Page 49 of Librarian

“Are you going to come and kiss me better, lass?” he calls, gesturing at the still-bleeding wound.

“Didn’t you get your fill of her last night?” North retorts.

Lambert pulls me into his lap when I would’ve gotten up. “I have to win a game without dropping a point to earn rewards from you,” he says quietly, in an intimate murmur meant just for me. Then louder, he adds, “You can’t get kisses as a consolation prize. You at least have to beat Carlton.”

“To the victor go the spoils,” Pierce concludes, and my eyes whip to where he’s raising his sabre, ready to go again. “Now stop whining and finish this.”

Jasper readies his own sword, but I’m still gaping at the Carlton heir.

Has he been ensorcelled? First a gift, now this?

I suppose he did sign the contract, but still, I almost believed he did that out of spite. As a fairness thing.

Now he’s competing for kisses?

There’s a moment where I could object, but my mouth is glued shut as they raise their blades and resume.

To their credit, the other McKinleys in the room are keeping their words suspiciously light and their eyes absolutely anywhere other than me. They don’t even seem surprised to hear the four heirs arguing about who gets to kiss the Librarian.

Were they warned? Is this…common knowledge now?

“I don’t understand,” I mumble. “Do they all know about us?”

“Dakari might’ve knocked some heads together when someone mentioned the noise coming from the keep last night at breakfast.” North abandons the pull-up bar and drops to his haunches beside us to watch Pierce and Jasper, glugging water from a bottle before he continues. “Lambert then drove themessage home a little harder. I might’ve thrown a punch or two….”

And there’s not a scratch on any of them, which means Jasper must’ve healed them all afterwards. No wonder he looked exasperated when he turned up at my bedside with a little tray full of homecooked food and a tiny vase of daisies.

“Men,” Eddy groans. “Gossips and brutes, the lot of them.”

Dideveryonehear us? I tug at my sleeves, fighting the urge to groan. I thought we were keeping our relationship private, and now apparently the whole clan knows…because of me. Because I didn’t consider that torturing Leo might have unintended consequences.

I’m so used to the Arcanaeum, where there’s no one else to hear…

My inner critic is so loud that it takes a while for me to realise that none of them seem upset by the openness of our relationship.

“Are you mad?” North asks, eyeing the books around us with concern. “Let me know now, so I can duck.”

“You’re safe. I haven’t written those manipulation spells into my grimoire yet.” Even if I did, it took me years to master using them to move objects with the level of precision I once had.

If I used one now, I might accidentally knock him out.

“I’ll help.” Eddy raises her textbook and batters her twin over the head with it.

“I’m not mad,” I say. “Just thinking.”

The clatter of swords fills the silence, only to stop suddenly as more cursing fills the air.

Pierce flicks Jasper’s blood off his sword, panting. The Scot has dropped his in favour of poking at a slash to his abs with a dismayed expression. I’m halfway to my feet before Lambert’s noise of complaint can stop me.

“Flèchewas banned decades ago,” one of the McKinleys grouches as I cross the room, examining Jasper’s newest wound with a frown and gentle fingers. “Typical cheating Carlton.”

It’s not deep, thank magic.

I step back in time to catch Pierce’s nonchalant shrug. “No one mentioned we were playing by FIE rules. The only terms we discussed were the prize.”

Is there less space between us than there was a breath ago? No. That’s just the dare lighting his eyes from within.

Falling for that challenge would be stupid. Impulsive.