The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (28 page)

“Perhaps he was jealous of your
dates,” said James in that dryly amused way he had.

Julian giggled. “Maybe, I think he was
just unimpressed by my untutored palate, I insisted on trying a bunch of stuff
again. The grilled squid was still the best, I think.”

“You were the best part of that dinner
that I recall,” said Alex, intending it to be teasing, though it came out
more earnest.

Julian blushed, but he also glowed at the compliment.
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he said, leaning close and
tilting his face up.

Alex obliged him with a soft kiss, which came
to an end when the waiter reappeared with the first of their food. There was
rose-scented water and mugs of milky chai tea, pakoras and samosas, and a
little carousel of sauces that were sweet or spicy or both. Everyone dug in,
Julian taking little bites here and there while the other three ate heartily.
The Guardians used their magical senses as part of their duties, and expended a
fair amount of energy between that and their special brand of alertness on
several planes. Alex, of course, was healing and doing magic, and still needed
to put back the weight he’d lost in the hospital.

Julian was too nice to ask, but Alex could see
he was impressed with the amount of food the three of them managed to make
disappear over the course of the meal.

Conversation turned to reading, with Alex
admitting that most of the books in his library were work-related, but he had a
weakness for formula mystery novels, the sort that came in themed series with
unlikely protagonists. Julian, it turned out, was a big fan of the one with the
cats, and even Jacques had read some of them, so they managed to chat about
that for half the meal while James kept quiet.

Jacques fell quiet and James picked up the
threads when they started talking about actual history, but there was a tension
in them both that worried Alex.

“Is there something I should be worried
about?” asked Alex, looking from one to the other.

James chuckled. “I don’t think so, but
there’s a different feeling to the restaurant tonight, don’t you sense
it?”

Alex hummed under his breath, listening to the
music of the place and then he chuckled. “Birthday party over on the big
room, it’s for someone young so the place is full of kids, but she’s reasonably
well-off because there’s a couple of those charmed plush toys in the
packages,” he said. “We run across them in crime scenes sometimes,
they always ping my radar because of the enchantments.”

Jacques laughed. “I don’t know that I’ve
ever seen one, but we’ve never had a charge with children.”

“None of them sound like the
insect-constructs,” said Alex, relieved, “so I think it’s just a
coincidence.”

“I hope so,” said Julian, looking
less relaxed himself. “I’m pretty full, should we go soon?”

“I made a sweet for afters,” said
Jacques proudly. “But we could get a few things here to go, if you want to
try them.”

“Let’s do that,” said Alex, getting a
nod from Julian. Alex decided to be a bit silly and he gave Julian a quick
kiss, then sent a dozen little green-and-yellow butterflies out past their
screen to find their waiter, who came back laughing to see what they needed,
following the fluttering illusion.

“I was helping with the birthday party,
you made her night,” said the waiter with a big grin. “What can I do
for you?”

“We’d like to get all this packed up, and
get an assortment of sweets to go, please, my date’s a bit tired,” said
Alex politely, “and the check, of course.”

“Of course,” said the waiter. Julian
looked appropriately wan for him, and he added, “I’ll take care of it in a
trice.”

He left them, only to return a moment later
with an armful of boxes and a couple of other waiters who helped pack
everything up efficiently. Once that was done, they all vanished, and it was a
bit longer before he came back with a final bag of goodies and a silver tray
with the check and a little bowl of candied fennel seeds.

“Thank you,” said Alex gratefully,
starting to feel the fatigue he’d assigned to Julian. He knew it would fade,
but the magical cacophony was getting to him a bit now that the Guardians had
made him aware of it. He handed over his card and they shared around the
fennel, then waited in tense silence to be done.

“It’s not just you,” said Julian after
a few moments. “It feels different now than it did earlier. Less
friendly.”

“It’s good we’re going,” said
Jacques. “I’ve texted Jones to come around, he says he’s done eating and
will be out front momentarily.”

Alex’s card came back and everything was taken
care of, and the waiter even volunteered to help them bring the food to the
car.

“Thanks, that would be a help,” said
Alex, though he did snag the bag of sweets himself. That left three, so the
waiter took two and Julian picked up the other one, leaving the Guardians’
hands free.

When the trouble came a
moment later, it was almost anticlimactic.

“Whassis?” said a thick voice, and
the screen was roughly pushed aside to reveal a large man and his two friends,
all three of them drunk and belligerent. “Why’re you hidin’ the rich
boys?”

“Is that a big ol’ bloody diamond?”
said one of the others, leaning forward to stare at Alex’s cravat.

The Guardians exchanged a look, and then James
asked the waiter politely, “Would you like these men removed from your establishment?”

The big man laughed raucously, and Alex felt
very bad indeed for the little girl whose birthday party was being spoilt much
the same way as his date. “What’s a little thing like you gonna do
t’me?”

“Clearly, you’ve never met a Guardian
before,” said Alex. He set his food down and tugged Julian close to his
side.

“Any assistance you wished to provide
would be appreciated,” said the waiter, looking very worried indeed.

“Off we go, then,”
said Jacques.

