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Fitch made a face.“Viggo Stonewall?The Ironfist Brute?”

Bartley blinked.His eyes bulged and his mouth rounded on a gasp.He stared at Viggo, starstruck.

“Is it true you can bend steel with your bare hands, sir?!”he blurted.

Shaw snickered.Leon looked on disapprovingly.Rufus muttered something under his breath.

Viggo scratched his cheek awkwardly, not quite sure what to make of the constable’s enraptured gaze.“Yes.”

Bartley reached inside his jacket and jerkily removed a notebook and a magic quill.He shoved them in Viggo’s face.“Could I please bother you for an autograph, sir?!”

“For the love of God, Bartley,” Rufus groaned.

Bartley pretended not to hear the inspector.“It will be our family’s pride, sir,” he pleaded.

Viggo hesitated before reluctantly taking the notebook.

Leon’s expression went from disapproving to plain disgusted.

“Mrs.Scarborough is already inside,” Fitch reported to Evander while the Brute gingerly signed the paper.“There have been no disturbances since we started our watch yesterday.”

Chapter26

Philippa Scarborough’stall figure was silhouetted against the morning light streaming through the windows of Whitley’s lab.She turned as they entered, her golden eyes taking in Viggo and Leon with a single, assessing glance from behind her wire-rimmed spectacles.

“Your Grace.”She greeted Evander with a slight inclination of her head before addressing Viggo.“Mr.Stonewall.It’s been a while since our last meeting.”

“Indeed it has,” Viggo said with the faintest of smiles and a nod.“Thank you for everything you did for Magnus.”

Mrs.Scarborough smiled back.“I was just doing my job.”

Evander introduced Leon.

The curse-breaker acknowledged the Frenchman’s “Enchanté” with a polite nod before gesturing towards the bookcase that had triggered the shadow creatures’ attack the day before.

“Shall we get to work?I’ve been examining the residual magic you two left behind and I believe I’ve identified the secondary ward protecting whatever lies behind this bookcase.”

Surprise jolted Evander.“Secondary ward?”He exchanged a glance with an equally astonished Leon.“We believed this was a nested ward with a shadow trap.”

“Indeed it is,” Mrs.Scarborough confirmed.“From Inspector Grayson’s report, Mr.Beaulieu’sNullification Magicremoved those, but there remains a subtle layer of magic beneath—a secondary trigger ward that activates only when the outer protections are fully breached.”

Viggo stared, puzzled.“Nullification Magic?”

Evander hesitated.“Leon possesses a rare type of magic that can undo almost all other magic and spells.It’s what saved us from danger yesterday.”

Viggo frowned at the Frenchman’s mildly smug look.

Evander studied the bookcase thoughtfully.“Whitley must have been incredibly paranoid to install such a trap.It must hide something important.”

“Can you disable the trigger ward?”Leon asked Mrs.Scarborough.

“Of course.”She extracted a small vial of silvery liquid from one of the many pouches at her belt.“This is a neutralising agent I designed specifically to counteract trigger wards.”

The curse-breaker approached the bookcase, her golden eyes narrowed in concentration as she traced the edges with her hand.She paused after a moment, fingers hovering over a small, almost invisible rune carved into the bottom-right corner of the frame.

“There.”

Evander squatted beside her and clenched his jaw as he stared at the magic symbol.“I completely missed that yesterday.”