Page 179 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Then why not be the first?” She stepped forward, took his hands in hers. “If there’s one thing I remember from my six weeks of Introduction to Arcanist Studies, it’s that a wizard’s private library isn’t like the universities’ libraries. Your own book collection isn’t beholden to any arcanists. We can ensure Aganast’s books, along with anything else we discover, will never again become lost to time—or people like Arcanist Tristan, for that matter.”
“Not to mention, we’d be giving back something to the people of Archstone, now that we’ve deprived them of their main tourist attraction,” Alain said. “But I doubt the High Council will be pleased once they catch wind of what we’re planning.”
Mavery shrugged. “Probably not, but we should still try.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you. In fact, I quite like this idea.” As he began to raise their joined hands, he remembered his conversation with Kazamin. He winced. “There’s but one problem: I’ll still be at the University for the foreseeable future. Kazamin wouldn’t accept my resignation.”
“Did you tell him about us?”
“Not only was he understanding, we have his blessing to carry on in private.”
She gaped at him. “You’re joking.”
He shook his head. “I should have suspected he’d say that, considering he’s married to his own assistant—”
“He’s married to hiswhat!? Why didn’t you mention that before?”
Alain shrugged. “He’s a dean, I’m only a professor. There are different standards for—”
“Godsdamned hypocrites,” Mavery muttered, “the lot of them…”
He led her to the sofa, where he relayed everything else Kazamin had told him. As always, Mavery clung to every word, adding an incredulous scoff or interjection—sometimes with a sprinkling of expletives—in just the right places. He concluded with a frustrated groan as he rubbed his temples.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Even if the High Council doesn’t give us Aganast’s tower, I can’t see how I’ll manage teachingandresearchand—”
“Not that. I mean, what are we going to do aboutus? I know Kazamin said we can court in secret, but I can’t say that’s what I want.”
“That’s not what I want, either.”
She frowned. “Then maybe I should—”
“You’renotresigning,” Alain said at once, though he silently chided himself for not doing the most sensible thing. On top of everything else, how could he possibly handle a secret courtship with his assistant?
Unless…she wasn’t hisassistant.
“Going back to the library idea,” he said, “you were wrong about one thing.”
“And what’s what?”
“Should we open a library, I will be beholden toonearcanist.”
Mavery raised a brow; he answered it with a coy smile.
“I’ll need an arcanist to manage all these books and ensure they don’t get pilfered. Ideally, I’ll need someone who canthink like a thief. Someone who is intimately familiar with my collection.” He leaned in closer, his gaze lowered to her lips. “Someone whose company I findmostdesirable.”
She smiled back. “Those are someveryspecific qualifications. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He raised her hand to his mouth, brushed his lips across her knuckles. “Mavery Culwich, would you do me the honor of being my arcanist?”
She leaned forward and kissed him forcefully, as though it had been weeks, not mere hours, since their last. This had become a common occurrence over these past days.
I don’t need your magic… I only need you.
A small part of him still believed he didn’t deserve this woman.
Perhaps someday that small part of him would realize its beliefs were false.
