The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (15 page)

Another deep breath and Alex threw on his most
annoyingly charming grin. “Evening, Godfrey. I’ve been called up to bat,
apparently,” he said.

“A poor substitute,” said Godfrey,
but he ushered Alex inside anyway. This time he was led to a small sitting room
just down the hall and told to wait.

A quick check of the clock told him he was
actually slightly early, so he took off his coat, remembering too late that he
rarely wore it not just because of the style but because there was something
off about the fit that he kept meaning to get fixed. It was too warm in the
room, anyway, a cheerful fire in the grate and what proved to be spiced cider
steaming on the sideboard, as though it was deep winter instead of merely a
nippy autumn evening.

Perhaps Julian got cold easily, thought Alex,
taking off his jacket as well and letting the heat of the fire soak into his
own skinny frame.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in so
little clothing,” teased a familiar voice behind him, and Alex whirled to
see Julian St. Albans in the doorway looking positively edible. He, too, had
gone for a more modern cut of clothing, slim trousers and a close-fitting
sweater in a pettable-looking golden brown that brought out the highlights in
his hair.

Alex hoped his blush wasn’t too obvious and
tried to be casual as he grabbed his jacket. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to
think I was hiding from you,” he teased, doing a little twirl before
slipping the jacket back on.

Julian laughed. “Rumour was correct in
this case, you do have a very nice,” he smirked, “seat.”

“And not a horse in sight,” said
Alex, choosing to hold the ill-fitting overcoat on one arm instead of
embarrassing himself with it. Someone raised to good tailoring like Julian
would notice the flaws, and Alex was better off cold than looking shabby in
this case. “You’re showing excellent form yourself tonight,” he
added, offering Julian his arm.

“Oh, I should get my coat,” said
Julian, moving past Alex and through the room to the coat closet Alex hadn’t
even noticed, the door set to blend into the moulding. A dark brown coat
matched the trousers perfectly, and a cheerful golden scarf went with it.
“I hate to be cold,” he said, making a face.

“So I see,” said Alex with a chuckle.
Well, at least he’d deduced one thing correctly tonight. “I’ll endeavour
to keep your warm tonight, then.”

“So, what did you manage to conjure for
us, with so little warning?” asked Julian, leaning into him.

“Your gift, for one thing,” said
Alex, handing him the gaily wrapped package.

“Ooh, I do love this part,” said
Julian, sitting with the box in his lap and grinning like a little boy. His
fingers were precise as he untied the ribbon and pulled off the top of the box,
however, very adult in his desire not to spoil anything. “Oh, Alex,
they’re lovely,” he said, when he saw the trio of little panels.

“This one made me think of you,” said
Alex, pointing to the painting of edible mushrooms clustered against an old
tree, “and then I spotted the apples, so I had to find a third.”

“This one’s perfect,” teased Julian,
picking up the painting of the cat and butterfly. “You looked just like
this the day I met you, cranky but trying not to make me fly off.”

“And you’re the one that turned my
butterfly blue,” said Alex, reminding him of the silly trick he’d done at
the Courtship banquet.

“So I did,” said Julian, tucking the
painting back away and putting the box and bow to one side. “Don’t worry,
it’s safe here.”

“I wasn’t,” said Alex, offering
Julian his arm once again. “I know it’s safe here in your home.”

Julian smiled, charmed. “Of course,”
was all he said, as he took Alex’s arm.

Alex let out a quiet breath and led him to the
waiting car, glad that at least one thing tonight had gone correctly.

“Why don’t you put your
coat on?” asked Julian curiously.

One thing.

“I’d forgotten it’s in need of
tailoring,” said Alex, unable to think of a suitably polite lie.
“It’s warm enough in the car, anyway, and the driver will bring us right
to the front of the restaurant.”

“True,” said
Julian, getting inside.

Alex missed the chance to admire his seat, and
then mentally smacked himself. Winsome though Julian might be, he wasn’t for
Alex to be admiring, other than as a means to an end. He joined Julian in the
car, sitting back with a grin. “Since I’m being disgustingly honest,”
said Alex, hoping this wouldn’t blow up in his face, “I feel I should tell
you that I didn’t really arrange tonight, my brother did.”

