s eyes flash, and he sits up straighter.
“I don’t think it will,” Pierce murmurs.
“Mathias can’t let that happen. It would ruin his plans if enforcement wanted the place torn down.
He’s created a situation where everyone is so terrified of necromancy that they’d torch the Library in a fearful mob.
So he has to keep the secret if he wants control of the building, which he does. ”
He might be right.
Mathias has reached a point of no return since becoming parriarch.
He’s too far into his plans to give up now.
It’s unlikely that will protect the Arcanaeum from slander, but now that he’s publicly claimed it and attempted to rebrand it as his own, any allegations of necromancy would blow back on him spectacularly.
I sigh, slipping from Lambert’s lap to the floor and laying my grimoire open on the coffee table. With a few murmured spells, the rest of the space is soon filled with maps of the Arcanaeum.
“Even if I don’t wait for everything to be returned to normal, the doors need sorting,” I mumble, starting a list on a fresh piece of paper.
“Funnelling everyone in through the foyer was just asking for chaos. Honestly. Even back in my lifetime, there were alternate entrances. And…I need to be rebound to the Library.”
The silence that follows my proclamation is thick.
“Lass,” Jasper begins softly. “If you do that, will you be able to leave again?”
I swallow the lump in my throat and force every ounce of nonchalance I possess into a light shrug.
“I don’t know. In the grand scheme of things, it matters little.
Without my connection to the Library, I can’t control who comes and goes.
I can’t run things properly. I’m not even sure I can banish someone. ”
How can I risk opening our doors if that’s the case?
Stars, I’m not even sure I can. What few doors remain are noticeably slow to respond to knocks. I’ve even pre-emptively installed a hidden beacon, allowing us to return if we become stuck outside. How will we cope with dozens of people coming and going?
A hand lands on my shoulder, and I glance up, shocked to find Pierce clutching me. “No. There’s no guarantee you’ll survive a third sacrifice. We’ll hire people if we must, but you’re not doing that again.”
“Sacrifice?” Lambert asks, voice small. “Why would you even consider that?”
“It’s a last resort. Look, I plan to experiment with the spell.
Maybe there’s a way to return the building’s magical well without going to such lengths.
Besides, it’s not just about whether I can keep us safe and run things efficiently.
Right now, it’s like the building is dead.
” I meet Lambert’s eyes, pleading with him to understand.
“I can’t feel it. It’s not moving, not teasing me.
There are no carts rolling around. I can’t leave it like this.
Not for long. Not after everything they did to save me. ”
“Boss,” Lambert begins, then trails off. “You said…‘they’?”
I swallow, square my shoulders, and nod. “There’s something I haven’t told you. Something I only learned when I was separated from the Arcanaeum. The other liminals who were sacrificed before me…they’re not entirely dead.”