“Northcliff?” Benny asks.
I seal my lips shut.
Kyrith is currently protecting my sister. I’m not grassing on her.
“He has,” Pierce answers for me. “I heard them discussing it. Him and the McKinley heir, definitely. I wouldn’t be surprisedif Lambert was responsible, given how much he loves touching women.”
I raise a brow because I’m actually ninety percent sure that Lambert is the only one of us who hasn’t cracked Kyrith. If he had, the big idiot would probably be inconsolable. His soft spot for the prickly librarian is a mile wide.
“I watched North’s initiation. She didn’t crack then,” Josef confirms. “So it was later.”
“Just leave her out of whatever this is,” I finally hiss. “She’s just a dumb ghost who looks after some books.”
Benny looks up at Josef in wry amusement. “Is the boy really that ignorant?”
“Unfortunately,” Pierce mutters. “He barely tries in class.”
Well, yeah… Okay, maybe that’s true. But what’s the point when Kyrith will explain it to me better in tutoring?
“So what’s your plan?” Josef asks Benny.
“I want to see the Librarian for myself,” he responds carefully, as he stands and pours all of them another measure. “She’s unlikely to remember me, and I’m hopeful that will give me enough time to get a read on her condition.”
“She’s committed to not choosing sides,” Pierce adds disdainfully. “You shouldn’t put yourself at risk when she’s unlikely to help us.”
“Unless you wish to blackmail her…” Josef suggests but sounds unsure.
“That’s your forte, not mine.” Benny reclaims his seat. “No. The Librarian is unique and powerful. A queen on the chessboard. She won’t remain on the sidelines for long, especially when she realises Mathias will inevitably come for her beloved Arcanaeum sooner or later. Pierce, you’ll accompany me, since you’re so concerned about my welfare. If I can see the cracks as they happen, perhaps I’ll gain a deeper understanding of what’s occurring.”
“If I harm her…” Pierce looks visibly reluctant.
“You want to crack her?” I shove out of my seat. “No fucking way.”
Josef raises a brow in my direction. “Sit down, boy, and stop interrupting us.”
No way. Not when they’re talking about hurting her just for some dumb experiment. I turn my focus on my sperm-donor, wondering if I can appeal to his sense of control.
“Look, you’ve got your heir. You don’t need Kyrith or Eddy.”
Yeah, I’m as good as telling him there are two people he can blackmail me with but better that than whatever shit the Carltons are up to.
Josef just huffs an exasperated sigh. “I’ll send the boy away. He’s reached the limit of his usefulness. We’ll be able to make plans faster without him interrupting us.”
“Yes, I daresay he’s learned more from us than we have from him,” Benny murmurs. “Pierce, would you deal with his memories for us before he goes?”
And not even be able to warn her? “Fuck no?—”
Pierce’s grimoire is already open, the pages rifling past as he searches through it with magic. I reach out, ready to slap the thing away from him, but he’s too fast, slamming his hand down on a well-used page.
His lips move…and suddenly, I can’t think past the splitting pain in my head.
“Did we win the game?” I ask, dumbly, before blackness overtakes me.
Thirty-Four
Kyrith
The Arcanaeum tugs me out of the stacks and into the Rotunda with little warning. I appear right as the parriarch of Clan McKinley—surrounded by at least two dozen of her family—reaches out to touch the bell at my desk.
