The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic Book 2) Read online

  "Emmy sent us a back a letter," said Julian, coming into the flat.

  Alex was sprawled moodily out on the couch. "Good news?" he asked, peeking up over the back. "You look handsome." Alex was in his customary house-attire of pyjamas and dressing gown, and looking like something had frustrated him while Julian was gone.

  "Thank you, you look cranky," teased Julian, coming to claim a kiss once he'd exchanged shoes for slippers. "Work not going well?"

  Alex sighed. "They're not telling me all the things I need."

  "Well, I gave you a very good alibi," said Julian, coming around to straddle his hips and kiss him properly. "We were up quite late that night, if you'll remember," he purred, nuzzling at Alex's ear.

  Alex mmmed, relaxing and kissing him again quite a bit more thoroughly. "I do seem to remember something like that," he said, hands going up under Julian's shirt. "But you could always remind me."

  Julian chuckled and let himself be disarrayed, shedding his jacket over the back of the couch and starting on Alex's pyjama shirt buttons. "Was it so unmemorable as all that?"

  "Every moment you let me touch you is memorable, love," said Alex, in that way he had of going all sincere when he didn't know what else to say. It never failed to melt Julian's heart, and he'd long accepted that this was probably the one thing that made him fall in love, more than anything else about Alex.

  "Cheating," said Julian anyway, voice low and rough. He kissed Alex thoroughly, then sat up. "Your penalty is to take me to bed."

  "That," said Alex, sitting up and kissing him, "is not a penalty."

  Julian made a face when Alex's phone rang, and sighed. "You'd better get it, you know how tetchy Murielle gets when we ignore her for sex."

  Alex laughed. "Only because she hasn't let MacLean follow her home yet," he said, grabbing his phone off the table and checking the number. "This is Alex," he said, but he sounded more guarded than usual. There was a pause, and then, "Agent Fischer, what an unpleasant surprise."

  Julian snuggled up and listened, feeling his general dislike of Fischer growing by the second.

  "It is unfortunate that Julian was asleep during the time of death, but so was I," said Alex, "so I'm not sure how that's relevant."

  Not midnight after all, then. Fischer must have cheered when the coroner's report came back.

  "Well, my wards keep a record of who goes in and out of my flat, you're welcome to... Yes, I know you can't use me to consult on my own wards, I was going to suggest..." There was a long pause, and Julian tensed up. "No, absolutely not." Alex's voice was tight with anger, and the tone was final.

  Julian pressed a kiss to his chin, and nuzzled comfortingly, pleased when Alex relaxed a little and began to stroke his hair.

  "Have you considered a career in Internal Affairs? Your mistrust of your fellow agents would fit right in," said Alex, using the full force of his most unpleasant tone. Julian winced, though Fischer deserved every bit of the icy sarcasm he was getting. Alex continued talking, even though Julian could hear Fischer attempting to get a word in edgewise, his voice a faint noise with the phone pressed to Alex's ear. "Of course I'm acquainted with all of the mages on staff at the Agency, you only have two besides Dr. Tamlinson, it's not exactly hard."

  Alex paused, presumably to let Fischer talk, though it only made him look more thunderous. "No. I absolutely refuse to let some stranger poke around in my wards. You can call the Temple and ask for my former Guardians to help, which I was going to suggest previously, or you can get a warrant." Alex hung up, then bonked his forehead against Julian's hair. "God, he's an asshole."

  Julian giggled, then leaned up to kiss him. "Call Murielle and tell her, because if he won't trust the sanctity of the Temple Guardians to reinforce the alibi of their own consultant, then Fischer doesn't belong on the case because of his bias against you."

  "Good idea," said Alex, rewarding him with a kiss. "And after, I promise we'll ignore our phones for sex and then go to dinner somewhere fancy."

  "We do deserve a reward for dealing with Fischer," said Julian, pleased. He claimed another kiss, then cuddled back up. "Go on, call Murielle so she's forewarned."

  Alex did, and the conversation was much shorter and more cheering. "She said she's going to point out to their boss that if I stop consulting over Fischer's behaviour, they're stuck with the new kids that have applied since you made me infamous," said Alex, after he hung up. "Apparently there's no shortage of wannabes, but no one's got anything like my experience."

