Page 58 of Arcanist
Her grimoire? I cock my head.
“I last saw it at this address, but that was centuries ago.” She slides a small square of paper across to me, and I frown. The neat typeface is the same as every other time the Arcanaeum has sent me off on a job, but that’s not what caught my eye.
“Your last name is Childerhouse?”
“I was named for the orphanage where I was left as a child,” she explains matter-of-factly.
Not a hint of emotion colours the words. No clue as to how she felt about her abandonment or her childhood. I get it. Not everyone likes to talk about the past, myself included.
Acknowledging that with a grunt, I turn back to the address. “I don’t think this street exists anymore, but it’s a start.”
Kyrith’s shoulders slump, but she says nothing as I pocket the tiny square of paper. Her attention falls back to the pile in front of her, and she frowns, summoning a peninto one hand before aggressively scratching out a whole line.
On the page of my book, a dark splodge appears.
Wait…
My eyes drift over the page. What I thought was gibberish is…
A relationship contract?
I watch as Kyrith ticks a box, and the box is checked a second later on my own page.
It’s a mirroring spell, but I didn’t cast it, and now I’m spying on Kyrith as she has a silent argument with the Arcanaeum over potential living arrangements. Every time she checks ‘living separately’, the ink disappears, then reappears in the box beside ‘living together.’
Finally, she scribbles, ‘where will I put them all?’ in the margin. In answer, a stick figure diagram replaces her neat cursive. From what I can tell, it seems to show seven people in one bed…not sleeping.
“Absolutely not!” she hisses, then looks up to find me staring at her and clears her throat. “Don’t mind me.”
I smother my grin with my hand as I drop my gaze back to the book. It’s surprisingly entertaining watching her silently argue with the building about everything from contraceptives to date night scheduling. Leaning back in my armchair, I shamelessly spy on her as she works through a table of sexual boundaries, then scribbles out grounds for termination. It’s strange having something as personal as this committed to paper in such efficient terms. But it’s not necessarily a bad idea, I suppose…
A lot of people get into relationships with unspoken expectations that eventually aren’t met. Add in the complexity of Lambert’s idea—six men with one woman—and Kyrith’s no-nonsense demeanour, and I can see why she’s drawn to this.
It’s also evidence. No one can cry favouritism if there’s a document literally stating that all relationships terminate the moment anyone accuses her of being less than impartial.
While that’s not ideal, Kyrith is more connected to her job than most. In a few decades, we’ll all be dead, and she’ll still be the Librarian. Who knows how a relationship now might affect her then.
So, while it might not be the most romantic thing, I can’t say I don’t understand where she’s coming from.
My grin escapes as she ticks ‘sexual’ under ‘relationship type’ so hard that she breaks the surface of the paper.
Baby girl has some serious tension to work out after five hundred years of ghostly celibacy. The way she melted into that kiss we shared has me desperate to help her work it out of her system. She rode my thigh like she would’ve asked me to make her come then and there, and I was three seconds away from giving in and obliging her.
I’ve dreamed of kissing my ‘boss’ for a long time, but she never seemed like she was interested. When she stepped through that door into Amsterdam’s red-light district to seek out some random fuck, I almost let loose my anger in a way I haven’t done since I was a kid. Only the knowledge that bringing down the Arcanaeum would destroy her stayed my hand.
I will never say it out loud, but the jealous beast inside me cheered when she didn’t make it more than a couple of steps before the Library sucked her back inside. She deserves to leave this place; deserves to live the life she was denied, but still… I don’t want anyone’s hands on her but mine.
Yet, here I am, considering sharing her with the other heirs. With Galileo Ó Rinn, who’s also shooting curious looks in her direction.
Wait… I eye the book on his lap sceptically.
The Library isn’t messing with both of us, is it?
His page turns without him touching it. Mine does the same. Without meaning to, I glance down, only to look up sharply in search of Kyrith’s reaction.
Her cheeks are tomato red, and she slams a book on top of the paper as soon as she catches me looking. Before I can say anything, a bang from the middle of the room interrupts us.
North has landed flat on his ass in the middle of the room, a giant icicle pinning him to the ground. With a huff, Kyrith gets to her feet.
