The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (25 page)

“None for you?”
asked Alex.

“We want our hands free, just in
case,” said James, looking quite serious, a reminder to Alex that there
were two more intact devices in the lab and they’d not yet discovered how they
were being activated.

“Impressive dedication,” was all Alex
said, but he knew they were all thinking dark thoughts as they headed down to
the brightly-lit evidence labs.

Armistead was busy overseeing the more junior
techs as they took samples from his lab and passed them carefully over to one
of the other labs for analysis. The whole section of corridor was taped off,
drying blood liberally splashed about with an alarmingly big puddle smeared
about in the middle of it all.

“What are you doing here?” said
Armistead, not even looking up from where he was picking up something off the
floor with plastic tweezers.

“Geoff’s going to be fine, thanks for
asking,” said Smedley, his voice full of false charm. “You did say
you needed to be sure none of the bits of the thing went skittering down the
hall.”

Armistead huffed, deposited the evidence into a
little baggie and sealed it up. “Don’t come inside the tape yet, we’re not
done.”

“I wouldn’t dream of
it,” said Alex.

The two Guardians took up positions at either
end of the bit of hallway Alex was in, and nodded that it was safe enough for
him to do his thing. Alex donned his gloves — cotton, this time, since they
knew what they were looking for wasn’t touch-contagious unless he cut himself
— and got out his tools. The watch fob went into the back of the glove on his
right so as not to interfere with his cane, and he struck the tuning fork
against the wall to produce a loud, clear note to attune his own magic to.

The fact that it would
irritate Armistead was only a bonus, really.

Alex let the note draw his hearing toward the
magical melodies all around him, filtering out the conversation and bustle of
people, and homing in on the magic. He identified the big, low throb of the
building-wards, which were old and regularly maintained and very, very good at
keeping things out. He followed the threads of the various building-related
enchantments, for clear light and strong supports, efficient elevators and
clean floors. He followed the latter charm all around the hallway until he found
what happened to the detritus that got cleaned, and pointed out the little pile
of trash and dirt, assuming someone would notice his gesture and take care of
it.

Then he tuned that out, too, and started on
smaller magics, personal charms and magic items, then going even smaller and
following all the little broken threads and bits of things that weren’t part of
anything, any longer.

In the end, he found several interesting
things, but other than the cache of spell-sweepings, none of them were parts of
the thing that had attacked Geoff.

“What did it look like, anyway?”
asked Alex, feeling his ears pop as he silenced the now-faint thrum of his
tuning fork.

“Ugh, it was horrible,” said one of
the techs, making a face. “Like a giant metal mosquito.” He gave a shudder.

“More insects,” said Alex
thoughtfully. “Have you figured out which of the things we gathered up are
of the same ilk?” he asked Armistead, trying not to sound too challenging
about it. After all, the man had had weeks now while Alex was unconscious and
otherwise occupied.

“No,” said Armistead, annoyed.
“There’s only a few people authorised to open those boxes, so it’s been
very slow going.”

“How can I get to the other side of the
hall?” asked Alex, rather than pointing out that, if he was authorised, he
could probably figure it out for them in about ten minutes.

“Go through that lab,” said the
friendly tech apologetically. “It’s a bit of a maze, but you can come out
the other side without having to step in any of the taped-off areas.”

Alex smiled. “Thank you,” he said,
gesturing for his Guardians to go with him.

“Why do you rate bodyguards, anyway?”
said Armistead, standing to get in Alex’s way.

“Ask them,” said
Alex with a shrug. “It wasn’t my decision.”

“Mr. Benedict saved the life of a priest
of the Temple of Purification, nearly at the cost of his own,” said James
with great dignity. “He is to be protected until the perpetrator is no
longer able to harm him.”

Alex thought that phrasing was very interesting
indeed, but he refrained from commenting on it, instead using James’
intervention as an excuse to slip into the lab where Jacques was waiting.
“Thanks,” he said, when James followed shortly after, leaving
Armistead spluttering at the idea of Alex as a hero.

They made their way through the lab, the propped-open
connecting door to the next lab, and back out on the other side, where
Armistead contented himself with glaring rather than attempting to restart the
conversation. Alex repeated his trick on the other side of the hall, finding
the detritus from the cleaning spell and then poking around for stray bits of
this and that. He could hear a bit of the broken dissonance he associated with
the insect-constructs, and he chased it down with a single-minded intensity
until he ended up running straight into one of the other agents.

“Were you up here earlier?” demanded
Alex, his concentration shattered.

“Aren’t you going to apologise?”
countered the agent, irritation clouding his features.

“Were you wearing those trousers with the
turned-up cuffs? It might be in there, if it bounced, or on the bottom of one
of your shoes, or you could just be in my way,” said Alex, ignoring the
man’s increasing irritation.

