Isidora studies me with cold steel eyes, but she says nothing. She’s wearing her hair down today, but far from softening her features, it simply casts them in dramatic shadows. The rain is growing heavier by the second, but I resist the urge to offer more excuses.
Silence is one of her favourite ways to force a confession, even when she doesn’t believe one is necessary.
“Why would the Librarian be searching for him?” she finally asks.
“I can’t answer that without breaking the covenant. Do you no longer need me in place when you take over the Arcanaeum?”
It was my mother’s urging that led to me swearing the magical contract. Kyrith was clever with her wording, but she forgot to leave out the thing which would’ve saved her.
Isidora doesn’t want information. She has spies for that, and Mathias knows enough about the Library that most of what I could tell them is unnecessary. She wants someone on the inside when she and Mathias are ready to make their move. And while I might’ve sworn to keep the Arcanaeum’s secrets, I said nothing about the secrets of the other five heirs.
Isidora is considering it. My hand drops to my pocket, and I keep the movement casual as I search out the illusion scrap hidden there.
Her lips purse, and my magic scalds my fingertips. “You should be grateful you’re my heir. If you were as expendable as your sister, I would order you to break that stupid covenant right here and now.”
My magic recedes, but I refuse to let out the relieved breath that lingers in my lungs.
Anthea, expendable? That doesn’t bode well for my sister.
As if on cue, she joins the two of us, her heels clicking as she automatically extends the umbrella she’s clutching so it covers our mother. I, of course, barely warrant a glance.
“I’m finished here,” she announces. “But Rector Talcott wants me to come for drinks this evening.”
Drinks could be innocent, but I’m willing to bet it isn’t. Did Isidora tell her daughter to seduce Abe Talcott, or did she do it to escape marriage to Dakari? Was she searching for an upgrade, from heir to parriarch?
“Tell him you can’t make it tonight,” Isidora instructs, and Anthea obediently taps out the message with her free hand. “You’ll go tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Good. Now, come. We have things to do. Pierce, shouldn’t you be following the Librarian’s orders?”
I nod, trying not to let my muscles sag in relief as her hand leaves the pages of her grimoire and my bodily autonomy returns. Even when she turns her back, heading down the now sodden high street, I don’t make the mistake of thinking she’s not watching.
Mathias’s goon takes over the task of keeping her dry, which is a good thing, because Anthea is still tapping at her phone beside me.
“Make her rescind my banishment.”
For a second, my big sister’s words don’t register, they’re so quiet. “What?”
“Make the Librarian offer me Sanctuary, too.” Grey eyes sparking with unshed tears meet mine, and my hackles rise.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was terrified.
“Please, Pierce. You’re only her heir because of my fuck-up. Repay the favour. Convince the Librarian to let me back in.”
Is this a test? Some scheme of Isidora’s to make me prove myself?
I don’t trust her, so my face stays perfectly blank. “If Mother asks, I’ll do my best, but I’m not sure it will work. You did use fire around the Librarian’s precious books, after all.”
Anthea’s expression shuts down with a swiftness that proves my distrust right. “I’m sure Mother appreciates your loyalty.” The last word is spat with such venom that I almost take a step back. “Have a nice life, brother.”
Then, without another word, she trots after Isidora like the dog she is, all traces of fear gone from her easy posture. Leaving me in her wake, blinking as I try to fit together everything that just happened, and fail.
Thirty-Seven
Kyrith
“What do you mean you don’t know?” I demand, my entire body vibrating with fury as I face down Pierce. “How did youloseEddy? You promised to watch over her.”
