Page 65 of Librarian

“Apologised last night. Said if he hadn’t been so up himself, he might’ve noticed the ensorcellments on her. She told him to go wank with sandpaper.”

My sister is loyal to a fault.

Kyrith grumbles under her breath. “Ishould’ve noticed or at least been more suspicious of how she kept turning up in the Vault.”

My fists tighten, but I force the anger away. I’m her twin. I should’ve known. But it’s far easier to keep talking about Leo than it is to think too deeply about how badly I failed her.

“As far as I know, Jasper is the only person left on his list.”

“Leo didn’t tell me.”

“I suppose he didn’t want it to influence your decision.”

“And you do?”

I shrug. “You should have all the facts.”

Kyrith looks down at her work, slowly writing something in the kind of neat cursive handwriting that doesn’t exist anymore. She keeps working for so long that I give up waiting for her answer and settle for playing on my phone.

Eventually, she says, “I’m thinking about it. It’s been less than a week since he tried to apologise. I need more time.”

That tells me nothing. I huff out a frustrated groan. “Look, put the question of whether you want to fuck him aside for one minute. No one is forcing you to get back together. But do you trust him to watch you in case Mathias shows up again?”

Her next pause is even longer. I swear I can hear Galileo holding his breath. Sure, he’s on the other side of the room, but he’s got to be using some kind of eavesdropping spell.

I get Kyrith’s reluctance. He just got her murdered. Still, she’s intelligent enough to know that the circumstances have changed. There’s a dagger out there that she has no defence against, and that scares me.

Being in the Library felt safe. It was in another realm, and Kyrith controlled everything. Mathias couldn’t enter until he got his hands on Leo and forced his way in. Orkney might be remote, but it’s nowhere near as protected.

The McKinleys are confident in their wards, but Mathias could pop up at any moment. No one knows whether he’s capable of breaking in, and everyone’s on edge because of it.

Instead of answering, Kyrith stands, picks up the paper she was working on, and strides towards the illusion-shrouded desk where Leo is hiding.

Whatever spells are camouflaging him drop as she passes the boundary, so I get to watch his stunned, terrified face as she slides her work onto his desk.

“Check this over. It should work, but I’m missing several charts from the Arcanaeum, so I had to construct the incantation from memory.”

“Thank you,” he stutters, lifting a hand, then dropping it when she steps out of reach. “That’s two you’ve done now.”

Two? She took months to work out Leo’s. It’s been five days since she started to work on the rest of his family’s. My browsfurrow as I wonder if she’s working too hard, and the matching tension behind Leo’s words makes it clear he’s wondering the same.

She brushes off our concern.

“I’m beginning to get a feel for how the magic has mutated. It’s the same original spell, after all, so it’s no surprise that it follows a pattern. If the next runeforms stay true to form, then the process should only get faster.”

“I—you should…” Leo’s mouth twitches in frustration before he finally tries again. “Perhaps you could take a break with North?”

I scoff at the irony ofhimbeing the one to tell her that, but maybe that’s why he’s doing it.

Kyrith studies him, then dips her chin in reluctant agreement. “Fine.”

Leo’s eyes glimmer for a second, and he cradles the paper in his hands like it’s a newborn baby, reading it. After a moment of careful study, he jolts out of his chair and heads for the door—probably to share the cure with his family. He stops just before he reaches it, worried eyes finding mine.

I lift my chin. I’ve got the Librarian.

If I have my way, she’ll never be harmed again. It fucking gutted me seeing her lying lifeless in that tomb, knowing that she sent us away to safety while she suffered. It should’ve been the other way round.

With one last lingering look at Kyrith, Leo disappears.