Unhallowed (Rath and Rune #1) - Jordan L. Hawk Page 0,51
meeting in the sword room on the second floor.”
Ves frowned. “You have a bell you ring to call emergency meetings?”
“Of course. The Boston Public Library didn’t?”
Ves shook his head, bemused. “No.”
“Well, that certainly seems an oversight, doesn’t it?” From all that Ves had said, the Boston Library sounded like a truly strange place. Sebastian was grateful for the normality of the Ladysmith. “This way.”
“Wait.” Ves reached for him, then seemed to think better of it. “I…I’d like to apologize. About last night.”
Sebastian locked away his own disappointment. “I shouldn’t have been so forward, especially with a co-worker.”
A look of misery flashed over Ves’s face, there and gone so fast Sebastian wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t been staring at him. “I overreacted. I wish…it doesn’t matter. I apologize, and I hope we can remain friends.”
Relief slid through Sebastian. “I would very much like that. Bonnie asked me to invite you to dinner again.”
Ves wavered. “I don’t wish to intrude.”
“You aren’t. She wouldn’t ask if she didn’t want you there.” When Ves didn’t answer, he said, “Think about it. Now, let’s go, before we’re late.”
Ves kept a close watch for Mortimer Waite as the librarians gathered.
Anyone else would be lying on the floor of the bindery by now, vomiting and writhing in agony. But Ves was a monster, and thus very hard to kill. Silver nitrate in his cup would have had the desired effect, but enough arsenic to poison half the library left him with only a mildly aching stomach and a foul, metallic taste in his mouth.
Waite had no way to know Mr. Quinn would call an emergency meeting. He must have planned on returning after enough time had passed for Ves to be incapacitated and removing the incriminating cup.
It had been stupid, turning his back on a man he knew didn’t like him. Though Waite probably had plenty of time to put the rat poison in the cup while Ves was distracted by the commotion in the staff room.
That the spirit struck when it did, lashing out against a seemingly random librarian, was surely no coincidence. Waite must know about the Books of the Bound, might even be in league with the spirit.
It was all beginning to make sense. Waite had killed O’Neil, possibly in the same manner he’d tried to murder Ves. He’d put forth his cousin for the bookbinding position, which would have let them search the bindery at their leisure for any clues O’Neil had left behind. When Mr. Quinn hired Ves instead, Waite first left the note warning him away, and when that didn’t work, decided to remove him the same way he’d removed O’Neil.
And of course, when Sebastian refused to give up looking for O’Neil, Waite hired two men to follow and intimidate him. Clearly the Waites were considered an important family and had plenty of money; Mortimer could probably act with impunity knowing the police would never dare accuse him even if the men were caught.
He needed to warn Sebastian…but how? He couldn’t easily explain away drinking coffee laced with arsenic, yet showing no ill effects. Nor could he waste precious time pretending to be sick. Roughly thirty-six hours from now, the comet’s tail would envelope the earth.
He was running out of time.
Ves resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands, but only because it would have caused Sebastian to ask what was wrong. He was being torn in so many different directions: Sebastian, the library, Noct, Fagerlie, his own desire for a normal life…
This was supposed to have been simple. He wasn’t meant to make life and death decisions, just draw a map and leave.
Making decisions had never been part of his training. He’d been meant to follow orders like a good soldier, not think for himself. Nocturn was the one who would be tasked with ruling over a city of horror and slaves once the age of humanity came to an end.
“Why is Mortimer glaring at you?” Sebastian asked.
Ves cursed his distraction. He’d hoped to catch the look on the man’s face when he saw Ves was still alive, but he’d been too deep inside his own head to notice when Waite walked in. Now he sat on the other side of the room, beside Irene and seemingly bored. “I didn’t see. You say he was glaring?”
“A bit.”
Before Ves could ask anything further, Mr. Quinn entered the room. Silence instantly fell, all attention focused on the head librarian. They seemed to Ves like soldiers waiting for commands.