  "Good," said Julian, taking Alex's phone and putting it on silent, and then doing the same for his own. "Now, I believe I was promised sex?"

  Alex grinned. "I believe you were," he said. He manhandled them around until he could stand with Julian still clinging to him, though it required the assistance of both Julian and Alex's wand-cane. "I knew this thing would come in handy one day," said Alex, though he left it by the couch as he carried Julian into the bedroom.

  Julian held on tight, rewarding him with kisses, and he managed to get both their shirts off before Alex laid him out onto the bed. "Whatever shall I do with you?" Alex teased, mouth moving down Julian's body while his fingers worked at Julian's trousers.

  Julian tangled his hands in Alex's soft curls. "Whatever you want," he said, his voice embarrassingly breathy. "I'm all yours today."

  "I'm all yours every day, my love," said Alex, and then that was all he said for a while once words became unnecessary or lost to moans.

  They ended up sated and snuggled up on top of the covers despite the air-conditioned coolness of the apartment. Julian suspected the thermostat had been given a subtle nudge upward when he'd started staying there in deference to Alex's desire to get his clothes off as often as possible, and Julian wasn't going to complain about either.

  "So, where do you think we can weasel a reservation tonight, now that we've been off the society pages for so long?" said Alex, dropping a kiss on Julian's sweaty hair.

  Julian giggled. "We could go to the Atrium," he said. "I like it there at night, and they've always got room."

  "Your wish is my command," said Alex, kissing his nose. "I like it there, too, and they've got that shrimp thing that Alys says is too hard to make here in my plebeian kitchen."

  "Ooh, I like the shrimp thing," said Julian. "You call for reservations, I'll warm up the shower?"

  Alex pretended to think about it for a moment, then tickled Julian until he giggled and they rolled over for more kisses. When they stopped, breathless and grinning, he said, "I accept your proposed division of labour," and gave Julian's bottom a playful swat.

  "Hey!" said Julian, giving one right back as Alex and his creamy mounds went hunting for his pyjama bottoms so as to not flash the brownies. "Geoff is right, you do have a lovely bottom, I'll have to tell him how spankable it is," he teased, giving the other cheek a little swat before he scampered off to the shower.

  Alex joined him quickly enough, and they took their time getting clean, still new enough in their relationship to revel in these little moments of intimacy. Privately, Julian hoped they'd never grow tired of it, but he wasn't naive enough to think it would always be quite this easy.

  "What's that little frown for?" asked Alex, kissing the thought away with the wrinkle between Julian's brows.

  "Just hoping you always like this enough to waste hot water," said Julian. "I really like the parts where we just enjoy each other."

  "Me, too," said Alex. That seemed to be all there was to say, so they spent a few more minutes indulgently kissing, then Alex rinsed the conditioner out of his curls and they got out and got ready for dinner.

  There weren't even any messages waiting when they checked their phones.

  CHAPTER 5

  They couldn't say the same the next morning. They set no alarms and woke late, since Alex was officially off the case until his name was cleared, and Julian was still on his unexpected vacation. Julian nuzzled at Alex's hip where he was sitting up, frowning at his phone.

 
"Stupid people being stupid?" asked Julian.

  Alex stroked his hair absently. "Pretty much, yeah, but we can get dressed and have breakfast before dealing with any of it," he declared, locking his phone and setting it aside. He slid back down under the covers for kisses, then rubbed noses with Julian and asked, "Alys' cooking or breakfast out?"

  "Eat in," said Julian. "I want to eat in my pyjamas and drink too much tea and check on all the houseplants, and then we can get dressed and face the world."

  "Lazy morning in it is," said Alex, looking very pleased.

  "I wonder if Alys stole our pyjamas again?" said Julian, poking his head up to look around for them. Rather than crumpled on the floor they'd been neatly folded on a chair, but at least she hadn't taken them away entirely. "Nope, must not be laundry day."

