Page 84 of Librarian

“Probably the same way someone managed to break into the Arcanaeum,” I grunt. “With the help of a traitorous bastard.”

The hit lands, his knuckles turning white around the pen he’s using to draw a new runeform on a blank page. Still, he doesn’t rise to the bait.

“Or they snuck something onto anyone returning from the town.” Leo tucks the pen behind his ear and puts his hand directly onto the fresh ink. “A magical anchor would create a weakness in the defences that they could exploit. Either way, we need to get rid of it before they sneak other spells—or worse—inside.”

He starts to chant, and I grab for my phone, intending to check on Jasper, only for an incoming message from North to distract me.

North:

Pierce thinks they’re inside the keep.

Fuck.

I hate Leo more for being right.

My eyes dart between Kyrith on the bed and the door Jasper disappeared through. If he’s on his own?—

Dakari:

Is Jasper with you?

North:

Thought he was with you???

Acid burns my insides.

If Mathias can’t get to Kyrith, who’s to say he won’t go after Jasper again?

My eyes drop to the woman on the bed again. Kyrith’s stirring.

She’ll never forgive any of us if he’s taken. I stroke her hand, torn in two. I can’t leave her like this—Jasper wouldn’t want me to—but he’s not safe either.

“She can’t stay here.” I stroke a lock of hair out of her face.

“No. She can’t,” Leo agrees. “Where are we taking her?”

I purse my lips. I did technically inherit the Talcott Manor when Abe died, but Anthea was there multiple times, installing magic-only-knows what kind of surveillance for her mother. It isn’t secure, and I didn’t care enough to make it so. That house holds nothing but bad memories for me.

My mistake. I should’ve considered that we might need a backup plan.

“I can take her to my dad’s,” Lambert grimaces. “But he can’t protect himself if…”

If we bring hell to his doorstep, like we did here.

A shiver runs down my spine, and I don’t need to look out of the window to catch the pink flash that runs across the sky.

The wards are failing.

No. That’s not possible.

Fort McKinley is a fortress. Even hundreds of enforcers shouldn’t have been able to break them.

Hundreds of arcanists are nothing compared to a lich.

Mathias might be in Belfast, fighting with Artemius, but Isidora isn’t. She’s younger than her idol, but if she’s already this powerful, the implications…

Suddenly Kyrith’s certainty that none of us could take on Mathias and live seems less like pessimism and more like cold, hard reality.