“Henry or Victor?”
asked Julian, eyes dancing with mischief.

“Henry, he’s the one with the
connections,” said Alex, cocking his head as if he could somehow hear what
Julian was thinking.

Julian chuckled and wiped his brow in mock
relief. “Oh, good, Victor’s got a reputation for being terribly
boring.”

Alex laughed. “And
Henry quite the opposite, I bet.”

“Ooh, does this mean I’m going on one of
the famous Benedict knicker-melting dates?” asked Julian.

“Why?” asked Alex, trying to school
his face to innocent inquiry. “Do you wear knickers?”

Julian laughed and Alex with him, and Alex felt
something inside himself unclench just a little more. Julian might not be
bewitched any longer, but he wasn’t totally immune to Alex’s brand of charm,
either. “You won’t be finding that out tonight, it wouldn’t be
proper.”

“Speaking of proper, whose spot am I
stealing and why?” asked Alex curiously.

Julian chuckled. “Caught on to that, did
you? Willoughby had to cancel at the last minute, his sister’s just flown in
from the continent with some ridiculous princeling on her arm.”

“Oh, dear,” said Alex, though he
found it very interesting that any of the candidates would cancel right after
the spellcaster was murdered. “Well, I’m glad I could fill your otherwise
empty evening,” he said, kissing the back of Julian’s hand.

Julian looked pleased about that, as well.
“Where are we going, do you know?”

“Nihon, for dinner,” said Alex,
pleased when Julian looked impressed by that.

“Ooh, your Henry is good if he got you in
there with no notice,” said Julian. “I’ve never been, it’s not
Cecil’s sort of place.”

“I have no idea if it’s mine or not,”
said Alex, “though I am aware that it’s very trendy at the moment, which
means I’ll probably stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Your clothes are fine, anyway,” said
Julian, quite boldly slipping a finger into Alex’s open collar and making
Alex’s eyes go wide and his breathing shallow.

Alex had never been one for
casual touching.

“I, ah, had my family’s fashion advice,
and the clothiers there to overrule it when they tried to choose unsuitable
colours,” said Alex, catching his hand and kissing the fingertips. His
skin felt terribly sensitive, and he was fairly certain that Julian hadn’t
intended to get quite the reaction that his touch had wrought in Alex’s body.

It had been far too long
since Alex’s last liaison.

Julian blushed fetchingly, as if he could read
the inappropriate reactions in Alex’s face and deduce their meaning the way
Alex read magical cues. “Well, you look quite fine,” he said,
touching the lapel pin, which responded by glowing just a little brighter.

“Not as fine as you,” said Alex,
giving in to the urge to stroke just the backs of his fingers over Julian’s
cheek. “There’s a reason half the aristocracy is fighting for your hand,
beyond boring ambition.”

Julian laughed, and it was delighted and sexy
at once. “You find ambition boring?”

“Dreadfully,” said Alex, forcing his
hand to drop away, so he wasn’t touching Julian anywhere. He berated himself
mentally for missing the contact.

Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why are you here?” he asked.

Alex chuckled. “I’m fairly sure it’s not
on to ask that of your suitors,” he said, then looked away and up at the
ceiling, trying to find a truth that would work here. “I suppose the
simplest way to say it is that I’m here for you.”

It was true, because it was Julian who wanted,
needed more than anyone for Mandeville’s murderer to be caught. To be stopped
before more people died, before he could recover from the failure of the spell
he’d put so much time and effort into cultivating and try something new.
Something worse.

Julian smiled. “I’m not sure that’s
entirely true,” he said, touching Alex’s cheek with his fingertips so Alex
would look back down at him. “But I’ll take it.”

The kiss that followed was as sweet as it was
unexpected, and Alex couldn’t have stopped from kissing back any more than he
could have lied about why he was there, not really.

Julian’s lips were soft and warm, narrower than
Alex’s lush, wide mouth, both stronger and more pliant than Alex was used to.
Despite having initiated things, Julian quickly gave up control, letting Alex
cup his cheek, change the angle, slip his tongue out to taste the softness of Julian’s
mouth. Julian let out a soft sigh when the kiss ended, eyelids fluttering open
as he said, “Perhaps you’re here for me after all,” he said with a
shy smile.

