Page 203 of Librarian

Only to find him and Pierce standing over the kitchen island, arguing.

Shirtless.

My brows perk up in interest. The lean lines of Pierce’s chest—scars hidden, once more—and the stockier, hair-dusted ones of Jasper’s, awaken a hopeless part of me.

In this form, I’m completely incapable of doing anything to satisfy those needs.

Still, a lady can look.

Then I tune into what they’re actually saying.

“This constellation willnae work.”

“I’m telling you that it’s the right one.”

“Youasked formyhelp, remember? And this is more restoration than necromancy at this point.”

“It’s both,” Pierce protests. “And that means?—”

“Quit arguing and get on with it.” Leo drops his head into his hands on the other side of the island. “Look, there’s only one shot at this. For the love of magic, try to collaborate.”

“It’s not so easy,” Jasper says. “No one has merged restoration and necromancy before. I’m still not sure it can be done.” He rakes his hand through his hair.

“It can.” Leo grabs the three stained mugs and heads for the kettle. “We’re already making progress.”

“If not for Kyrith, I wouldnae be touching this stuff with a barge pole.” Jasper grimaces and shoots an apologetic glance at Pierce. “No offence.”

“None taken.” Pierce stands, steals his mug from Leo, and takes it over to the coffee machine. It starts up loudly, forcing him to raise his voice to add, “I hate it too, remember? I’d be more worried if you weren’t conflicted, given your previous experiences.”

“It might be necromancy,” Leo says. “But we aren’t killing anyone or stealing their magic. That matters.”

“Agreed.” Pierce watches the coffee stream into his mug with a pensive expression. “The forbidden school is traditionally focused on acquiring power. This is probably the only time I’ve seen it used for the opposite. The goal is restoration, even if the magic is…not.”

Jasper sighs, his attention already drifting back to the paper-strewn island. “I still dinnae think you’re using the right constellation.” He plucks out a star chart and marks something on it. “Try this one.”

Pierce crosses to look at the paper, lips twisting as he considers it.

Leo observes them as he finishes up the tea, bringing over the mugs and setting them down with a chink. “Ethics aside, this is the only way to get Kyrie back. Wehaveto make it work.”

The other two make low noises of assent, and I lift, hovering horizontally over their work so I can join them properly.

They’re using a copy of the runeform used to bind souls to the Arcanaeum, but Pierce has overlaid it with a constellation commonly used in restoration spells, like he’s trying to merge the two.

Suddenly their working together makes more sense. Pierce knows necromancy, Jasper is a restoration prodigy, and Leo’s curse involved runeforms with merged constellations. Between the three of them, they may actually have a chance.

Westley jumps up onto the counter, heading straight for me, and Leo curses.

“Get that fecking cat off the runeform.”

The white-furred fiend sits beneath me, swatting at the end of my braid, but I’m too busy to pay attention to him or watch as Jasper picks him up and relocates him to the floor.

“This is complicated magic,” I murmur. “Two master level schools. If you don’t have enough power or the runeforms are off by even a fraction…”

It might not work. Worse, the spell would be inefficient, burning through even more energy than master level runeforms normally do. The six of them are strong, but if they tried to force it, the drain could kill them.

That worry pushes to the forefront of my mind as I start carefully checking their methodology. Benny’s book on healing magical wells sits open by Jasper’s elbow. I crane my neck, floating through them as I use it for reference. There’s an error in this line… Or is that related to the necromancy they’re using?

If it’s a mistake, then it needs to be fixed before they try anything.