Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
Pierce
Why on earth am I enduring this? I agreed to protect the liminal while she went shopping because I can’t stand being stuck in the Arcanaeum twiddling my thumbs for another second.
The only time I get to leave is when my mother summons me, and that isn’t exactly fun.
At least with Eddy, very little thinking is required—beyond stopping her from getting run over.
“Did you even look?” I demand, grabbing her elbow for the tenth time to steer her out of the path of a bus. Unfortunately, I get a handful of the awful synthetic fluff of her monstrously oversized cardigan. Worse, it’s damp from the intermittent January rain that has plagued us all morning. Ugh.
I release her with a grimace.
Apparently, today’s outfit is artsy. In reality, it looks like she skinned Mr Blobby and decided to wear him as a coat.
At least the garish colour will make it harder to lose her.
“They’re not going to run me over. Besides, it’s a crossing.”
We’re a good twenty feet away from the stripes on the road to our left, and my unimpressed glare tells her so.
“If it happens again, I’ll let you get hit,” I grunt, shoving past her.
The cutesy market town the Arcanaeum chose to dump us in is disgustingly quaint. It’s the kind of place the elderly love and young people abandon as soon as they come of age. There’s even Union Jack bunting.
Now, as Eddy pulls me towards the shambling little row of craft stores, I have to stop myself from grinding my teeth.
“We’ve already been in here,” I protest.
Sure, it was hours ago, before the manicure and the nauseating inept tarot reader, but I remember the rainbow display.
“I decided I wanted that gold shimmer paint after all.”
More likely, she just wants to spend as much time as possible outside of the Library before she’s cooped up again.
I can almost sympathise. Groaning, I eye the coffee shop opposite.
No big chains here. Perhaps that improves my chances of getting something better than the watery instant shit I’ve been drinking recently.
I can’t remember the last time I actually enjoyed my coffee.
“Fine. I’ll be in there.” I jerk my thumb towards the café. “Don’t get killed.”
There’s outdoor seating. It should be simple enough to keep an eye on her.
Northcliff’s sister is already gone, the bell above the art store door tinkling as she dives back into the world of glitter and paintbrushes. And she’s left me with all of her bags. Great.
Thankfully, the barista doesn’t try to smile at me as he delivers my coffee. I take a seat at a rickety outdoor table, hating the damp that seeps through into my bones. Could she not have picked a sunnier day to do this? At least the breeze has warmed up a bit.
Why the Library picked here of all places is beyond me. It was probably the Librarian, punishing me for pushing her buttons down in the Vault. She’s been avoiding me since.
Small mercies.
I don’t know what possessed me to sign that contract. Jealousy? Possibly.
After all, why should the other heirs get to enjoy a gorgeous woman and I be stuck on the fringes?
I’m well aware that Kyrith only offered it to me out of a sense of obligation. The famously impartial Librarian refuses to pick one house over the others, even in this. If she wants to cling to her precious neutrality so badly, she can live with the consequences.
It seems only fair, given that the rest of us have endured the repercussions of her inaction for our entire lives.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the time to indulge in anything beyond a casual relationship. Why would I bother, when my mother and Mathias studied everything I did? Anyone I give a damn about tends to end up sacrificed. After all, everything in this life is impermanent, except power.
My hand clenches on the cooling cup as I remember the last one. Mrs Beck, the elderly neighbour who snuck me treats when my mother wasn’t looking.
Isidora turned the other cheek for years, and I chose to believe that meant she was safe.
No. It turned out she was just saving the old woman for my first human sacrifice. It was another test.
I passed.
I vomited my guts up the moment I was alone in my room, but I passed.
And the next day, the Librarian stared down her nose at my grimoire, like she could tell it was tainted with the life force of an innocent and treated me like dirt.
She still treats me like dirt.
So if I want to rub her contract in her face a little…taunt her…I will. And I won’t feel the least bit guilty for it either.
I raise my cup again, only to stop mid-motion as I catch sight of—no. Surely not?
Why is Anthea here?
My cup clatters back to the table, making me wince. She doesn’t search out the noise. In fact, she’s not noticed me at all. I reach into my bag, slipping my hand into the pages of my concealed grimoire.
“Onvosobli.”
The invisibility spell coats me as I abandon our bags and stride across the street to the shop Eddy disappeared into. With luck, I can find her before Anthea does. Magic only knows how she found us…
Only my sister doesn’t head for the ramshackle store with its bright display. She walks right past, her high ponytail swinging from side to side as she continues down the street.