“Aren’t you enough?” said Alex, and
thankfully that seemed to be just the right thing. If it hadn’t been, Alex
supposed, he could always go for more kissing.

The car slowed to a stop before Alex could
follow that line of thought any further, and then they were outside a very
trendy restaurant indeed.

Alex was right, he stood out, but he wasn’t
sure it was all that bad, considering the crowd vying for Julian’s hand and
heart.

CHAPTER
14

In Which We Have Dinner, Drinks and Dancing

Alex got out first mainly because he was
closest to the door, but it also gave him the chance to offer Julian a hand, to
tuck his hand in Alex’s arm as they walked toward the tall glass doors. Alex
stopped, sighed, and said, “Just a moment,” turning back and flagging
down the car so he could get a few essentials — like the card-and-bribe-money
bundles — out of his overcoat.

At least he’d remembered
before they got inside.

“Sorry about that,” said Julian,
brandishing his wallet and then slipping it in the inner pocket of his suit
jacket instead. “I forgot I’d put it all in the coat.”

“Am I so very
distracting?” asked Julian coyly.

Alex gave the only response he could.
“Yes,” he said, tucking Julian’s hand in his arm and palming one of
Henry’s cards as the doors swung open untouched.

“Mr. Benedict, Master St. Albans, so good
to see you,” said the maître d’, shaking Alex’s hand and smoothly
accepting the bribe, then taking Julian’s coat and handing it off to the
waiting coat check girl. “Your table is ready.”

“Thank you,” said Alex, getting an
odd look from the elegantly-dressed man before he led them off to their seats,
a perfectly good table, not the best but not shoved near the kitchen doors,
either.

Once they were seated, Julian grinned. “Maîtres
d’ are a bit like fairies,” he said, “they don’t really like to be
thanked except with gifts.”

Alex laughed. “I’ll remember that,”
he said, opening his menu. Nothing had prices, and a glance told him that was
true of Julian’s as well, which was an interesting choice. It reinforced the
feeling that one had to be part of a special class to even get a table here,
one that Alex disliked intensely, despite being one of those people on the
inside.

“What do you think is good?” asked
Julian, snapping him out of his reverie.

Alex forced himself to focus on the menu, which
seemed to consist mostly of small plates that one could try in sequence.
“I expect it’s all ridiculously delicious,” said Alex with a chuckle.

“I like that,”
said Julian. “Ridiculously delicious.”

In the end, they ordered an altogether random
assortment of things and let the waiter pick the wine, and Alex didn’t mind one
bit given the delighted expression on Julian’s face. “I don’t know that I’ve
ever had someone so willing to just try things out,” he said.

Alex shrugged. “Why not? It’s not as
though any of it will be bad, and if it is, we’ll pay for it anyway and then go
get takeaway curry or something.”

That got him another delighted laugh, though he
had no idea why. Apparently, Alex being Alex was as entertaining for Julian as
it was to most waitresses and the occasional waiter, though not their current
one.

“Your first course,” said the waiter
dryly, bringing three of the small dishes they’d ordered, along with two empty
plates for sharing. He seemed to feel they’d made poor choices, which baffled
Alex, who didn’t think anything in a restaurant of this quality should
constitute a poor choice. Another server poured wine for them, leaving the bottle
on the far side of the table.

“Oh, it’s all
squid!” said Julian delightedly, taking a sip of the wine

Alex took a sip from his own glass, which upon
tasting proved to be a dry, pale white. “I guess that makes sense, they
grouped them by ingredients.” He took the slender lacquered chopsticks and
served them each strips of grilled squid, then switched to the spoon for a
scoop of squid ink rice apiece. The third dish held four curling tempura squid
tentacles, arranged beautifully around a small dish of dipping sauce, so he
just pulled that one close enough they could both get to it.

“Have you ever Courted a consort
before?” asked Julian curiously, when Alex picked up his fork.

Alex cocked his head. “No, why?” he
asked, scooping up a little of the intriguing black rice. The warm, fluffy rice
was just slightly fishy with a strange inky taste to go with the colour, the
whole dish subtly flavoured in a way that belied its dramatic appearance.

