Chapter 5

Five

Lambert

T he Librarian’s a no-show for our next class, which means there’s nothing to spare me from Hopkinson’s droning. Ordinarily, it’s not so bad because I have Larissa’s spectacular tits to look at. But she’s wearing a turtleneck today—probably because she’s still not happy with me for forgetting about our lunch date.

It wasn’t my fault. I’d much rather have been watching her wrap those ruby red lips around a bubble tea straw than listen to North bitch about his daddy issues, but unfortunately, the bro code cock-blocked me again. She still preens when I sneak a glance her way, so perhaps all isn’t lost.

If the Librarian had been here, Larissa’s tits wouldn’t even cross my mind. The ghost must’ve been born in the corset-era or something because those gorgeous globes are thrust up and out, displayed almost fully by a low lace neckline that modern women would judge each other for.

Still, her absence is unhelpful, given that I actually need to talk to her.

Hopkinson is almost sadder than I am at the lack of our spooky spectre, although my pointing out that he shouldn’t have failed me last year if he was teaching the wrong material distracted him somewhat.

I can’t wait to figure out her name, and I have so many questions. What was ancient magiball like? Did she watch the first game? Okay, so maybe she’s not that old, but still…

The other students looked for her, too. They notice her now. Before, she was part of the furniture, only to be acknowledged when they needed something. Now they greet her on their way into the Arcanaeum.

I can tell it freaks her out because she doesn’t look at them when they do it. Even Northcliff lifts his chin to acknowledge her, and I think that disturbs her the most.

There’s some drama there, no doubt, but as gruff as he might be, he’s not his creepy ass relatives, and he’s got his reasons.

My smile widens as I hear the unmistakable sound of her voice coming from her desk in the Rotunda ahead, then drops as I realise she’s using that tone—the exasperated one I thought she only used on me. No fair.

I puff up as I approach the desk, eyeing the scrawny professor with annoyance. Professor Goodberry teaches basic destruction school magic to the first years, but the dude needs to work on his protein intake or something.

And he’s definitely bothering the boss.

“For the last time, Professor,” the Librarian draws out the title, not-so-subtly pointing out that he isn’t even accomplished enough at his subject to become a magister. “Destruction classes are never going to be held in this Arcanaeum.”

“But Magister Hopkinson?—”

“Is teaching a theory class.” She shuts him down from behind the piles of books that have been piling up on her desk with ease. “Reread the rules you agreed to when you received your library card, if you must. No fire in the Arcanaeum.”

“What about?—”

She holds out her hand, and his library card appears in it.

Ooooh, he’s really pissed her off. Should I save him? I suck my lower lip between my teeth as I think about it.

Eh, why not? I need to pass this year.

I slip between him and the desk, giving her my best smile. Most girls would be either blushing and flirting or straight up offering to suck me off right now, but not the Librarian. Boss lady just frowns harder.

God, if she were alive…

“Mr Winthrop?—”

“Don’t mind me, boss.” I grab one of her piles of books with a wink. “I’m just here to help tidy up. Point me to where you want them.”

I’ll help her put them away. It can’t be easy being the only ghost running the place.

Those huge, dark, doe-like eyes widen with alarm. “Put them down!”

“You can barely see over them,” I object, but do as she asks. “Plus, if I do this, I can skip the weights at the gym tonight. Do you know how heavy this shit is?”

Oh, shit. Maybe she doesn’t. She’s a ghost. She can’t lift things. “Sorry, boss,” I apologise easily, glaring at the books that are keeping me from offering her a hug.

One day she’ll let me. I’m irresistible, after all.

“Lambert Winthrop,” Goodberry splutters. “Your rudeness is unparalleled.”

Can he seriously not see how uncomfortable he’s making her? I roll my eyes at him. “Look, professor, I’m not the one making an ass of myself in front of the entire building. Did no one ever teach you no means no the first time?”

“My word on the matter is final.” The Librarian dismisses him, and he turns on his heel with a huff, stalking away. With him gone, her attention turns to me. “Now, I’m very?—”

Shit. I can’t let her disappear. I’ll be damned if I fuck up my part of The Plan .

“I need your help to find my course books,” I interrupt, giving her my best kicked puppy look.

It would work better if I had brown eyes, but the effect is the same.

The tiniest smoothing of the lines between her brows is the only indication that I’ve managed to melt a little bit of this pretty ice queen.

“Mr Winthrop?—”

“Just Lambert, boss lady,” I say, interrupting her again.

“That would be?—”

“I’m not gonna respond to ‘Mr Winthrop’ anymore,” I decide, grinning.

