Page 147 of Librarian

It can’t last.

But when the dust settles, it will all be too late.

“Mathias will come after us for this.” Halinor taps her fingernails against my desk. “What’s our plan?”

“Right now, the other families aren’t his main focus.” I meet her stare levelly. “He’s going to come after the Arcanaeum, and we’re going to make it so tempting that you shouldn’t have to worry about much beyond keeping enforcement in their place.”

“That right?” She pins Jasper with a look. “And you’ve got a plan for what you’ll do when a powerful lich with a grudge shows up on the doorstep?”

“Aye.” He offers her a charming smile. “A good one.”

That’s stretching the truth, but I understand what he’s doing.

The further away his family is from all of this, the safer they are.

Unfortunately, his aunt doesn’t seem the type to accept platitudes.

“The plan relies on as many spies entering the Arcanaeum as possible,” I add. “And on him thinking we’re weak. So if the clan hears any rumours about the Library malfunctioning in the next few weeks…”

“Play them up.” Halinor nods. “We can do that.”

She turns to leave, but just before she does, her head tilts towards me, her eyes sparking with a silent demand that passes too quickly for anyone else to catch.

I walk around the desk, trailing beside her as she hobbles towards the door.

“You keep that boy safe,” she orders, too quietly for the rest of the heirs to hear. “We’ve lost him twice now. We’re not lucky enough to get him back a third time.”

I swallow. “By my honour, I intend for all of us to come out of this alive.”

“How does this end, Librarian?” she asks, her question stark with concern. “Not with Mathias, I know his days are numbered. How does whatever’s between you and those six boys end?”

And because it’s also weighing heavily on my mind, I know exactly what she’s asking.

“Perhaps it won’t,” I murmur, looking back at them, gathered around my desk. “Would that bother you?”

She hums under her breath. “Not unless you plan on choosing one of the others and leaving the clan to navigate the fallout.”

“It’s all of them or none of them,” I say. “For as long as they’ll have me.”

Jasper’s eyes meet mine, silently offering to rescue me from Halinor. I smile, giving him the barest shake of my head. I’ve survived worse than a concerned aunt.

She huffs. “I don’t think they’re going anywhere.”

My heart does a little flip. “No. I hope they aren’t.”

Forty-One

Kyrith

It took less than two hours for something to go wrong on reopening day.

One of the students knocked over a cage of white rats in their alchemy class, sending them scurrying for their freedom.

Rats. In the Arcanaeum.

Rodents who might chew up books and use them as nesting materials. It’s somehow worse than my fear that Goodberry’s students would set fire to the place. Fire can be extinguished. Worse, the alchemy professor couldn’t even recall how many of the blasted things she brought with her.

She’s beyond lucky I can’t banish her. Luckier still that I have the professionalism not to smack her about the head with books in front of her students.