Julian smiled. “Cecil used to do that for
me, serving up bread or appetisers or whatever when we went out,” he said,
wistful and fond. “It’s one of the things I liked about being his
consort-to-be, no one thought it strange.”

Alex smiled and shrugged. “It just seemed
the right thing to do,” he said with a chuckle. “I suppose it’s a
good thing you weren’t offended, I didn’t really think about it.”

Julian seemed if anything more charmed that it
hadn’t been some gambit, so Alex chalked it up to a win. “The rice is
delicious, if a bit odd,” said Alex, changing the subject to one he felt
comfortable discussing.

Julian gave it a taste, making a considering
face. “I’m not sure I like the inky flavour,” he said, “but it’s
definitely interesting.”

“What was it Pembroke said, that it gets
boring if lovers like all the same things?” said Alex, getting another
bite of the rice. “Not that we’re lovers,” he added, before popping
it in his mouth with exaggerated relish.

“Not yet, anyway,” said Julian,
picking up his own chopsticks and dipping a tentacle in the tempura sauce. It
was a bite-sized curl and Julian ate it that way, popping it all into his mouth
and chewing with a thoughtful look. “Mmm, better than the rice,” he
declared.

Alex was delighted. “Good,” he said
with a wink, and then too up his own chopsticks to have a slice of grilled
squid. The flesh was unexpectedly tender, grilled to the perfect doneness with
just a hint of charring along the grill marks, and topped with a sweet, smoky
sauce that took it from good to sublime. “Oh, this is even better.”

“We’ll see,” said Julian, grinning as
he picked up his own slice. His expression went positively blissful, and Alex
had to swallow hard at how it transformed him, the lingering sadness vanishing
for just a moment while he enjoyed the purely sensual pleasure of eating a
delicious new dish. “Mmm, okay, you win. That was better.”

“Told you,” said Alex, and then he
made a point to try the tempura. It was good, just as perfectly cooked and the
sauce a nice complement but somehow it didn’t quite rise to the level of its
grilled counterpart.

They spent a few more minutes just eating,
Julian stealing a bite of squid off Alex’s plate when he finished his own
first, and Alex retaliating by eating the rest of Julian’s rice. It felt almost
comfortable, though he knew it was an illusion, intimacy forced upon them by
the situation. “Is it polite to ask how the rest of your Courtship is
going?” said Alex, when the squid was gone and all that was left was some
rice in the bottom of the bowl.

“Probably not,” said Julian,
“but they all find a way to ask in their letters, so you’re not alone in
your rudeness.”

Alex chuckled. “That’s refreshing,”
he said, shifting so the busboy could relieve them of the dirty plates and
silverware, another coming along in his wake to give them fresh place settings.
“Usually I stand out in my rudeness.”

Julian laughed. “I expect you stand out
regardless, you’re dramatic enough even before you open your mouth.”

“And by ‘dramatic’ I assume you mean
‘ridiculously tall’?” said Alex, taking another sip of his wine.

“Something like that,”
said Julian.

Julian was saved from actually answering Alex’s
question when the waiter brought them two steaming bowls of soup, one a rich
red miso and the other clear broth with thinly-sliced mushrooms floating in it.

Alex waited until the waiter
left before asking, “Did we order this?”

“I can’t
remember,” Julian said with a grin. “Which do you like more?”

“I’m absolutely positive that this time
I’m supposed to defer to you,” he said, gesturing. “We can always try
them both and trade off midway or something.”

“Sound good to
me!” said Julian taking the mushroom bowl.

Alex’s miso soup proved to be hiding tiny dried
bonito fish and bits of seaweed in its depths, and was just as richly delicious
as it looked. “Mine’s good, how’s yours?” he asked, watching as
Julian plucked a mushroom slice out and nibbled on it.

“Tasty,” said
Julian. “I am very fond of mushrooms.”

“Then I’m glad you’ve got that one,”
said Alex, glancing around to make sure he wouldn’t be the only one before
picking up his bowl to sip at the broth.