  "I'll get them, you wallow." Alex kissed him one last time then got up, putting his own pyjamas on and then bringing Julian's over to the bed. He vanished into the bathroom while Julian got dressed and found his slippers, though it was too warm to need a dressing gown. His own phone had a message light as well, and he checked that it wasn't from Emmy before deciding to ignore it until later. He took over the bathroom after Alex, and they emerged into the sunlit living room together.

  "Tea's almost ready," said Alys from the kitchen, "What would you boys like for breakfast?"

  Julian smiled and shuffled into the kitchen, pausing to say hello to their butterfly fairy and its thriving fairy flower plant. "Something substantial, please," said Julian.

  "A good fry-up, then, you like the fried bread and things, and I've some fruit to make into compote for you as well. Peaches and berries over flapjacks will give you good energy," said Alys, humming to herself as ingredients began to float around the room and settle on the counter near her in neat groupings. Julian was always impressed that she never knocked anything over or smacked anyone with the food, even though she rarely bothered to watch what she was doing.

  "That sounds perfect," said Alex, going over to check the window-wards for visitors. They'd been thinking of putting in some sort of pass-through that the butterfly fairy could activate so she could visit the window box safely, but he'd not yet figured out a way to make it secure enough for everyone's peace of mind. "Been a couple of fairies around, your window box is popular," said Alex.

  "There aren't a lot of healthy fairy flowers in the city," said Julian. He gave the one inside a bit of water and a trickle of sleepy morning energy, feeling its gratitude like the gentle warmth of the sun on his skin. "It's about time for me to divide all of these up, do you think we could put another window box in without giving anyone a heart attack?"

  Alex laughed; the sudden appearance of flowers seemingly suspended in midair outside Alex's 7th-story window had given their landlord a bit of a fright. "Perhaps we'll warn him this time," he teased. "If not, maybe we'll take some to the cottage once the renovations are done."

  "Well, we'll do that anyway," said Julian, "but that'll be months from now. I need to use the extra clover for Master Stephen, and I wanted to give some to Mary Margaret, so really it's just the fairy flowers and ward thistles anyway." He sent a bit of magic into these flowers, too, feeling them strong and happy, bolstered against the vagaries of life in the city by Julian's regular infusions of magic, not to mention water and nutrients as needed. Alex had even set up a deflection spell to keep them from being blown about too much.

  "I can use the ward-thistles, maybe," said Alex, looking thoughtful. "Let's give the fairy flowers to our friends at the agency, they'll be okay on their desks, won't they?"

  "Oh, that's brilliant, I can get desk-pots from Mary Margaret when I go back to work," said Julian. "We might want to wait until after Fischer untwists his knickers, though."

  Alex laughed, going to sit at the table and sip at the cup of tea that had appeared there while they were talking. "I don't think that will ever happen."

  "Perhaps not," said Julian, sending the plants one last promise that he'd give them all more room to grow very soon. "But this case will be over before long, I hope."

  "We all hope," said Alex, cradling his teacup like it held the water of life.

  Julian sat and sipped his own tea, enjoying the small rush of sugar and caffeine. "How are things in your work room, have you killed your ingredients yet?" asked Julian teasingly.

  Alex hmphed, but refused to dignify that with a response, which probably meant something was starting to wilt and he hadn't wanted to admit it.

  "I'm sorry I've been neglecting your plants," said Julian sweetly, which seemed to mollify him.

  "I didn't want to bother you," said Alex. "I'm going to need some more things pretty soon, too, for that medicinal potions kit I was working on for Geoff. Not that the department will buy it from me until this is all over, but these are all shelf-stable, so I thought I might as well work on them, but I don't have enough live plants."

  They talked about potions and plants and magic while they ate, the brownies putting in their two cents, which both Julian and Alex always found fascinating. Magical creatures viewed the world differently enough that their insights were both surprising to the humans and obvious once they thought about it. They sipped tea and discussed the various plants used for insight while Alys did the dishes, Alex lamenting that most of them were poisonous unless they were in a potion.

  "You've got enough magical insight as it is," teased Nat, who was up on the counter fixing a squeaky cupboard door. Slowly their apartment was not only being repaired, but acquiring added touches of beauty like the new decorative finials on the hinges he was installing, and the matching knobs for the cabinet doors.