She releases a huff of irritation. “Mr?—”

“Ah ah ah.”

Arcanists around me are shooting me looks which range from exasperated to downright aghast. They probably think I’m being rude or just stupid.

But she was a person. A real person. Someone needs to treat her like one. Maybe it will banish the sadness lurking behind her eyes.

“Lambert,” she concedes, and I can practically smell the smoke coming from her ears as she floats around her desk. “You’re being too loud. Other patrons are trying to work.”

“Not a rule.” I shrug.

“It’s implied!”

She turns almost translucent as she floats beside me, keeping her arms pinned to her sides awkwardly.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” I check, because I don’t want to be anything like that asshole.

“Don’t think so highly of your abilities.” She means it as an insult, but I grin.

“Never a problem, boss. Now, where on earth am I going to find An Introduction to Basic Alchemical Runeforms ?”

She shoots me a look that’s half distrustful, half unbelieving. “You’re actually here to do your homework?”

Levelling my most guileless charming smile at her. “Is that such a surprise? Hey, will you tutor me? I bet you’ve read all these books a hundred times over. I’m amazing at transmutation, but everything else is…” I wave a hand over my head.

She stops short. “ You? ”

“Me?” I don’t follow.

“ You have somehow mastered transmutation magic?”

Oh. That.

“Are you going to sound so surprised when I tell you I can read, too?” I ask, curiously, shoving up my sleeves to show off the runeforms across my biceps. And if I flex a little, can anyone really blame me?

Okay, I get it. I’m not as nerdy as Leo, and I might prefer to spend my time on the magiball court rather than shacked up between bookshelves, but I’m not completely dumb.

She harrumphs a little and drifts between the shelves of the plant-covered hall. Some of these plants are so rare I’ve heard professors trying to bribe her for samples rather than go out and find them themselves. Lazy suckers.

“I’m sure you’ve used it plenty of times,” I offer as she leads the way between two shelves.

She turns and glares at me. “On other objects, yes. But I can’t exactly get a tattoo now, can I?”

Oh, yeah. Shit, my insensitivity is off the charts today. “Sorry.”

She waves off my comment and points above us. “It’s up there.”

I reach past her, trying my hardest not to accidentally press through her in my quest for this book. There’s precious little space in this cramped corner of the library, and I think she notices too because her lips purse. She even floats back into the shelf a little to avoid any accidental contact.

She has a unique scent, like ice and lilies, and I wonder idly if that’s a ghost thing, or a Librarian thing.

“So,” I say, stepping back with the too-thick book in my hand. “Are you going to tell me your name yet? Calling you ‘Librarian’ seems pretty dumb.”

She hesitates, and for a second, I think she’ll refuse me. “No one has said my name in centuries,” she whispers, almost to herself. “The last person who did…killed me.”

A chill skates down my spine. Killed her? She was murdered?

“You can pick a new one, if you like?” I offer, swallowing back the automatic offer of retribution.

“No.” She shakes her head. “It was a good name. My mother picked it for me before she died.” Her lips part, like she would take a deep breath if she could. “Kyrith. My name was Kyrith.” Her shoulders steel. “But you should address me as ‘Librarian’, as is proper. I’m only telling you because I’m thankful for your assistance with removing Professor Goodberry.”

Kyrith. It suits her, all mysterious and powerful.

Hot, too. I can imagine groaning it against her pretty neck when I come.

Shaking off that thought quickly, because she’s still a ghost, even if she’s hot, I offer her another pleading smile.

“Are you going to tutor me then, Kyrith?”

I need it. I really do, and not just because of The Plan .

Leo has tried, but he’s too busy searching for a way out of his own problems to really help, and North knows less than I do.

Neither of us had fancy private tutors like most of the adepts. In my case, it’s because the Winthrop family cut my dad off the second Mom was in the ground, with a cruelty born from stupid ideas of adept superiority. In North’s, it’s because Josef didn’t see the point in providing such a prestigious education for his bastards—or even acknowledging them—if they weren’t going to be his ticket back into the Arcanaeum.

But the Librarian is the smartest arcanist in existence. If she teaches me, I’ll be able to keep my grades high enough so that I don’t fail the year…again. I have to stay on UAA’s magiball team if I’m to make it to the professional leagues when I graduate.

I’m so caught up imagining my name on the magiball world cup, that I almost miss her curt “No.”

“No? Come on , boss lady. I’ll be the best student ever, and I can make it worth your while.” The offer slips out without thought, and I freeze.

