“That’s not what it’s about,” I protest. “And why does everyone keep assuming I only want to sleep with her? Kyrith is awesome.”
“Awesome enough for you to stop sleeping with everyone else?”
“Despite what you might think, I don’t have a different girl in my bed every night.” Ugh, I roll my eyes. “The last time I got laid was months ago.”
North snorts. “Larissa sat in your lap for like a full week at the start of term, and your eyes weren’t on her face.”
“Because her best friendandher ex are in our class. She was nervous about facing them both again after she caught them banging on her kitchen table. I was just her casual rebound guy, and we’ve been over for months.”
What better way to show you’ve moved on than fucking the star reaper of the UAA’s magiball team? I can’t help it if I’m a catch. And in exchange, she showed me the plant store where I managed to get those apology presents for Kyrith. It was fun, but neither of us was looking for feelings, and we haven’t fucked each other since the boss lady agreed to tutor me.
North chokes on his pizza.
Dakari shakes his head. “You can’t really expect us, or Kyrith, to believe she was the only one? Did you not see how upset she was when you fucked around with Poppy?”
Okay, now he’s starting to piss me off. “Poppy’s just a friend, and she’s struggling with her home life right now. One of her older brothers is on the team, and he asked me to watch out for her, but I’ve never fucked her. So what if she has a tiny crush on me? Who doesn’t?”
Deep breaths. We all need to get along for Operation Boss to work.
Mentally, I start a list. The first order of business is obviously repairing the trust between me and our Librarian. Fortunately, I have a plan. Step two has to be arranging some male bonding time for Leo and Dakari. Maybe I can lock them in a cupboard or something and not let them out until they’re buddies.
Wait… On second thought, they might damage the Arcanaeum trying to get out, which won’t help my case with Kyrith.
Okay, step two needs work, but Jasper’s on board. I can just tell. We’ll both take any part of Kyrith she’ll give us. As for North… Well, his sister loves Kyrith enough that he’ll come around eventually. I hope.
Step three… Get Kyrith a present that makes her smile. She needs to relearn what laughing feels like, and I’m the perfect guy for that job.
“Look, if this was what Kyrith wanted, then it would be a different matter.” Dakari backs down. “But you can’t push her into this just to get laid. And what if Leo’s curse activates? You’re putting her directly in the line of fire. Surely you, of all people, know what happens to the women who are involved with Ó Rinns?”
He’s giving me some kind of weird, meaningful look that I don’t understand, so I shrug him off. “So, as long as she’s on board, you’re in? Fuck yeah! I’ll work on the plan, and we can revisit this when term restarts. I’ll prove to all of you that I’m a changed man for our Librarian.”
I head for one of the doors, avoiding the beige one that rejected Kyrith, because her nail marks scratched into the frame are doing horrible twisty things to my stomach.
The Library refused to let us leave after Kyrith was embodied, but that changed when she woke up. North wasable to go and get pizza, and the door opened for Kyrith, so I guess the place is open now?
Maybe the Arcanaeum was just tired? That would explain why it was so quiet as well.
I get that it probably did some insane magic to bring her back to life, but I’ve missed the post-match debrief. Coach is going to kick my ass, and my dad probably won’t be happy that I’m late getting home for vacation.
Honestly, I think time with him—away from the arcanist stuff—will do me some good. My dad is a great listener, and I could really do with a talk after everything that’s happened.
“You can’t just force Kyrith into this,” North says, standing as well. “Come on. I get what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work. And what about when one of us wants out? Sure, the whole thing could work casually, but anything long-term would fall apart.”
That’s what he thinks. It’s okay. Not everyone can be a visionary. One day, when he’s helping me teach our half-ghost kids to play magiball, he’ll see how stupid he was. I’ll bet the Arcanaeum could even make us a pitch somewhere.
But North, like Leo and Dakari, is going to need to be eased into Operation Boss, so I settle for offering him an easy grin.
“Oh, ye of little faith. Come on. I’ll fill you in on the first part of my plan at my place.”
He shakes his head. “We’ve been stuck here for days. Josef won’t be happy that I’ve disappeared. Not that he’s ever happy.”
My mood, which had improved while imagining how cool a magiball court in the Library would be, plummets. “Shit, dude, I’m so sorry.”
Stupid thing to say. This is North. The moment he detects sympathy, he shuts down. He grabs a last slice of pizza and heads for a differentdoor on my left.
“Whatever. He can’t kill his fucking trophy, right?” He knocks louder than he needs to. “My house.”
That quickly, he’s gone, and I sigh as I follow his lead. The six of us as a unit would solve so many problems. I can’t imagine Josef having the balls to keep up his brutal training regime if he knew North had Dakari on his side. The Ackland parriarch doesn’t want his street to end up as a pile of rubble next.