“What might be?”
he asked, gritting his teeth.

“Evidence,” said Alex, trying to wave
over a crime scene tech. “I could sense the magic, but you’re in the way
so either it’s behind you or on your person.”

“I’m in the way?” said the agent.
“You’re the one keeping me out from delivering my evidence,” he said,
holding up the bag in his hand.

Alex froze, spotting the telltale curl of runes
along what looked like a pincer of some kind. “That’s not from this crime
scene?” he asked carefully.

“No, it’s from my crime
scene,” said the agent. “Now, move!”

“Smedley!” yelled Alex, deliberately
staying in the man’s way. “There’s been another one!”

“Another one what? Get out of my way
before I move you,” said the man, reaching out to do just that.

James and Jacques appeared on either side of
Alex, looking every inch the Guardians they were. “You will wait for Agent
Smedley,” said James evenly. “It’s important.”

Alex breathed a little sigh of relief as he
heard Smedley stomping through the maze of lab tables and swearing at idiots
who couldn’t manage a straight line. “He’ll explain,” said Alex.

“He’d better,” said the other agent,
very annoyed indeed. He stepped to one side as Smedley came up to them and
asked, “Who is this and why is he trying to interfere with my
evidence?”

“Agent Fischer, this is our magical
consultant, Alex Benedict,” said Smedley with a sigh. “What’ve you got
there that’s piqued his interest?”

“Evidence from my crime scene,” said
Fischer, still clearly annoyed. “There’s a bunch of these little bits of
metal all over, we’re going to see if any of them match the wounds on the
victim.”

“They’re from one of the constructs, I
recognise the magic,” said Alex. “Look at the design, it’s the same
sort of runes.”

Smedley gestured for permission, then lifted up
the corner of the bag and nodded. “I expect your crime scene and our crime
scene are related, along with several others.”

Fischer sighed.
“Figures, are you going to take it away from me?”

Smedley shook his head. “No, a fresh
perspective will be good for us,” he said, “but we’ll share
information, I hope?”

Fischer glared at Alex, but
nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“Who’s the victim? Did he die?” asked
Alex, impatient with all this interdepartmental niceness.

Smedley rolled his eyes, but Fischer answered
anyway. “John Pembroke, another high-placed bigwig.”

“And the number one
contender for Julian St. Albans,” said Alex.

The Guardians were too professional to look
worried, but Alex felt them looming just a little more, anyway.

CHAPTER
20

In Which We Entertain a Startling Array of Visitors

By the time they finished up looking at
Fischer’s evidence in the Pembroke murder, Alex was too wiped out to even
consider looking at the crime scene. His Guardians called Jones themselves and
bustled him home, telling Smedley that he’d be by either tomorrow or the next
day to view the scene, once the techs were all done.

Smedley took one look at Alex, swaying on his
feet despite the cane, and agreed.

Alex slept himself out through night, morning,
and right into lunch time, and woke to the wonderful smells of Jacques’
cooking. He took his time, still feeling wobbly from staying up so late after
all his magic yesterday, and so he showered, dressed and did a short meditation
to calm his roiling thoughts before allowing his grumbling stomach to lead him
out into the living room.

“I was starting to worry you’d died in
your sleep,” teased James, sitting on the couch and fiddling with his
puzzle again.

Alex chuckled wryly. “I feel a bit as if I
might have, but I seem to have recovered enough to beg for food.”

“Tea and donuts to start,” said
Jacques, “and I’m making soup, which isn’t ready yet.”

“You’re also to take the potion I left on
the table,” called James. “No arguments, it’s a Guardian restorative,
which you will drink and not analyse.”

Alex laughed. “Yes, Dad,” he teased,
picking up the little bottle and listening to it for just a moment before being
a good boy and drinking it down in one gulp. He washed the taste away with tea
and donuts, sitting at the kitchen table to watch Jacques cook because he was
pretty sure his leg wasn’t going to put up with much standing today.

“Does that make me
Mom?” asked Jacques, clearly amused.

“Don’t make me come in
there,” warned James teasingly.

“Of course not,” said Alex,
“Murielle is Mom, you’re my other Dad. I come from a tragically broken
home.”

They all laughed, and Alex was glad he’d taken
the time to put himself together instead of subjecting them all to the very
grumpy, out-of-sorts mood he’d been in when he awoke.

He was even happier about that when the
doorbell rang, and it turned out to be quite an unexpected but welcome visitor
— a rather distraught Julian.

James and Jacques faded into the kitchen
together while Alex got Julian seated on the couch with him. “Are you all
right?” asked Alex, after the usual hello-I-missed-you kisses.