I hesitate. I’m here to defend Edlynn, but Mother wouldn’t send Anthea out to this insignificant little slice of nowhere unless it was for good reason. Benny will want to know what she’s up to.
Anthea’s eyes are glued to her phone. She pauses every so often, turning left and then right. Is she following a map?
So even Anthea doesn’t know where she’s going. Interesting.
Eventually, she looks up, sliding her phone into her pocket as she ducks under a wonky wooden lintel.
“Really?” I mutter under my breath. “A pub?”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my sister enter one, let alone somewhere this rustic. She’s much more at home in cocktail bars and upscale nightclubs.
Then I catch sight of a familiar red-black mop of curls, distorted by the crown glass windows.
Leo?
Without thinking, I dart through the open door, dodging past the few patrons who’ve gathered to watch the game on the flatscreen on the near side of the room, and heading for a spot in the corner.
From here, I can see the back of Leo’s head and most of the rest of the room.
The space is cramped, made worse by the low ceiling and oversized furniture.
If I’m here for too long, someone is going to bump into me.
Still. I have to know why the ó Rinn heir is meeting my sister.
Anthea takes her time grabbing a drink from the bar and meandering to his table. She’s dressed for business, but there’s enough suggestiveness in the way she walks that I know she hasn’t yet written off seducing him to get her way.
She wants something.
But when she sits down, Leo speaks before she can. “You’re sure Parriarch Ackland has what I need?”
Anthea smiles, and it’s only because I know her well that I can pick up the relief in the expression. “Of course. And he’s willing to help you. If you come to the dinner he’s organised on Friday, we’ll have everything ready to break your ensorcellment.”
“Friday?” Leo scoffs the word. “What’s wrong with now? It’s a wee bit time sensitive, in case you’ve forgotten.”
My sister toys with him, sipping slowly at her drink. “The parriarch is a busy man.”
Whatever Leo says in reply is lost to the groans of the football fans as their team fails to stop their opponents from scoring.
Anthea chuckles, shaking her head. I’m forced to dodge another of the patrons, almost knocking over a chair in the process.
Stars, this is a bad idea. I know who she came to meet and why. Now I need to get back to Eddy before she ends up in trouble.
I exit the pub with a last glare at Leo.
Has he even considered what this will do to Kyrith? To his own brother? And meeting with Anthea alone, when we were specifically told to be cautious because of this new bond to the Library, is beyond reckless.
ó Rinns never think about anything other than that damned curse and themselves. Now he’s going to hand over his family to Mathias.
“Stupid idiot,” I mutter under my breath, dropping the invisibility spell as I stride back along the cobbles towards where I last saw Eddy. I burst into the craft store, ready to drag her back to the Arcanaeum…
Only to freeze.
She’s not here.
Oh of all the times for her to wander off! Why am I here playing bodyguard for a witless liminal while my sister drags Leo into a deal with the devil? Couldn’t Eddy just stay put if she was done?
Ignoring the first splats of rain against my face, I cast my gaze up and down the street, searching. I check the café, where my cold coffee still waits, along with Eddy’s bags.
Nothing.
Not even a hint of that ugly cardigan.
Something cold grabs my guts and squeezes.
Damn it. I promised I’d keep her safe.
I rub my thumb over the tiny runeform I swore I’d never use.
It’s etched into the underside of one of my buttons, and the metal heats as I shove as much magic into it as possible.
I don’t care if my grandfather is busy with the Librarian.
That girl is the perfect pawn to lure North out of hiding.
Her disappearance could hand Mathias the Ackland parriarchy.
My grandfather steps out of a shop to my left, and I cringe as I see Kyrith staring out of the portal before it slams shut. Great. Please don’t tell me he told her I called for help.
“What’s the matter?” he asks as soon as he reaches my side.
“Anthea is here, and Edlynn Ackland is missing.”
His eyes sharpen. “What do you mean, missing? I was under the impression—”
“I was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, yes.” I scour the street again. “But I saw Anthea and had to know what she was up to.”
“And in the process of following one woman, you lost another.” He sighs, casting his gaze up and down the high street. “I’ll walk north; you walk south.”
“I’m going to burn her stupid craft supplies when I find her,” I grumble under my breath.