  "Hmph," said Alex, but he looked pleased as punch.

  They finished their tea and gave the cups over to Alys' tender care, then shared a nice long shower with the attendant perks. By the time they were properly dressed and Alex's plants had been attended to, Julian felt quite cheered and ready to face another day of whatever the investigation had for them. Alex even put on proper clothes instead of pyjamas, in anticipation of their messages requiring them to go out.

  "Me first, or you?" asked Julian, settling on the couch with both of their phones.

  "Let's do yours, just for variety," said Alex cheerfully.

  Julian shrugged and hit the message playback, putting it on speaker so Alex could hear, too. Lapointe's tinny voice informed Julian that he'd be needed at the agency with Alex after all, if he could please come along.

  Alex chuckled. "That's what I get for chickening out on mine," he said.

  Julian kissed him. "At least we'll be together in whatever we're in?" he said, then fiddled with Alex's phone until the first message was playing.

  Agent Fischer didn't sound any better on speaker as he said, "Mr. Benedict, I'll need you to come in to discuss your business with the nursery on August ninth. You needn't bring your boyfriend, I'm satisfied with his witness statement at this time."

  "He didn't even say please," said Julian, sticking his tongue out at the phone. "Jerk."

  Alex laughed. "He is a jerk, let's see if Lapointe's message has more information."

  Her voice was tired and apologetic. "I'm sorry about Fischer, though we really do need you to come back in. They've finally identified the victim as Angel Billings, a young apprentice with the Grower's Guild who's been missing since last week. I think my boss is going to let you get back to work, but I'm not positive. He wouldn't let me call the Temple, though, so your alibi is still considered unverified. Anyway, call me before you come in, I need better coffee than this."

  Julian sighed. "I'm almost sorry I called her, it sounds like this is all being a huge pain for her."

  "You did the right thing, and she'd agree," said Alex, kissing Julian's hair. "One more message."

  The third message was from MacLean, asking them to bring dessert on Saturday and confirming the time, which made them both laugh with relief. "At least we've got something to look forward to," said Julian cheerfully. "I like Thomas."

&
nbsp; "So do I, he's very easy on the eyes," teased Alex. "But also just too nice to hate." He paused, then said in unison with Julian, "Like a puppy."

  "Jerk," said Julian, smacking his chest gently. "But not as big of a jerk as Agent Jerkface."

  "You sound like a five-year-old," said Alex fondly. He never seemed to mind when Julian's sheltered upbringing showed itself, which endeared him greatly to Julian and their friends. He snugged Julian close, then called Murielle back, confirming they'd both be on their way soon and happy to meet her at the coffee shop for pre-Fischer plotting.

  It wasn't until they were in the cab that Alex expressed the thought that had been tugging unpleasantly at Julian's mind since he'd heard Lapointe's message. "I'm worried that the victim was connected to you and Margaret by the Guild," said Alex quietly, cuddling Julian close.

  "Me, too," Julian confided. "I don't want them to keep suspecting you."

  "At least Mary Margaret's alibi isn't under question," said Julian, annoyed. "It's stupid that they don't trust me about you."

  "It's stupid that they don't trust us both, it's not as if they don't know me," said Alex, "but they're just doing their due diligence. Well, Murielle is, Fischer's just a jerkface."

  Julian giggled. "A jerkface with the face of a jerk," he agreed, deliberately juvenile this time.

  Alex rewarded him with a smile. "Just so," he said, nuzzling. "Have you thought about what sweets to take to Thomas'?"

  They talked about that for the rest of the ride, and went straight to their favourite booth in the coffee shop when they arrived. Murielle was already there with three cups of coffee and the usual treats for everyone. "I couldn't stay another minute," she said as they got settled in with her and started with fixing their drinks. "Fischer and Armistead seem to have formed a two-person Anti-Alex League."

  "A match made in heaven," said Julian, screwing up his face into an approximation of Fischer's disapproving scowl. "They both make this face a lot, can you imagine the sex?"