Page 35 of Librarian

“Jas! Yer ma wants tae ken if the Librarian likes broccoli?”

“I’ll eat anything,” I reply automatically, but Jasper’s father is already turning to Dakari.

“Oi. You too. Her orders.”

Dakari snorts in concert with Jasper, then clicks the lid back on the tin and drops casually from the wall. My hand flutters, searching for my grimoire, heart seizing. But Dakari’s already caught himself with a hover spell, slowing his descent so his next step lands casually on the grass, as if the distance were mere inches.

“Anything for Mama Dee.” He winks.

“My mother wants to adopt him, and she doesn’t care that he’s parriarch now,” the McKinley heir murmurs in my ear. “Better watch out, or she’ll do the same with you.”

Being mothered? At my age? That will be novel. I try for a smile in response, but the expression falls as stars start to twinkle at the edges of my vision. Blinking doesn’t make them go away, and my steps slow to a halt.

What’s happening?

“Lass?”

Jasper’s voice is distorted, overlaid with the smashing of glass, but when I look behind me, nothing is broken. My stomach lurches, head swimming.

Isidora chuckles low in my ear.“Come now. Is this any way to welcome your new rector, Georgina?”

The stars in my sight brighten to the point of pain, and I squeeze my eyes shut, moaning.

“You can’t do this!”Georgina’s normally deep voice is squeaky with fear.“I told you. I don’t know where he is!”

Jasper tries again, his hands on my shoulders turning supportive as my knees give out. “Lass? What’s wrong?”

I force open my eyes, but the yard is gone, replaced with an opulent, sunlit room. I observe it all from hip height, making me feel small and childlike, as the violence unfolds.

Georgina is sprawled amongst the wreckage of her glass coffee table, her hand stretching desperately for her grimoire as Isidora stalks closer. Lambert’s aunt is not a small woman, and yet she looks terribly fragile as the necromancer’s shadow falls over her.

I brace, tensing all over as I wait for the final spell, because Isidora would not break into the home of another parriarch for a less-than-deadly reason.

“Omubolosi.”

The freezing spell stops Georgina’s fingers inches from the book that might’ve saved her, but Isidora shifts to one side instead of taking the final step.

I move forward, and Georgina’s eyes fix on a spot above me. “Please,” she whispers. “I don’t know where Lambert is.”

“We know,”Mathias says, and I wish I could turn to look at him, because having him at my back sends spiders scurrying down my spine.“It’s clear your heir has no use for such a weak excuse for a parriarch. I still can’t believe you’re the strongest House Winthrop has to offer.”

“I’m a parriarch! An adept! Just like you.”

“Barely,”Isidora scoffs, the enormous black gem at her throat glinting in the dim light.“And not for much longer.”

Mathias kicks Georgina’s grimoire away, and she scrambles back as the spell releases her. There’s nowhere for her to flee. The necromancers are already chanting, familiar words echoing in the room.

My whole body tingles like I’ve been electrified. I’m too big for my own skin. My bones crack. No. Those aren’t my bones. That’s the blade.I’mthe blade, and the metal is straining under the influx of power.

The last thing I see is Georgina’s terrified face as I swoop towards her. I’m forced back into my real body with her shrill scream still ringing in my ears.

“There’sno need to threaten me, Parriarch,” Benny says. “She’s completely fine, and I’m no threat to her. There, see? She’s already waking up.”

The first thing I see is Dakari’s deep black gaze boring into me from inches above my face. A crowd has gathered in the timeit took for me to watch Georgina’s murder, and I pick out Jasper, his parents, and Benny among a host of confused faces.

Dakari’s scarred brow rises, drawing my attention back to him, and I rush to say, “I’m fine.”

“Exactly,” Benny says, and gravel crunches as he moves away, giving the larger man space to stand. “I can’t tell you what happened, but I agree with the young McKinley’s evaluation. Physically, she’s in perfect shape.”