“I’m not sure,” said Julian, leaning
into Alex with a little shiver. “It’s very strange to think that someone
finds me and my titles a prize worth killing for.”

“I’m sorry, I know he was one of your top
choices,” said Alex, feeling like a tactless jerk but not knowing how else
to say it.

Julian sniffled and giggled a little. “He
was, he was nice on our dates, not so stuffy. He would’ve done well by the
estate, too.”

Alex sighed and kissed his hair. “He would
have, from everything I’d heard about the man,” he said, about as politic
as he could make himself be, given that he’d only just realised how much he
wanted Julian for himself. Enough to do right by the estate himself, even if he
had to get Victor and Emmeline to teach him about it all.

Julian shivered again and snuggled closer.
“His family will miss him,” said Julian with another sniffle, and
Alex’s shirt felt suspiciously damp. “It’s not fair to them that he was
killed for Courting me.” A little sob left him and then he was crying on
Alex properly, and all Alex could do was hold him and make little soothing
there-there noises.

He tried not to think about what it meant that
Julian had come to Alex’s shoulder when he needed to cry.

By the time Julian had cried himself out, a
tray of tea had been stealthily placed on the table in front of them, and Alex
could give Julian a handkerchief and pour them both a nice, soothing cup.
“I’m sorry,” he said again helplessly.

Julian looked at him and giggled. “You’re
trying so hard, but you’re terrible at this, aren’t you?” he said, sipping
his tea.

Alex flushed and laughed weakly, saying,
“Very much so, yes. I never did know what to do with a crying
person.”

“No one really does,” confided
Julian, but despite his red-rimmed eyes he was looking better already for his
cry. “You did fine.”

“Soup will be ready soon,” called Jacques
from the kitchen. “Will Mr. St. Albans be staying?”

At Julian’s hopeful nod,
Alex grinned and called back. “Yes, please.”

“You’re so nice to them, are you always
like that?” asked Julian, his face not quite schooled to innocence.
“It’s hard to believe you got your reputation by being such a kind
man.”

Alex laughed. “You know very well I’m not
always so kind. Godfrey loathes me, after all.”

“Godfrey loathes
everyone,” said Julian with another snuffly giggle.

James deemed it safe and emerged from the kitchen.
“Trust me, he’s earned his reputation, yesterday he nearly had one of the
agents frothing at the mouth.”

“He interrupted me while I was
working!” said Alex plaintively, but he could see no one was buying it.

Jacques came out, too, drying his hands on a
dish towel and smiling. “I’m making BLTs or bacon butties, which would you
prefer?”

“BLT, please,”
said Julian with a smile.

“A BLT for me, extra
tomato,” said Alex. “What sort of soup?”

“Special Guardian recipe, like the chicken
the other night,” said Jacques with a rather exasperated look at Alex.
“Lots of herbs to help restore your magic, since you insist on using it
up.”

Alex ducked his head, but he was grinning.
“It’s a good thing I’ve got you two to keep me from running myself ragged
on caffeine and sugar, then, isn’t it?”

“Not that you haven’t tried,” said
James wryly, nodding to the cup of tea in Alex’s hand, which Alex finished off
defiantly.

Julian giggled. “It’s good to know you’re
well-protected,” he said, and then he giggled again when a little chirping
sounded from the coat rack. “Oh, Horace! I thought I’d bring him for a
recharge, I mean, I know you saw him a few days ago, but, you did say…”

Alex smiled and kissed Julian sweetly.
“You never need an excuse to visit me, but I’m glad you brought him,
too.”

Julian got up and went over to the bird,
helping Horace up onto his shoulder where it snuggled against him happily.
“He likes me,” said Julian shyly.

“Much like his
maker,” said Alex, standing to steal a kiss.

Jacques and James gathered the tea things and
headed into the kitchen, and Julian and Alex followed, helping to set the table
and chatting about the Courtship rather than the tragedies surrounding it.

At the end, as they were all nibbling on more
of the donuts that had been Alex’s first course, James glanced at Alex and then
spoke up. “I know it’s not my place, but have you discussed petitioning
for dissolution of your Courtship with your lawyers?”

Julian blinked. “What, no. Why? I mean, if
I couldn’t get out of having one in the first place…” he trailed off,
waiting for James to explain.

“Your relationship with your fiancé,
genuine though your affections may have been, has been shown by the Agency to
have been magically manipulated,” said James gently.

“And magical coercion can, if proven, be
grounds for dissolution of a lot of otherwise legally binding situations,”
said Alex. “That’s very clever.”