I’m so busy scanning the people around us for Eddy that I don’t notice the man following me until I’m shoved roughly from behind. Who the—?
In the blink of time it takes me to look back, a pulse of magic smacks into my front.
“You know, son, I was wondering when you’d leave that infernal library.” My mother’s voice cuts like a blade, but I can’t move. “Imagine my surprise when I found you here, of all places.”
Stars. Benny. Where is he? Did she see us together?
I should’ve thought about the stupid ensorcellment at the base of my spine before I agreed to take Eddy out.
“The Librarian sent me on a ridiculous errand,” I say, forcing the panic down deep, where she won’t see it. “If you wanted me, you only had to send word. I’m at your disposal.”
My body straightens, following the will of the woman in front of me. I’m too aware of the presence at my back, no doubt an associate of Mathias, here to keep an eye on things.
The man trusts no one, least of all my mother.
“What errand?” she finally snaps.
“Finding the ó Rinn heir,” I lie easily. “He left the Arcanaeum a few days ago and hasn’t returned.”
Isidora studies me with cold steel eyes, but she says nothing. She’s wearing her hair down today, but far from softening her features, it simply casts them in dramatic shadows. The rain is growing heavier by the second, but I resist the urge to offer more excuses.
Silence is one of her favourite ways to force a confession, even when she doesn’t believe one is necessary.
“Why would the Librarian be searching for him?” she finally asks.
“I can’t answer that without breaking the covenant. Do you no longer need me in place when you take over the Arcanaeum?”
It was my mother’s urging that led to me swearing the magical contract. Kyrith was clever with her wording, but she forgot to leave out the thing which would’ve saved her.
Isidora doesn’t want information. She has spies for that, and Mathias knows enough about the Library that most of what I could tell them is unnecessary.
She wants someone on the inside when she and Mathias are ready to make their move.
And while I might’ve sworn to keep the Arcanaeum’s secrets, I said nothing about the secrets of the other five heirs.
Isidora is considering it. My hand drops to my pocket, and I keep the movement casual as I search out the illusion scrap hidden there.
Her lips purse, and my magic scalds my fingertips. “You should be grateful you’re my heir. If you were as expendable as your sister, I would order you to break that stupid covenant right here and now.”
My magic recedes, but I refuse to let out the relieved breath that lingers in my lungs.
Anthea, expendable? That doesn’t bode well for my sister.
As if on cue, she joins the two of us, her heels clicking as she automatically extends the umbrella she’s clutching so it covers our mother. I, of course, barely warrant a glance.
“I’m finished here,” she announces. “But Rector Talcott wants me to come for drinks this evening.”
Drinks could be innocent, but I’m willing to bet it isn’t. Did Isidora tell her daughter to seduce Abe Talcott, or did she do it to escape marriage to Dakari? Was she searching for an upgrade, from heir to parriarch?
“Tell him you can’t make it tonight,” Isidora instructs, and Anthea obediently taps out the message with her free hand. “You’ll go tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Good. Now, come. We have things to do. Pierce, shouldn’t you be following the Librarian’s orders?”
I nod, trying not to let my muscles sag in relief as her hand leaves the pages of her grimoire and my bodily autonomy returns. Even when she turns her back, heading down the now sodden high street, I don’t make the mistake of thinking she’s not watching.
Mathias’s goon takes over the task of keeping her dry, which is a good thing, because Anthea is still tapping at her phone beside me.
“Make her rescind my banishment.”
For a second, my big sister’s words don’t register, they’re so quiet. “What?”
“Make the Librarian offer me Sanctuary, too.” Grey eyes sparking with unshed tears meet mine, and my hackles rise.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was terrified.
“Please, Pierce. You’re only her heir because of my fuck-up. Repay the favour. Convince the Librarian to let me back in.”
Is this a test? Some scheme of Isidora’s to make me prove myself?
I don’t trust her, so my face stays perfectly blank. “If Mother asks, I’ll do my best, but I’m not sure it will work. You did use fire around the Librarian’s precious books, after all.”
Anthea’s expression shuts down with a swiftness that proves my distrust right. “I’m sure Mother appreciates your loyalty.” The last word is spat with such venom that I almost take a step back. “Have a nice life, brother.”
Then, without another word, she trots after Isidora like the dog she is, all traces of fear gone from her easy posture. Leaving me in her wake, blinking as I try to fit together everything that just happened, and fail.