Phantom of the Library - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,17

time had passed here so I wasn’t frost-bitten in the freezer—yet. “Chaleur…” Heat rose in my hands and started melting the ice, but I couldn’t go too quickly. I didn’t want to burn Byron’s face.

Several long moments passed as the layers of ice melted but finally Byron’s face was uncovered.

“A little more around the mouth and jaw,” Byron said.

“Okay…”

He jammed his fingers into his own dead mouth, which was gross but also very on brand for necromancy, and really, not the worst way this could have gone. He chanted in Cyprium, which I no longer understood but the rhythm of it was familiar now.

And then his ghost was sucked into the mouth of his body and life immediately flooded the frozen form. Color transformed his skin from bluish and lifeless to…my Byron.

And then—to Lord Abiron Adras’ei.

The ice exploded into shards around him and I had to step back as Byron came to life in his full demigod form with horn and mismatched wings, ruining his vintage suit.

After all that searching, all the mystery, all the dreams, the clues…

He’s here.

I was briefly overwhelmed into silence.

“Can I…touch you?” I asked.

He grabbed me instead. “You can touch me…and I can touch you. Angel—you lived up to the nickname.” His arms wrapped around me. “I don’t believe it.”

“We really did it?”

“We did. All this time, I have been unable to tell you outright what you needed to do, and you did it anyway. And thank the gods you came along. I don’t think I could have ever walked Graham through all of that.”

“Definitely not.” I grinned. “Especially without me. I had to tell him everything about magic.” I paused. “Plus…what would you have done with Graham about the sex part? You couldn’t send him back to be in the body of Lady Hulda.”

“I could. But it definitely wouldn’t have gone quite as well.”

I sputtered a laugh.

“He wouldn’t have gotten this far to begin with,” Byron said.

“Nope.”

“Besides…I think it always had to be you, Helena. I truly needed a woman who would be my queen and stand by my side, always. As I will stand by yours, and anyone you choose to love.”

“Byron…” I lifted my chin. “Did you get taller?” He definitely got taller.

“I’m not just a common demon anymore,” he said. “They call us high demons for a reason…”

I trailed fingers down his chest, the buttons of his suit having already been obliterated. “I like it. And I can presume that it only gets more exciting when the pants come off…”

“My human form is still a little more reasonable,” he said. “I don’t want to make my potential bond mates feel inadequate.”

“Okay, well…once in a while.” I suddenly had to put my arms around him again. “I can’t believe that I can really just touch you and you won’t fade away. How did you come back to life so easily?”

“Most of the spell work was already done,” Byron said. “It’s absolutely true that when I helped Fiore, Deveraux and Sam find the pieces of the box, at first they were excited by the scavenger hunt and the prospect of riches. As they realized the magnitude of what would happen, they panicked. And that was when they killed me. They thought I was trying to destroy the magical world. But having been killed in the middle of my mission, obviously I stuck around. I came to them that very night and begged them just to keep my body, the books and maps around. Nothing more than that. Just keep them safe from others, I said. I realized the idea was too radical and I shouldn’t have rushed it on them. Over the years, they kept investigating the history and they saw how corrupt the council was, but it wasn’t until they were older that they truly agreed with me. By then, they didn’t have the strength, or maybe just the courage. Instead, they each made a sacrifice to bring me back. But I needed you to unravel the magic that has bound me over the last thousand years, and to bring me a fragment of my own life.”

“Amazing,” I breathed.

My inner thoughts were a wee bit more panicked. What comes next? Does that mean it’s time to open the box? What will that do? Will the entire magical world jumble together in a big mess and start a war that will be my fault and my family will literally kill me and…

I stopped and breathed. “I have so many more questions for you,” I