Page 131 of Librarian

“I don’t believe it would happen immediately,” I counter. “But yes. I’ll only be able to influence the building by using the heart to control it, like Mathias did. Every time the blade has cracked, it’s been the result of him sending huge surges of power through it. I’d be using much smaller doses of magic to open and close each day, but over time, it’s still likely to have an effect.”

“So we’re fucked either way?” North says.

I pick up the fragmented tip of the dagger, turning it over and over in my grasp. “If it looks like the damage is becoming too great, I’ll close the Library.”

“For good?” Eddy asks.

I can’t meet her eyes. “For as long as it takes for you all to live long, happy lives, or for me to fix the blade.”

“Decades.” Dakari’s soft expression only makes the truth hurt more. “You’ll be alone for decades.”

“Do you have a better idea?” I demand, then gentle my tone. “I’ll be fine. I have my books. I…I would do it for you. If that was what it took.”

His eyes blaze, searing me from the inside out. “You’re speaking like an eternity with you isn’t something I want.”

My heart soars, and even though I try not to, I can’t stop the hope that’s surely shining from my gaze.

“It’s certainly not a hardship.” Jasper closes the gap between us. “The prospect of becoming part of the librarian hive-mind is a mite off-putting, but the clan could still visit us. I’m not running from any commitment you’ll give me, lass. We could have a hundred more door dates. A thousand.”

“What if you funnelled more power into the Arcanaeum before you broke the dagger?” Leo muses.

I stiffen in Jasper’s arms. “What?”

His lips thin. He’s been quiet since I explained everything. I should’ve realised that was because he was working things through, coming up with an alternative.

“The issue is that there’s not much power left in the building,” he reminds me. “But if the building had more power, there would be less risk of us being drawn into a vacuum.”

“You’re talking about resuming the sacrifices.” A shiver rolls down my spine.

He picks up Mathias’s soul vessel, turning it over in his palm. “No. I’m talking about one final sacrifice. Made without the spire, to lessen the chances of his consciousness being added to the Library.”

“A fitting end,” Pierce comments quietly.

“Necromancy,” I counter. “It’s necromancy.”

“Are you really going to pretend like it’s going to take anything less than that to destroy this?” Leo puts the phylactery back with a raised brow.

My gut sinks, and my eyes flick to Pierce without meaning to before I force them away. It had been my plan to speak to him afterwards, privately.

I’ve never used dark magic. None of us have, except for him. I’m not afraid to learn if that’s what it takes, but his experiencecould be invaluable. I won’t make him cast it—he’s endured too much already—but I’d be a fool not to ask for his input.

“I had hoped to protect you from it,” I finally say. “If you were ever questioned, or asked to swear under oath that you know nothing about necromancy, I would want you to be able to answer honestly, for your own sakes.”

“What if they asked you?”

I look at Eddy sadly. “My introduction to it was five hundred years ago. I have more experience with it than most, which is why I would never allow them to use a truth spell on me.”

Not reporting a necromancer to enforcement would end with them rotting in prison for the rest of their lives as it is.

“So we do what he did to Isidora,” Dakari confirms. “Use the dagger to destroy his phylactery and then him.”

“Wait, you mean we don’t just have to destroy this and he’s gone?” Lambert groans. “We have to commit actual murder too?”

North makes a face. “How else did you think this was going to go?”

Lambert shrugs. “Honestly, I was trying not to think about it too much, I guess?”

“Understandable,” Eddy says. “But isn’t thatanotherproblem? How are we supposed to get to Mathias once his phylactery is gone? He’s not going to rush here when it gets destroyed. If anything, surely he’ll just go into hiding until he can make another one?”