Page 31 of Liminal

“You won’t have to. She’s not stupid.” Kyrith’s intelligence is a piercing, terrifying thing, and it’s also sexy as fuck. “We’ll all be kicked out.”

While she might keep revoking my strikes every morning, she’s never actually banished me before.

“I actually passed my Alchemy test this week,” I continue, puffing up with pride. It’s the highest grade I’ve ever gotten in something that isn’t in transmutation. “I don’t want to give that up.”

Plus, spending that time with the boss lady has kinda made me sweet on her. I mean, she’s tough, yes. But underneath that, she’s fragile. I don’t want to do anything that might hurt her.

“Relax.” North shoves a copy of the ancient blueprint of the Arcanaeum into his pocket. “I’ll be in and out before she even notices. Besides, books go missing from libraries all the time.”

“Not the Arcanaeum.” Galileo finally sees fit to interrupt, his arched brows creasing in concern.

There’s a heavy pause where both of us try to figure out how much to tell him. North’s lost when it comes to the basic things about our society. The dude’s a liminal, after all. He didn’t even know any of this existed until Josef turned up in his life and demanded his cooperation half a year ago. Part of the reason Leo and I decided to take pity on his ass was because he literally knows less than nothing.

Most of the time, he’ll let us explain, but sometimes reminding him of how out of his depth he is just makes himclam up. It’s better to just let him ask the question instead of assuming he wants to be told.

“What makes it so special? It’s just a library.” He’s fumbling the straps of the grimoire holster around his waist, and my fingers itch to help.

Unfortunately, bro code states I must allow him to suffer in silence and not offer help unless he asks for it, and even then, I’ve got to make a dick joke to disperse the tension.

“It’s more than that. Its name literally translates from Latin as ‘place of secrets.’” Galileo snaps his book shut and brushes his thick curls back out of his face in exasperation before waving at me to continue.

Like I have a better chance at explaining than he does? “No one knows how this shit works, but the books are all summoned back as soon as they’re taken out, and it’s an automatic ban for the person removing them.”

It’s part of the reason why I don’t believe this plan is even going to work.

“Whatever. It’s one book. Besides, Josef is pushing.” North finally manages to get the straps arranged so he can fit the slim blue book into the holster.

Does he actually have any runeforms in there? I doubt it. At least he’s actually carrying it around now. For the first few months, he wouldn’t even touch the thing.

Out of the three of us, he would probably benefit the most from Kyrith’s tutoring. Hell, she may seem to dislike him, but Galileo’s trick with the book definitely worked. A few tomes from the Ackland collection and she’d be eating out of his hand.

I flip my fingers through the page of my latest gift with a grin. Of course, she probably likes my books better than the ancient shit Leo gives her. If this isn’t enough to distract her, I’ve got both my arms on display. Girlslovemy arms.

Briefly, I wince, imagining the Librarian turning an icy, unimpressed stare at them, then shrug it off. She hasn’t asked me to stop staring at her beautiful tits—and I would if she complained—so there’s got to be some interest there, right?

“Hey, are you even listening to me?” North demands.

“Nope,” I admit with a carefree shrug. “Too busy daydreaming about the glorious set of tits I’ll never see again when this all goes to hell.”

Leo and North both look at me like I’ve gone insane.

“Lambert,” Leo begins, voice tinged with exasperation. “You realise…she’s a ghost. Right?”

So what?I let the question show in my face. “She’s cute.”

I never knew I had a thing for historical babes. Kyrith is broadening my horizons, and isn’t that what everyone is always on my case about?

North prowls towards the door, anger written in the way he rolls his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we get that fucking book, the better.”

Galileo shoves past him, taking a deep breath. “We have to go first, remember? Give us fifteen minutes to distract her before you enter, then cast every spell against detection you have and try not to get caught.”

Erm… I’m not sure North’s grimoire contains any spells like that, but before I can figure out how to broach the subject without triggering one of his classic North shut-downs, Leo is rapping his bone-white knuckles on the door.

“Ad Arcanaeum.”

Ah, well, I’m sure North’s got this.

The door bursts open, filling the over-pompous living room with the scents of ink, old parchment, and fresh late-autumn rain.