Julian smiled and mirrored him, and once again
the silence was comfortable as they both enjoyed their food. Alex let himself
zone out just a little, listening to the soothing sound of Julian’s magic now
that the taint had mostly been filtered out, the gentle hum of the restaurant’s
many enchantments and the little pings and chimes of the various patrons’ magic
items, none of which put out the sort of malicious noise he’d spent the
previous night dealing with.

“What are you thinking about?” asked
Julian, setting down his bowl so he could go back to eating the mushrooms one
by one. “You’ve gone all distant.”

Alex blinked and flushed slightly. “Sorry,
I was just listening to the magic around us, it’s actually a very soothing
place, very little discord.”

“Do I still sound, erm,
nice?” asked Julian shyly.

Alex smiled and touched his hand, letting
himself listen again and just to Julian this time. He sighed softly and nodded.
“You sound better than nice, like you’re healing, it gives you more depth
where before the surface was all full of grief and it masked everything
else.”

Julian looked down, blushing in a very fetching
manner, though his expression was a bit sad. “It feels strange to let go
of my grief so soon, but I know Cecil wouldn’t want me to let it blind me to my
future, either.”

“Cecil loved you very much, it’s written
all over the walls of his rooms in every bit of energy the two of you
shared,” said Alex quite seriously. “He’d want you to make the best
of things, whatever that turns out to be.”

Alex was suddenly aware of the people around
them, and it seemed far too intimate a conversation to be having in such a
public place.

Julian picked up on his discomfort and smiled
wistfully. “Well, at least you let me hog all the mushrooms.”

Alex laughed. “This time, anyway,” he
said, and he didn’t even steal one, though he was tempted. He finished off his
own soup instead, then sat back and sipped the wine, finding he was warming to
the vintage and the way it complemented the seafood.

Julian had just barely set down his chopsticks
when their table was once again cleared and re-set, and this time there were
only two dishes. The first was a quadruplet of small crabs which had been
cooked whole, and looked almost alive enough to crawl off of their decorative garnish.
The second was a simple-looking sushi roll with crab and avocado, and of course
the proper accompaniments. “Your third course,” said the waiter.
“I trust all is well?”

“Very good, thank you,” said Alex,
taking the role of authority again if only to shield Julian from the man’s
ridiculous disdain — he was almost as bad as Godfrey.

That amusement got Alex through eating one of
the little crabs, which he popped into his mouth whole and crunched up before
he could be completely creeped out. It turned out to be exquisitely tasty, rich
and deceptively simple. It tasted faintly of the lemon slice it had been
sitting on, the oil it had been fried in and a bit of salt and pepper, and the
overall effect was a bit like popcorn only with the sweetness of crab instead
of corn underneath it all.

“Worth it?” asked
Julian dubiously.

Alex made sure he’d swallowed all the little
sharp bits of shell and nodded. “Worth it,” Alex assured Julian,
watching as he, too, experienced the surprising delicacy.

Julian closed his eyes and popped one of the
crabs into his mouth, crunching it up with a dubious expression that turned to
surprised pleasure as the flavours hit his tongue. “Mmm,” he said,
eyes opening and then closing again as he chewed and swallowed. “Totally
worth it.”

“Let’s see how the sushi is,” said
Alex, pouring a small dish of soy sauce for them. “Do you like it
hot?” he asked, chopsticks poised over the wasabi.

Julian grinned. “I should say yes, but
actually I don’t really like much wasabi.”

“Mild on the palate, spicy in the
bedroom,” teased Alex, stirring a small bit of wasabi into the soy sauce,
then taking one of the six pieces of sushi roll for himself and dipping it in.
“I can cope with that.”

“I do like a good hot curry, though,”
said Julian, taking a piece for himself.

The sushi roll was good, too, nothing overly
special but quite well-made, the rice slightly tangy with vinegar, the crab
sweet and genuine, the avocado fresh and delicious. By unspoken agreement they
ate the rest of the roll before each enjoying a second little crab, reminiscing
about the times they’d had sushi before.

They kept chatting, Alex telling him a story
about Lapointe’s first experience with sashimi while their plates were changed,
and segueing into Julian’s tale of an amusingly disastrous date with Cecil that
started at a very dubious sushi bar.