SAY YES
Still, I hesitate. The unshakeable trust between us has been rocked by the door handle and by all of these notes with no explanation. The building knows more than I do, and these cryptic little nudges it keeps giving me are beginning to sting.
They’re all staring at me. Lambert with his huge, tempest-coloured puppy eyes, North with mistrust, and Leo… Leo’s brows are lowered.
In that icy frown is the knowledge that he’d rather have me on his side, but silently promises retribution the likes of which I’ve never seen if I choose to be his enemy. I read the deadly seriousness with a grim resignation, because heknows, and that changes everything.
With a few words, the Ó Rinn heir could inform the faculty about what I am—though they must suspect something, giventhe obvious nature of my condition. A few whispers into the right ears, and he could turn the other arcanists against me.
In a court of popular opinion, the ghost and her library bonded by dark magic will never win.
And on top of that, he knows that his touch caused the crack to spread. He’s a smart man. He’ll find a way to turn that to his advantage.
In return, what do I really have on him? The power to banish them can’t even protect me. Though they currently think I decided to give them a second chance, they’ll realise the truth when their second and third banishments don’t stick.
My breasts heave on a breath I can’t feel, and I look down at the table, squeezing my eyes closed.
“Fine. I will continue to tutor you.” I pause, staring at the window. “But only if Northcliff can properly apologise.”
I watch his reflection in the stained glass, catching the moment his lips set into a mulish line. It brings a sad, savage sort of satisfaction. Then, I remember his earlier words and add, “On his knees.”
Leo and Lambert are both staring at him intently, no doubt doing their best to compel him with their eyes—though their backs are to me. A silent conversation happens, which Leo succinctly ends by raising his forefinger and drawing it across his throat in a clear and silent threat.
North’s chair scrapes against the floor as he shoves it back and approaches me. I turn, readying myself for an attack, but he just stands there, looming.
“You better not get used to this,” he mutters. “Because it will never happen again.”
I lost the ability to feel whole body shivers a long time ago, but the dark, commanding look he shoots my way would almost certainly elicit one from anyone else. Even when he lowershimself, first to one knee, then the other, he keeps that eye contact.
His pose might be submissive, but the man? No. This man is dominant to the core.
“I’m sorry.”
Two little words. Each one torn from him with enough reluctance that I don’t press for more. I give him a jerky little nod, turning back to the window. The fog is thicker than usual tonight.
“Great!” Lambert says, as unfazed as ever by the tension in the room. “Now, can we get started? I know it’s late, but honestly, I got six percent in the last practical. Tutor away.”
Itislate, I realise, whirling to face them with alarm. Too late. As if to mock me, a clock face appears on the surface of the table, the minute hand boldly inching towards its partner at the top.
“Not tonight.” Praying they don’t hear the snap of panic in my voice, I hesitate. “In fact, how are you even here? The Arcanaeum is closed.”
Even when I was tutoring Lambert and Leo, I never let them stay this late, for good reason. Why would the library let them in?
The three of them look at one another, then at me.
“You opened the doors for us?” Lambert says, but it comes out as a question. “I was just watching the game and my bedroom door opened…”
“Indeed,” Galileo confirms. “And then your instructions on the desk told us to find the red door across the parapet. Your books even chased us across.”
The building can do that?
Smoothing down the front of my dress to hide how this latest development has shaken me, I clear an imaginary blockage from my throat. “Well, it’s late. We’ll resume our sessions tomorrow at the usual time.”
If they find my dismissal sudden, they’re wise enough not to push it.
Thirteen
Kyrith
