Chapter 39

Thirty-Nine

Kyrith

T he game does not, in fact, finish quickly. The opposing team’s substitute brings them level, and they quickly regain their footing, much to our consternation. Eddy and I are on the edge of our seats, watching Lambert and his team as they battle through.

In fact, I’m so caught up in it that I don’t realise the minute hand is sliding slowly towards its inevitable zenith until it’s too late.

I barely have time to shoot a panicked look at Dakari before I’m sucked into the Foyer.

There’s no way for me to break free of the script. Not even when they spill into the Rotunda just as I reach it. I’m mute and broken as Dakari tries to shove Leo back, only for Eddy to slip under his arm and follow me towards the grate.

“She doesn’t want you there,” he growls, and Jasper warily backs him up.

“Look, if she wanted an audience, she would’ve invited us.”

I hesitate before the trapdoor, like always, and Eddy runs a hand in front of my face.

“Hey, this is creepy,” she says. “Kyrith? You okay? What happened to your skirts?”

“She can’t speak. Just go back to the game. She wouldn’t want you to see this.” Dakari plants himself over the grate, his ankles swallowed by the thick mist as I descend. “I got you. Don’t worry about these idiots.”

“You’ve been down there, haven’t you?” Leo accuses.

“I was invited,” Dakari retorts as I lose sight of them all. “You weren’t.”

The sounds of their argument follow me down the stairs, and I try to tune them out. It doesn’t work. Especially because I can feel the fight going on up there.

And when I die, and my screams shake the building, I waste precious energy slamming the trapdoor shut, trapping me back with my corpse as I try to regain my composure.

I can’t believe I lost track of time like that. I’m usually better. I was just…distracted.

Huddled against the side of the altar, I struggle to pull myself together. I think the game is still going on, though none of them have left the Rotunda. In fact, I can feel the echo of spells that have been exchanged in my absence, and the Arcanaeum is bristling at the destruction they’ve created.

If I return to the sofa and pretend like nothing has happened, will we get through the rest of the night without any more drama? It’s a distant hope, but it’s either that or let them continue to hash it out.

The only problem with that plan is that I’m too weak to continue hiding my skirts with the blanket. My focus is scattered. I just need a moment…

I drift up from my tomb slowly, reappearing in the abandoned classroom. I’m grateful that it’s empty because it gives me a second to compose myself and arrange some cushions to hold the blanket over me. This time, I let my body float inside the sofa to ensure they won’t see anything. When I’m sure every single crack below my waist is hidden, I clear my throat loudly enough to break through the heated words still being exchanged in the Rotunda.

“Lambert just won the game.”

Or at least, I assume that’s why he’s being held above the crowd like a triumphant god. The resentment I feel for having missed his final shot is nothing compared to the tension as their argument falls silent.

Eddy is first into the room, looking me over like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. “You… Every night, that’s where you go?”

Oh. They told her.

“Yeah.” Hopefully my monosyllabic answer conveys how much I want to discuss it. “Look. I think Lambert scored, given the way they’re—Are those…knickers?”

Someone has indeed thrown underwear at the Winthrop heir. A bright neon yellow thong, to be precise. It lands on his shoulder, and I turn away, not wanting to watch him pocket it.

“You let him into the Vault?” Leo demands, as he’s trailed into the room by both Dakari and Jasper, the latter of whom looks fed up. “Him? He doesn’t even care about?—”

All three of them are clutching their grimoires, sporting minor cuts and bruises and furious expressions, and I sigh.

“That’s precisely why I asked Dakari to accompany me.” I fix him with a look. “Now, come and open Eddy’s presents. She’s been wrapping them?—”

“He doesn’t get a present,” Eddy decrees.

My head falls into my hands, and I resist the urge to scream.

I don’t want this. These arguments. This draining fighting. I wanted tonight to go well. I hoped for civility if not amicability.

My ghostly palm passes straight through hers as I try to grab her hand. “Please. Just not tonight. It’s the last night before Christmas break.”

I sound like a beleaguered old woman, begging for peace around the family dinner table. At least it works. All of them stop, focusing on me.

“Fine.” Eddy grabs a parcel from under the tree and thrusts it at Leo just as the image on the screen cuts off with a garbled swear word from North.

“Thank you,” Leo says stiffly. “If I’d known we were exchanging gifts, I would’ve?—”

“Just open it.” Eddy is too busy rifling through the pile to notice him. “Jasper, yours is here somewhere…”

“You need me to get them out of here?” Dakari has slid up behind me, asking the question so quietly that it can’t be heard over the noise of ripping paper.

“No. I just want…peace.” It’s too simplistic an explanation, but it’s all I’ve got without revealing my plan.

Still, a glimmer of suspicion lingers in those black eyes for a second before the door nearest us bursts open.

North spills in first. “Can you believe that asshole stole the necklace?” he demands, huffing with frustration. “Who the fuck just goes around yanking off other people’s jewellery?”

“Who cares?” Lambert crows, bursting into the space with the enthusiasm and tone-deafness of a hyper puppy. “We won !” He elbows North out of the way and hops over the back of the sofa to claim Jasper’s old spot. “Boss, did you see my winning score? I knocked it out of the?—”

I move fast enough that it shocks him into silence, but that’s the point. After thinking about it for a while, I realised that if I give any of them a chance to figure out my plan, they’ll stop me.

So there’s no telegraphing my move. I simply…throw myself at him.

“You did great,” I choke out as my arms wrap around his body. Then I jerk like I’ve touched a live wire.

Feeling erupts, like I knew it would; the blade of it is so sharp that it cuts.

Catches.

Tears.

This much sensation after so long without it is pure agony, but I fight past the pain and tilt my head back to claim his lips.

One final kiss.

A loving touch to finish it. I wanted that much, at least.

He cradles me like I knew he would. It’s a balm to the pain immobilising me, but it can’t vanquish it.

“What are you doing ?” Leo shouts.

“Kyrith!” Dakari chokes out.

Lambert draws back—is yanked away by a glaring North, of all people—and my eyes fall on Jasper, heart breaking as I read the sad realisation there.

My lips part, to apologise, to thank them, I’m not sure which. Then the pain escalates again, and it all goes black.