Page 143 of Librarian

My eyebrows shoot up, but I’m not about to engage with gossip.

“Are you calling for war?”

I don’t see who asks the question, but Dakari answers it before I can. “The Librarian has chosen peaceful non-compliance. But make no mistake, any further attacks on her or the Arcanaeum, and I’ll be starting one.”

“As will I,” Jasper steps up.

“And I,” Leo adds. “The Arcanaeum is neutral ground. Mathias’s attempt to seize it was a crime against all of arcandom.”

“You’re only heirs.” An Ó Rinn professor at the front scowls at them. “So your threats mean nothing.”

“Jasper is parriarch in all but name, Deirdre,” Halinor corrects. “He has the full backing of Clan McKinley.”

“And I signed the papers to get rid of the stupid title the moment I woke up after my attack,” Artemius says. “Galileo is the new parriarch of our house.” He mutters something else under his breath that sounds like, “Good riddance.”

Leo swallows, but it’s the only indication that this is the first he’s hearing of his new title.

“For what it’s worth,” North adds. “The second I get my hands on the parriarchy, Ackland is going to start repairing all of this shit.”

“Agreed.” Lambert’s sombre expression and quiet demeanour are at odds with his normal vivacious personality. “Winthrop has been awful when it comes to speaking up about this stuff. At a certain point, silence becomes complicity.”

That’s a powerful statement. It’s also probably the closest he’s ever come to sounding like a parriarch. He’s been visiblyuncomfortable since this whole thing began. I wish all of these people would leave so I could hug him. If there’s one thing he avoids like the plague, it’s thinking about the future beyond his career in magiball. Now he’s stepping into those shoes. Maybe not fully, not yet, but my heart still hurts for him.

“I intend to do the same,” Pierce steps forward. “You saw my mother kill those enforcement officers in Orkney. That was real. I was there. Mathias has been using her for years.”

“Your grandfather was just executed for necromancy,” a Carlton man who isn’t much older than Pierce protests. “Your sister was found guilty of Abe Talcott’s murder. Now you expect us to just take your word for it. Isidora Carlton is an honourable woman. She puts the well-being of real adept arcanists before everyone, even her own family. I, for one, won’t be disgracing her efforts on our house’s behalf by entertaining this nonsense a second longer.”

Pierce only smiles. “One day, Robin, I’ll be your parriarch, and I’ll remember this moment.”

“You wish?—”

“Just like I remember all the times my mother paid off enforcement when you were caught meddling with the memories of inept girls. Rest assured, I won’t be allocating Carlton funds to that particular cause again, honourable adept blood or not.”

The blustering man goes very pale, very quickly. “It was a false charge! I would never! The dulls are worse than animals?—”

A burst of manipulation magic sends one of the heavier tomes from the shelf beside him crashing into his skull.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t have the same fine control over that spell that I once did. He’s whipped around by the blow. The only reason he doesn’t fall to the floor is that the professor beside him catches his arm.

Such a shame.

“Language.” I ignore his bloody nose and the dazed look on his face.

If I could still banish people, I’d do it to him in a heartbeat. However, my options are currently limited, and Pierce’s word alone isn’t proof. Still, I resolve to make Robin’s visits to the Arcanaeum—few as they are—as unpleasant as possible from here on out.

“It says here that services will be limited.” Goodberry looks up from his booklet with a frown, apparently having ignored the conversation in favour of reading. “How so?”

Swallowing, I try to look uncomfortable as I answer. “As I’m sure you’re aware, there were changes made during Mathias’s attempted coup. I’m still working on repairing the damage. Some areas of the Arcanaeum remain in a state that is less than presentable. I will be unable to answer the bell as swiftly as I once did, and queries may take a little longer than usual. We’ll also be closed on weekends; temporarily, of course.”

I’m no actress, but the surge of interest in their eyes is a sure sign that my performance hit the mark.

“What damage?”

“How temporarily?”

“Is the Kinetic Hall still open?”

“How much of the Library will be inaccessible during class hours?”