Chapter 28

Twenty-Eight

Kyrith

L ambert reacts to Eddy walking into their tutoring session like he’s just scored on the Magiball court, throwing his arms up and warbling a ridiculous cheer that makes Jasper look up in panic.

“I thought you didn’t know how to use those things!” he teases, picking her up by the waist and swinging her around. “Next, you’ll be shaving them and painting your toenails and tap dancing and shit. Did you do this, boss lady? I told North he should just ask you in the first place!”

The unashamed pride and affection in his gaze cuts, and I look away from him instead of answering, keeping an eye on my newest patient. Magic, at this rate, I might as well turn the library into a hospital.

Eddy wobbles a little as he sets her back down. The jeans she’s wearing are a little loose on her, but she’s sipping slowly at a restorative muscle tonic for her legs that took me two hours to brew. She’s wearing a white shirt, cinched at the waist with a wide belt, both of which she conjured for herself.

Surprise, surprise, Eddy is already obsessed with everything magical. She badgered North into explaining how magic worked while I was working on the injury to her spine, and of course that led to her demanding a grimoire of her own. The Arcanaeum was only too happy to oblige, presenting her with a scarlet monstrosity that made her squeal like a delighted piglet. The first thing she conjured was a mess, naturally, but eventually she managed that belt, followed by her ankle boots. Then the rest of the outfit, makeup…

Ordinarily, girlish giggling in the library would have my fingers itching to give the perpetrator a strike.

Eddy’s slightly wheezy laughter seems to be the exception.

North’s twin is his polar opposite. She’s quick to smile, much like Lambert, and even quicker to move now that she has the use of her legs.

She’s still wobbly, but the second the Arcanaeum closed, she was flitting around like she had to see everything with a joie de vivre that’s more endearing than I thought it would be.

I just don’t understand how someone so…vivacious, can be tolerable. I suspect that beneath it all, it’s because she reminds me a little too much of myself. Eager to learn magic, excited about the library, and completely vulnerable to the machinations of the parriarchs. Just like me, Eddy was considered expendable by an Ackland.

Unlike me, she has a brother who wants to protect her.

Approving of anything that North has done grates on me like sandpaper, but I get it a little more now. He was protecting his twin, and Josef played on that. Eddy’s here now, and safe, but people like the parriarchs search for weak spots and exploit them over and over again. As long as North is useful—as long as he’s heir—Eddy is leverage.

At least the situation, and Eddy’s sparkly personality, has happily distracted me from the distressing state of both of my arms.

That doesn’t last long. Leo makes a noise in the back of his throat that’s midway between disbelief and frustration, and clasping my hands behind my back isn’t enough to stop every eye from following his gaze right to me.

“What happened?” Lambert forgets about Eddy entirely as he reaches for me, only to be intercepted by North.

“It was a mistake,” North mutters under his breath. “An accident.”

Lambert shoves past him, eyes fixed on my arm. “What did you do, boss?”

“Are you okay?” Jasper asks at the same time.

“You call her boss?” Eddy coos, voice rising. “That’s adorable!”

“A fecking accident?” Galileo grinds his teeth together as he runs a hand through his hair but is ignored.

“He has nicknames for every woman in his class,” I correct coolly, stepping out of Lambert’s path and drifting towards the booth where the others are seated. “It’s nothing special. And I am fine.”

Dakari’s eyes have narrowed, looking between my shattered arms and North like he might interrogate him further, but I shake my head subtly to stop him.

“Drop it,” I mumble. “Did someone get food?”

“Burritos.” Leo pushes a brown paper bag in the direction of the Ackland twins. “And I believe I’ve found a lead that may help you.”

“Help me? How?” I was sure I’d run out of options.

Lambert shuffles into the bench, leaving me as the only one still standing. He waves me into the space beside him, but I pretend not to see and perch on the edge of the opposite bench, beside Jasper, instead.

“I wasn’t sure at first,” Leo begins, pulling out a torn page. “But this was in my family library. It’s a reference to a complex set of spells that could hypothetically be used to bind one’s life-force to an object.”

The Arcanaeum shoves forward, snatching the paper from him and adding it to the collection without my approval. The heading is a single word, written in beautifully illuminated script that doesn’t exist in modern day texts.

‘Liches.’

Frowning, I trace the letters, unfamiliar with the term, and then skim through the rest of the page.

“Soul vessels,” I murmur as I read. It references necromancy being used to store a soul outside the body, preventing the user from dying. “Knowledge hunger. Eternal un-life. This doesn’t seem of much use. I’m dead, and I don’t have a body to preserve. And it says that the caster’s physical form still decomposes swiftly and requires the heavy use of restorative magic to retain its former state. My body is…” I trail off, looking away sharply. “Well, it’s not decomposing.”

I’m not disappointed. That would mean that I had hope to begin with, which I didn’t. Not really.

“But think about it,” Leo presses. “The Arcanaeum is tied to you, much like these soul vessels are?—”

“This specifically references highly enchanted jewels or trinkets.” I put the paper down. “I don’t think a building is suitable—Jasper, are you okay?”

The other arcanist has gone white, his pupils pinpricks against the deep brown of his irises.

His muscles are tense, the beautiful tan of his skin paled to almost ashen.

