I didn’t specifically mention necromancy, but we bothknow I wasn’t talking about restoration. With him distracted, I take my chance and switch from defence to offence.
“Take note,” I tell the others. “There are three main types of destruction magic.”
My own lightning arcs over the ceiling, stopping inches from Pierce’s face before the illusion dissipates, revealing the real thing behind him as it zaps him on his too-toned ass. He shoots up like a rocket, and I smile because the scent of burned fabric tells me there’s now a hole in his perfectly pressed trousers.
Fire runs along the ground between us, and he raises a full shield to counter the strike, only to curse when I pull out another spell and banish his feeble excuse for protection.
If he’d only thought to learn a little divination, he’d have seen the lightning for the trick that it was. And if he’d properly mastered basic nullification, he’d have the skill to create stronger shields.
Pierce is all brute force, and it shows as his suit catches fire, only to be extinguished by spikes of ice that knock his grimoire out of his reach and imprison him in place.
“Lightning, fire, and ice.” I continue the lecture as Pierce struggles to banish my spell with only a scrap from his pocket, launching himself at his grimoire the moment he manages it. “Fire is the most common and probably the easiest. Ice takes more patience to master, and lightning can be finicky, which is why we won’t be learning either of those today.”
I let Pierce retrieve his grimoire, but I’m not interested in continuing to make my point. So when he launches another bolt of lightning at me, I flick it back at his feet, blowing him back into the stained glass. My reinforcement spells hold up nicely. The glass bends like rubber under the sudden impact, bouncing him back to his knees.
“You—” Pierce heaves out on a choking cough as he tries to speak past his windedness. “How?—?”
“Being murdered tends to leave one singularly motivated to learn self-defence,” I retort primly. “And death left me with plenty of time in which to learn. Now, if you’re quite done humiliating yourself, might I suggest finding a book? It appears you need to study just as much as everyone else here.”
I turn my back on him, swiping away the bolt of fire he aims at my skull with a huff of impatience, then drop a book on his head in retaliation.
“Now, how are the hovering spells coming?”
The others are all gathered around Lambert, who’s propped up on his elbows on the mat.
North’s jaw is on the floor. Lambert’s grin could melt chocolate, and Leo… Leo is just shaking his head.
“That was hot as fuck,” Jasper blurts, then blushes.
Something in my chest warms, but I dismiss it and the smile that threatens to follow before I can get distracted. “Come on. You had one task, and I haven’t got all day.”
Eighteen
Dakari
Kyrith falls back into the armchair on the other side of my table with a long sigh, eyeing the four arcanists in the centre of the solarium with barely concealed weariness. I’ve chosen a spot in the corner, which gives me a view of everyone and the exit at all times.
They’ve paired up, Lambert insisting on a rematch with Pierce, while Jasper and North are on the far side of the room. It took an hour for them to reach this point, which was mostly full of childish taunting.
Adding Pierce to the mix has just made an already-tense situation worse. There are too many grudges in this room, and I can’t help glancing at Leo, sharing a table with Eddy a few feet away.
“You okay?” I ask Kyrith, lowering the book the Arcanaeum supplied me when it became clear I wasn’t taking part in this particular practical.
I’ve read more in the last few months than I think I have in my entire life, and that’s entirely thanks to the Library. Itsomehow knew I’d like black comedy when I’d never even tried it before, and I’m grateful for it.
“Yes. Of course.” She smooths down her skirts, then sighs as the building summons a whole stack of papers in front of her.
I flick the chair in reprimand. She needs a second to breathe, not more work.
In answer, the words on my page scramble.
Petulant thing.
“I meant to ask you for a favour,” Kyrith continues, summoning a book between us and propping open a second on top of it, effectively hiding her work from me. “I need you to find a book.”
I raise a brow. “As a collector or…?”
She sighs. “No. This isn’t for the Library. This is for me. I need you to find my grimoire.”
