Uther is not an utter fool, for all he is currently acting like one. He knows to expect a trick.
But this is not the first time books have been burned in Camelot.
Geoffrey has two stacks waiting. The first, he explains, are spellbooks to be burned. The second are volumes for identifying and fighting magic.
Uther burns the first and locks up the second with grim tolerance.
The stacks of books had seemed enormous. Off their shelves with their telltale gaps, it's impossible to see that Geoffrey's assistant Bedivere had fled with three or that Gaius had pressed one into Balinor's hands. It's impossible to know that two rows are preserved in the secret hidden chamber along with the hastily made copies Geoffrey and his assistants have been compiling since the warning signs began.
The books are left to collect dust, but they are there.
It is not the first time they have burned books in Camelot.