“Jasper?” I snap my fingers in front of him but get no response.

Then he starts to seize.

His limbs shudder, then flail, his elbow passing right through my lower abdomen in a blaze of sensation that catches me completely off guard. I fall backwards into the wall to avoid another touch, but it’s too late. The damage is done.

No time to focus on that now. Jasper is still seizing.

Everyone starts speaking and moving at once, concern etched into their features as they swarm him. Trying to get close to him right now will only put me more at risk. The Arcanaeum senses my train of thought, tugging me down to my office.

I reappear downstairs beside a forgotten cupboard, sending books flying as I knock aside stacks in the search for a vial that was in here—no. The other cupboard?

It takes three minutes of frantic searching to find it, and by the time I return, Dakari has managed to lay the other arcanist along the bench while the others mill around in concern. At least they’re not all crowding him now, so I can get close without risking myself.

Floating over them, I keep myself invisible as I tip the bottle up and over his face. Thankfully, I don’t need him to swallow. The potion evaporates into a fine green mist the second it makes contact with his skin, pouring through his eyes, mouth, and nostrils. Within seconds, he’s slumped against the leather seat.

“What was that?” Eddy asks, pushing her brother out of the way as she approaches the table.

“If I had to guess,” I begin, merging with the room just in case. “I would say he was trying to break through the ensorcellment that wiped his memory. Either that, or it’s unravelling and inadvertently causing mayhem.”

I lower the table and tilt the bench until he rolls onto the surface, then use it like a stretcher to float him back towards the room he shares with Dakari.

“Either way,” I continue. “I think it might be best if we cancel tonight’s tutoring. Tomorrow?—”

“It’s the second match of the season,” Lambert interrupts. “Remember? I thought…maybe you’d watch me play again?”

Sighing out a long breath, I nod before realising he can’t see it. “I’ll watch.” Purely because it provides something to keep Jasper and Dakari’s minds off their somewhat involuntary stay here. “Dakari, would you show Eddy up to the clock tower door? I’ll show her upstairs once I’m sure Jasper isn’t at risk of another episode.”

Without another word, I abandon them, following after the floating table that’s already most of the way across the parapet. Jasper’s colour is already returning, which means I can finally take my eyes off him for long enough to examine my belly.

Big mistake.

My entire midsection is cracked. If I twist, I can tell that the damage goes all the way around to my spine, stretching as high as my shoulders and as low as my hips.

I’ve frozen in place, but a noise from behind me spurs me forwards. For the time being, I shut myself into the room with Jasper, locking the door as my chest rises and falls in rapid breaths that make the cracks shift and splinter.

This makes what happened to my arms look like nothing, but it also means that only my legs and head remain exempt from the damage. Fear grips my throat, paralysing me even though I know I should be focusing on Jasper, who’s curled up on his side now that he’s been transferred to his bed.

“I can’t do this,” I confess to the ever-listening walls. “I can’t. I…I’m scared.”

I thought I was being sensible and my precautions were paying off. I thought I’d come to terms with the fact that there was only one way having them around could end. Lambert’s shower was pushing my luck, but I survived. Everything was fine. But now two accidental touches in one day?

I should’ve sealed myself in the clock tower. I should’ve never agreed to tutor them. I should?—

“Kyrith?” Jasper whispers, dragging me out of my spiral. “What happened?”

“Shh.” It’s like a switch flicks inside of me, and I float closer to him, taking in his bloodshot eyes and the pallor of his skin with analytical eyes. “You need rest. You triggered the ensorcellment on your memories. I think it’s caused some damage.”

“What—”

“Don’t force yourself to think about whatever set off the ensorcellment,” I order, feigning ignorance as his gaze traces my new cracks. “This could be a sign that the magic is unravelling. Let your memories return naturally.”

Lesser ensorcellments always break, eventually. They’re nothing like the one Galileo suffers under, which remains inked into his flesh and anchored in his marrow. The Carltons will undoubtedly be hoping to recapture him before the spell fails. If they catch wind of this—which they won’t—then they’ll redouble their efforts.

“Will you stay?” he asks, eyes already rolling back. “Please?”

His full lips form the final word as the muscles in his face go lax, sleep dragging him under.

The pleading tugs at me, and I fall gracelessly into a heap in the armchair beside his bed, wishing I could curl up beside him and tuck myself into the hollow beneath his arm. I imagine it would feel safe. Safer still if Dakari were on my other side.

The absurdity isn’t lost on me, but I think I might be going into shock—or whatever the dead version is. I sit there, mired in my own thoughts, until Jasper turns onto his back, and my gaze strays to the clock on the wall. Nearly midnight.

Of course. There’s still that to be endured.

I sigh my way through checking him over, relieved to find no major damage, then stick my head through the door to find Dakari leaning against the wall.

The giant arcanist shoves forward, heading for me with determined, anxious steps.

“He’ll be okay,” I reassure him before he can ask. “He just needs sleep. Is Edlynn…?”

“The Arcanaeum opened the door for her, then slammed it in my face.” There’s a smidgen of strained amusement in his voice, like he can’t quite feel it properly past worry for Jasper. “The others are gone.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “Let me know if anything changes. He didn’t want to be alone, but I…”

The clock chimes, and I’m dragged away before I can finish.