Page 63 of Librarian

Only I kind of do, because I did a lot of shit I didn’t want to do when I was protecting Eddy from Josef. I felt responsible for her and still do. I’d lost my parents, and I didn’t want to lose my sister, too.

Huh.

Maybe we’re more similar than I thought.

Leo was still stupid to think that Mathias had a better chance of breaking his curse than Kyrith did. Our Librarian is scarily smart.

Unfortunately, it leaves us in a weird position. Leo will clearly do anything to keep Kyrith safe, but we’re shutting him out of all our plans.

Not that it seems to be working, given that he’s here and Jasper isn’t.

Judging by the increasingly frustrated noises Kyrith is making at the tablet, I don’t want to get between her and it any time soon. No sense getting my head bitten off trying to help. I’ll let her wear her anger out first.

I head for Leo instead.

“You spying on her now?” I ask, following him as he turns a corner towards a desk that, at first glance, appears empty.

Then we cross some invisible threshold, and the illusion drops. Piles of books and papers are everywhere. All around him, star charts are floating on invisible walls, and some have been magically glued to the ceiling. All of them are arranged to allow him an unrestricted view of another stacked table across the Library. I’m betting that’s Kyrith’s.

Stalker.

Leo takes his seat, keeping his voice low as he says, “When I realised she’d given Jasper the slip, I followed her to make sure she was safe.”

He pulls a massive book towards him and scribbles something in the margin of a piece of paper on his right.

“And you decided to sit all the way over here because…?”

“See that black mark on the carpet?” he asks, gesturing at a spot about six feet from Kyrith’s table. “I conjured her a basket of roses and romantic shite. She swiped it off the table and vaporised the bleeding thing. Then she conjured her own.”

“Ouch.” I pause. “You did kinda deserve it though.”

Leo shakes his head and mutters something under his breath I don’t catch, then he clears his throat, changing the topic. “Yeah. About that. I need to apologise.”

Eddy warned me about this yesterday, so I nod reluctantly. “Okay.”

“I put you and your twin at risk with what I did.”

God, please let this be over soon.“Yep.”

“And I won’t ever make that mistake again.” He pauses. “Stars, that was awful.”

“Agreed.” I pause. “Do I get to punch you like Lambert did?”

Leo winces, but offers a small nod, every muscle in his body tensing. “Get it over with.”

I snort, shaking my head. While punching him might erase the last of my anger, if any of the dozens of books on this table were damaged in the process, Kyrith would have my balls on a platter next to his.

Instead, I cuff him upside the head.

“Nah. Way I see it? Mathias had puppet Eddy spying on us, and all three of you were sitting ducks at that dinner party. Yeah, you were dumb enough to make it easy for him, but even if you hadn’t, the result would’ve probably been the same. From one fuck-up to another? You’re handling this better than I did. Living with a stupid magical boot on your neck sucks.”

He gapes at me. “I figured you, out of everybody, would’ve been happy to deck me.”

Maybe I would’ve, but…yeah. Not feeling it. He hurt Kyrith, but she’s a big girl. She can choose how she wants to punish him for it. If she wants my help to kick his ass, I’ll offer it. Until then, it’s a little too close to kicking a starving puppy for my taste.

“I’ll leave that to Lambert. Honestly, I think he enjoyed it. Apology accepted and all that shit. I’m not interfering with Kyrith, though. I’m fed up with getting crushed into the floor.”

Leo pinches the bridge of his nose and waves me away. “Go sit with her. If she catches you hanging around me, she won’t be happy.”