Julian snuggled into Alex as he processed this
idea, sipping the herbal tea Jacques had insisted they all switch to, another
restorative tisane that seemed to be for the grieving Julian as much as Alex.
“I shall consult my lawyer again,” said Julian, after a few minutes
of silence. “You will all keep it in confidence?”

“Cross my heart,” said Alex, kissing
Julian’s hair. “After all, if I got a chance to ask you out without the
threat of running your whole estate, I might even put out.”

That made them all laugh, and the Guardians
promised that Julian’s secrets were safe with them. Then Jacques and James
cleared away the remains of the meal, leaving them all with tea, and James
started the dishwasher while Jacques retrieved the cards they’d been using last
night.

“Gin?” he asked
hopefully.

Julian grinned, relaxing
even more. “I’d love to.”

~ ~ ~

Julian’s keepers came to get him before dinner,
in the form of his driver and a few stern texts from Emmeline. They parted with
a few extra kisses and a promise from Alex to make sure he was rested up for
their date, which was coming up quite fast indeed. Once the door was closed,
the two Guardians gave him a teasing applause.

“You are so gone for
him,” teased James.

“And he for you,”
said Jacques. “He seems very sweet.”

“He’s shy, but he’s actually interesting
once he relaxes and opens up,” said Alex, feeling a little exposed.
“He’s been through a lot, anyone would be a bit thin after that.”

“That they would,” agreed Jacques,
giving Alex’s back a pat. “You’ve been cooped up all day, and resting very
well like a good boy, do you want to go out for dinner or eat in?”

Alex chuckled. “Can I drag you out to curry
even though we had it last night?” he asked. “After I read Julian’s
letter, though.” Julian had taken Horace, but left a letter for Alex to
answer using more mundane means.

“Of course,” said
James. “We’ll clean up and get ready.”

“I’m always up for curry,”
said Jacques, and they left him to it.

Julian’s letter was full of the sadness he’d
not been able to express properly until he had his cry on Alex’s shoulder. It
made the lines heavy and fretful, concerned not just for Alex but any of the
other suitors as well. Alex knew their villain couldn’t risk using murder to
thin the crowd too much more for fear of exposing himself, but he understood
Julian’s concern, especially where Alex’s own tender and much-endangered skin
was concerned.

Alex took the time to write back, warm words
full of comfort, and promises again that he was working very hard, at least
when he was conscious. He told Julian with all sincerity how much his visit had
meant, both that Julian had trusted him to share his grief, and also stayed to
share his friendship with Alex as well. He admitted to a little bit of envy for
Horace who got to snuggle up to Julian even when Alex could not.

He signed it with affection and called Jones
and a courier both when he was done.

“About ready?” asked Alex, standing
and stretching, then grabbing his cane before he tried to walk. His leg was
slowly healing, but it still ached from yesterday’s long hours of work and
neglect.

“When you are,” replied James, who
was back with his little puzzle on the couch.

“I’ll just go freshen up while we wait for
Jones, then,” said Alex. He vanished into his room and emerged with a
jacket on, his usual pre-Courtship black and more black with the crisp white
shirt that had fortunately escaped any embarrassing stains now that Julian’s
tears had dried. Alex didn’t want to admit he’d kept it on because it still
smelled faintly of Julian.

Everyone was ready when Alex emerged, and they
headed down to the car, James assuring him that the note for Julian had gone
with the courier already. They went, not to the takeaway place that the
Guardians had already found, but to a little restaurant that seemed like a hole
in the wall until you went inside and saw that it was a beautifully decorated
series of rooms, including some smaller private alcoves and a larger central
room that held a buffet at lunch and on Sundays.

“Alex!” said the proprietress, a
cheerful older Indian woman who was the owner’s wife and mother to much of the
staff. “You haven’t been by in a while.”

“Sorry, Padma,” said Alex sheepishly.
“This is James and Jacques, my temporary Guardians. Can we have a small
room please?”

She chuckled. “You’re lucky there’s one
left, and it’s even the same one I have reserved for you on Friday so your
Guardians can check it out.”

“You’re a doll,” said Alex with a
grin, gesturing for them to follow as she led them back through the maze of
patterned metal screens and beautiful artwork to the back corner, where there
was a room with no door and a table just big enough for four. A screen off to
one side would cover the doorway once they were seated, angled so the servers
could come in but the occupants were hidden from casual view.

“So this is what you had planned,”
said Jacques, looking around the little room appreciatively. The furnishings
were a bit worn, but the art on the walls was traditional if not museum
quality, and the whole place had an air of well-loved elegance about it.

“Someone suggested to me I ought to show
Julian a bit of my own life,” said Alex with a chuckle. “You will be
pleased to know I’ve got something planned for back at the flat afterward, so
you’ll only have to worry about us on the drive and while we’re here.”