Page 106 of Librarian

It’s risky, but this whole operation was.

That dagger means re-entering the Arcanaeum. I can’t leave it. Not now. Without it, we’ll continue being chased around the world by the lich. With it, I can keep them all safe again.

So, with a quiet shake of my head, I look pointedly at the Ackland heir, then at him, and then towards a shadowy corner that hasn’t been covered in alarm spells.

“Hide,” I mouth.

Then I grab Eddy by the hand and sandwich us both into the shadows beneath the desk.

“Why are we here?” Isidora asks. “We should be issuing a statement. The journalists will want to cover the aftermath of his death, and hiding makes me look weak.”

My gut sinks like a stone.

Benny. She’s killed Benny. The others must not have made it in time.

Something in my chest keens on Pierce’s behalf.

“I would worry less about their perceptions of you,” Mathias says. “And more about the fact that one of my revenants stopped resp?—”

He crosses the threshold, and I watch as he takes in the corpse on the floor, the bent bars, and the lines of magic still faintly glowing in the aftermath of Dakari’s divination spell.

It’s very obviously a breakout.

I don’t dare breathe as his white brows turn thunderous, his grimoire flopping open at his side as he strides right over to the desk. I’m frozen, but North’s illusion is still holding, because Mathias’s gaze slides right over us.

“They were here,” he growls. “While you were busy making a spectacle of Benjamin, they somehow broke the young McKinley out. Look at this! They were only a few enchantments away from stealing the heart.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Isidora folds her arms. “You must’ve missed something.”

“The wards were strengthened this morning. They would’ve needed a—” His eyes fall on the cell. “Clever, clever, Kyrith. A concealed tracker. Undetectable unless activated. She must’ve utilised their bond as an anchor?—”

“It doesn’t matter how they did it,” Isidora interrupts. “Where’s the McKinley heir? We need him to keep his family in line.”

Mathias’s lips thin, his displeasure at being talked over plain as he lifts the dagger from the desk with a murmured incantation.

My hand flexes. It’s right there. Unprotected.

Eddy grips my arm, eyes wide like she thinks I might launch myself at the lich. A tiny part of my brain urges me to do just that. The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to be discovered.

“Youneeded him,” he says, pacing across the study and then back. “This has made it clear that you’re more of a liability than a help.”

Isidora’s hands drop to her sides, fingers casually tracing the pages of her grimoire. “That’s not true. Enforcement is mine. The aegis does your bidding on my orders. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”

Mathias moves out of my line of sight, heading in the direction of the window.

“You’ve lost our prisonerstwice. The execution you so confidently decided would draw out the Librarian failed to elicit a peep from her.”

My relief is instant. If they’d caught Pierce and the others, he wouldn’t regard it as a failure. He, Lambert, and Leo must be safe for now.

Mathias keeps ranting. “All it achieved was parting me from the dagger long enough for her to get within seconds of stealing it! And you expect me to believe enforcement is completely under your control? They’re still consumed with infighting thanks to the video of you murdering their officers. The only thing you’re capable of is executing useless has-been parriarchs and making pretty speeches.”

“Youwanted to watch him die!” She takes a deep breath, forcing the indignation from her tone as she continues, “We had every reason to believe they’d come for my father, and itwasyouridea to leave the dagger behind to avoid arousing enforcement’s interest. It’s not my fault you were arrogant enough to leave that thing on your desk in plain sight.” Isidora’s fingers slip a little deeper into the book at her side. “Every remaining ranking officer is under my thumb and working to restore my good name. I’m handling it. Youneedme to keep them in line.”

He’s not listening to her. “Worse, I still cannot enter the Arcanaeum.”

Eddy’s fingers dig into my skin, pinpricks of pain adding to the adrenaline buzzing in my veins.

“You just need more power.”