Page 27 of Broken Destiny

Garrett leans over, his knuckles on the wooden table, but the library doesn’t seem bothered by his threatening stance. She likes him and agrees with Bren. He won’t hurt me. “And me?”

I swallow against the dryness in my throat. “I cannot force you into anything,” I murmur, my gaze meeting his dark eyes for just a second before flitting away.

“You’re a sphinx?”

I shrug again. “So they say. I haven’t actually shifted yet.”

“Who are they?”

I have to give credit to Garrett. He’s not the brainless brute he appears to be. I nibble at my lip as I consider whether to mention the goblins. I’d thought they would have shown up by now if it was safe.

“No time for that. Ansel is coming. The one who tethered me is with him.” Kodi floats down from the ceiling behind me, alarm ringing through his voice. I wish for my crutches. I don’t want to sit in my wheelchair if there’s to be a confrontation. The library senses my wish, and they appear beside me suddenly. I push my chair back hastily, my hair getting in the way as I struggle to swiftly cuff them onto my arms.

Steady, reliable hands are suddenly helping me. Pleasure nearly halts the breath in my chest as I realize that Avery has my left and Bren has my right. Both are helping me to fasten the crutches around my forearms. Bren gathers my thick hair and pushes it over my shoulder, his fingers lingering. My nerves light up at their touch. Garrett watches the scene with intense interest as Kodi floats down beside us, his gray arms crossed over his chest.

I waver for a second once I’m on my feet and moved away from the chair, trying to see through the gargoyle’s eyes again. Kodi was right. Ansel is trotting to keep up with an older man. He looks similar to the one who tethered Kodi at the orphanage, but it’s not the same guy. They must work together.

When I reopen my eyes, Garrett is no longer facing me. Instead, he stands just to the side, facing the door with his brother and the rest of us. The stones beneath me tremble. It surprises me so much, I stumble. Bren stabilizes me. His hand stays just under my elbow, offering comfort and solidarity. I glance at him, but a mask has fallen over his face. Now he looks like the arrogant man I suspected him to be, but his gaze flickers with amusement that seems to be entirely for my benefit. It’s gone the second he faces forward again.

The library is worried. This is nothing like Dighit. For some reason, this man worries her, and that scares me. Who could possibly threaten the great library? How?

The front door bangs open, and I wince as I feel the wrongness echo through the floorboards. The unknown interloper hesitates only a second when he walks in and sees us facing him, hopefully providing the illusion of a united front. Two of these men aren’t mine, even though they’re acting as if they are. But either could choose to defect at any time. Kodi stands behind me. His familiar static buzz comforts me as much as Avery’s unflappable calmness.

Ansel isn’t speaking, but his eyes flare a warning as they meet mine. An icy chill falls over the front hall, and I almost expect my breath to fog as it escapes me. My spine is aching again as it has since the night before; the scars over my shoulder blades itch.

“The ghost is mine,” the man says in a dark tone. I suspect he’s immortal and powerful. He’s a vampire and a mage. The combination has to be a rarity, and it gives him advantages other created vamps don’t possess, like allowing him to be here in the light of day.

I square my shoulders and lift my chin. “Kodi is my guardian. He entered my service of his own free will yesterday. I have a contract to prove it.”

The man steps closer. Garrett shifts, almost standing in front of me. The stranger seems to realize he’s there for the first time. He hasn’t even acknowledged Kodi, his supposed property, or Avery. His eyebrows lift as his gaze flickers from Garrett to Bren. “Jonathan Addington’s boys? What are you doing here? Your father is expecting you to sign up for classes this morning,” he says directly to Garrett. “I don’t think he’d be pleased to hear you brought your addled brother with you.”

Garrett crosses his arms over his chest, and his stance widens. If this man wanted to appease him, it’s obvious he shouldn’t have insulted Bren. The shifter’s irritation is palpable. He’s twice as broad as the older man and nearly half a foot taller. “Who are you?”

Redness creeps under the stranger’s skin, barely there, but I can sense his anger rising. “Jerome Walthers. I am the delegation’s liaison to Apocrypha.”

I school my face to indifference. The name means nothing, but the title is everything. He’s a man who could destroy the school and professors with a word if he so chose. Can he do the same to the library since it’s on academy grounds? I wish I knew more about the supernatural world because I’m woefully unprepared to understand the political undercurrents happening right in front of me.

“Well, Jerome,” Garrett drawls with impressive indifference, “I don’t see that it’s any of your business what my brother or I do.”

Walthers’ face continues to redden. “Your father sent you here to get an education so you could follow him in his business.”

I don’t know how this conversation morphed from a ghost to the desires of a father, but Garrett doesn’t seem surprised at all. “And how would you know that?”

“I was just in contact with Jonathan. I didn’t think you’d be here.” He sneers as his gaze flickers toward me. “You’re to send your brother back home and attend your classes. If you don’t, there will be repercussions.”

Garrett shrugs. “Dear old Dad will just have to be disappointed. We’re both guardians of this library.”

I barely keep the surprise from showing on my face, but his brother smiles next to me. “You can go now. The library isn’t open yet,” Bren says without a hint of hesitation, as if he’s already signed the contract and knows everything there is to say on the subject.

Walthers’ attention lingers on the brothers. “I’ll tell your father of your poor decisions.” He turns his blank face to me. “I want my ghost back.”

Kodi shifts behind me, and my lips tilt in a smile to match Bren’s. “He’s right behind me. If you can’t see him, that means he’s no longer yours. He never was to begin with, by the way.” Anger hardens my voice. This man enslaved my friend, albeit with help. Walthers’ gaze travels over my shoulder in a look I’ve seen a million times before. He can’t see the ghost.

Vengeance sparks in the depths of the liaison’s gaze. “This isn’t over.” He perfects the dismissive ridicule I’ve seen so many times as he looks me up and down. “You’re not fit to run this place. The library shall soon realize that.” He spins on his heel and leaves just as chaotically as he entered.

My legs buckle the second the front door slams shut, and I might have fallen if Bren and Avery didn’t reach for me at the same time. Kodi’s electric static tingles along my back like he tried to do the same, but all I hear from him is an irritated snort as the other two help me back into my chair. The vamp-mage, although he didn’t do anything this visit, managed to voice my greatest fear.

What if he’s right? What if I’m not worthy?

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