Normally, I’m not above trading sex for help with my assignments. I did it all the way through dull university. It doesn’t hurt that the nerdy girls are always so fucking gorgeous with those shy smiles and cute little glances that turn into eager demands in the bedroom.

Besides, with so much of my spare time taken up learning transmutation magic from my dad, I needed the help.

I can’t offer countless orgasms to a ghost, though.

That means following through on my promise will be a whole lot harder, which she knows, given the way her eyes roll, and the corner of her pretty mouth turns down.

“Mr Winthrop.”

Damn, we’re back to that again.

“There is very little that I want that is in your power to grant, besides your learning to use the catalogue system and leaving me alone.”

“You keep saying that, boss, but you keep finding my books for me.” I pause, backing up because she’s still hovering half in a bookcase. “Admit it. You like me, just a little bit.”

She hovers out of the bookshelf slowly, chewing at the fullness of her lower lip.

“I do not waste my time ‘liking’ arcanists.”

“Fine, you tolerate me more than everyone else.” Baby steps. She’ll realise I’m her one true love soon. “Come on, you can even make up some special rules for me, like you did for North.”

I’m not peeved at all that he got his own rule on day one. To distract myself from the weird spurt of jealousy, I lean in for a hug.

She dodges. She always does.

But this time, she actually disappears to avoid me.

“No hugging.” She reappears ten paces away from me. “You want a rule? Don’t touch me.”

Is there an edge of panic in her voice? Oh, hell no . The last thing I want is to make her uncomfortable.

“No hugging!” I quickly agree. “No touching, either, if that’s what you want.”

“No hugging,” she confirms. “No yelling. No—” She waves a hand at me as if to indicate that I should preferably stop existing all together, and I chuckle. “Do you have a time in mind?”

“Am I allowed to be here after closing?” Practice goes on late most days, and I can’t function before ten in the morning.

“Fine. We start next week. But if you’re late, I won’t let you in. And tell no one. I’m not running a school for useless arcanists.”

Sighing, she tugs at her sleeve in a subconscious tic that she has when she’s thinking or anxious. The movement draws my attention, and I blink as I notice the black cracks running from her palm to the crease of her elbow.

“What happened to your arm?”

She freezes, and the temperature in Botany Hall noticeably drops before she disappears entirely.

“I’ll see you at ten,” I call, forcing some peppiness into my voice as I address the bookshelf she was standing closest to. “I’ll bring chocolate.”

Whistling, I pick one of the doors at random, then curse when I realise it’s one of the ones that doesn’t open. So many doors in the Arcanaeum, and half of them don’t even work. I wonder if the Librarian made them that way just to mess with me.

Picking a second door—a green one this time—I knock, say, “My bedroom,” and step through. The Arcanaeum drops me at my dad’s place instead of my flat, but I’m glad to be home and surrounded by my stuff. The only drawback is that I have to flick through my grimoire for a summoning spell so I can be reunited with my phone. Once that’s done, I flop down on my bed and tap on the group chat that Leo created.

Lambert: I’m in.

North: Fucking finally.

Leo: If I’d known coming to the Arcanaeum after closing was an option, I’d have asked to do so before you two started this crazy plan to get me kicked out.

Leo wishes he had the charm to score all-hours access to the Arcanaeum and the boss lady. Snorting, I toe off my sneakers and glance out of our window at the forest beyond. Our trailer is at the edge of the park, which means more privacy, but I’d honestly prefer it if we were surrounded by others. It’s too quiet out here.

Lambert: Relax, I’ll keep her so distracted she won’t even know you’re there.

It won’t even be a hardship. I’ve always been fascinated by Kyrith, and the more we talk, the more interesting she becomes. Plus, she’s probably the only person capable of helping me pass this year. This plan is genius.

Leo: This is a stupid idea. If I get banned, I can’t continue my research.

North: You can blame me. I don’t give a shit.

Of course, he’s happy to be banished because he never wanted to be admitted in the first place. He must be the only Ackland who doesn’t give three flying fucks about entering the holy grail of arcandom.

Lambert: How’s Eddy? My favourite cousin still kicking your ass?

No reply, and I groan, instantly regretting the question. That usually means Edlynn’s having a bad day or Josef’s being more of an ass than usual. Sometimes both.

“Bertie!” my dad calls through the thin ass walls, and I stuff the phone into my pocket with a grimace. “Is that you, kid? I ordered pizza, if you want some.”

Only my father gets to call me Bertie, but each time he does it, I pray that he’ll stop.

“Coming!” I yell back with a grin.