The two Guardians stepped forward in eerie unison,
and Alex heard a spike of magic coming from the pair of them, Jacques high and
James low in a harmony that piqued Alex’s professional curiosity. Despite the
fact that there were three opponents, the two Guardians didn’t even twitch
toward their weapons. Instead, Jacques slid to the left and around to put the
big man in a very firm choke-hold, while James slid to the right and, quite
literally, knocked together the heads of the other two. Another graceful shift
in position put James behind them, and he hooked a hand in each collar and
tugged them backwards, off-balance, and then the magic peaked and all three men
went limp.

James and Jacques grinned ferally and dragged
them outside so precisely that they didn’t even hit any furniture along the
way.

The waiter swallowed and looked at Alex,
wide-eyed. “So, those are actual Guardians, then.”

Alex couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Yes,
those are actual Guardians. Their combination of magic and combat is
fascinating, isn’t it?” he said, the last in a perfectly innocent tone.

“There was magic?”
said Julian curiously.

“Oh, I suppose it would be hard to tell if
you aren’t sensitive,” said Alex. “Yes, there was a spell that helped
them out, and knocked out their opponents once they were subdued. Probably
better for them in the long run than a concussion or oxygen deprivation.”

James and Jacques came strolling back in, still
grinning those adrenaline-fuelled grins. “That was fun,” said
Jacques.

“The police are coming to retrieve
them,” said James. “They’ll wake once they’re cuffed, you may tell
the officers if we’re already gone.”

“That was brilliant,” said the
waiter, and then, spontaneously, the whole restaurant applauded, Alex and
Julian included.

The two of them turned and bowed, then gave
Alex and Julian a look that said they wanted to discuss something as soon as
possible. “We’ve got to be going,” said Alex, “but I’m sure the
police will be here very soon.”

“Of course, of course,” said the
waiter, and two more bustled up at his gesture to take the extra bags of food
and help escort them all out to their car.

The food went into the trunk, and the police
drove up just as they were getting settled, so James took a moment to speak
with them and promise to come by tomorrow to give statements, though from a
Guardian protecting his charge, very little would need to be said. Especially
not with so many witnesses to attest that the drunken men had most definitely
made the first threats.

The cuffs clicked on, and the men woke as from
a sleep, groggy but mostly unharmed. James shot them a predatory smile as he
got into the car, and they looked up at the cops with drunken confusion for a
moment before the protests started. Jones pulled away before Alex could see how
the scene played out, but their waiter stayed outside to deal with it.

“I think they were
influenced,” said James.

“I felt a bit of foreign magic on them,
something that enhanced their belligerence and send them in our
direction,” said Jacques.

Alex took a deep breath, letting it out with a
sigh. “Well, the reservation’s been on the books a few days, so it’s quite
possible it’s our killer, if he’s also turned stalker. Which isn’t unlikely,
given his lack of success eliminating me so far.”

Julian snuggled closer to Alex and said, in a
small voice, “You don’t have to keep Courting me to investigate, I’d let
you have access to the house anyway.”

Alex gave him a soft, serious look, and then a
very sweet kiss. “I know that, Julian. Whatever other reasons I might have
had for entering your Courtship, I’m here now for you.”

Julian melted and kissed him rather
passionately for being in a car full of other people, but Alex wasn’t about to
stop him.

James chuckled after a moment. “Before you
get too distracted, I did tell the officer to have them checked for magical
coercion and to tell Smedley if they came up positive.”

Alex broke the kiss regretfully, then kissed
the tip of Julian’s nose and snuggled him closer. “You guys are amazing at
what you do, thank you. I’m fascinated by the magic you two used, I suppose
it’s a trade secret?”

The two Guardians exchanged
wry looks. “Something like that, yes.”

“It doesn’t always work, anyway, a lot of
people have magical protection,” said James.

“But those three were already under the
influence, so we risked trying the easy way first,” said Jacques.

“I’m not helpless,
anyway,” reminded Alex.

“That’s why it was worth risking,”
agreed James. “They weren’t the sort of threat that couldn’t be coped
with, even with a few mistakes.”

“That’s why it was fun,” said Jacques
with another of those grins that showed the vicious warrior under his cheerful
personality. If Alex had wondered why Jacques was a Guardian, he didn’t
anymore.

“Always glad to provide
some entertainment,” said Alex wryly.

Julian giggled.

CHAPTER
22

In Which Sweets are Enjoyed and Magic is Made

Alex’s flat was just as they’d left it, though
a quick check showed that a few things had poked at the wards while they were
gone.

“We’re going to clear the apartment, can
you take Julian into your work room?” said James, when they saw the signs.

“Yes, Dad,” said Alex, though they
did pause to hang up their coats before doing so. “I wasn’t going to show
you this yet,” said Alex shyly, “but it’s the safest place in the
flat.”

“I’ve been dying to look,” said
Julian with a grin, “so I don’t mind one bit.”

Alex laughed and escorted him into the room,
waving at the Guardians before closing the door. He whistled at his wards,
pleased to find these showed no signs of tampering, then turned to Julian with
a shy grin. “Do you want to hear what things are or just poke
around?”

Julian looked at the room, neat despite the
huge amounts of stuff, and then back to Alex. “I want you to kiss me with
no one watching,” he said softly.

“Oh,” said Alex, breath tight in his
chest. He turned them around, pressing Julian against the door and nuzzling at
his neck, bracing himself so he could lean the cane nearby and use both hands
to hold Julian close. He breathed in once and moved up to lay a soft kiss on
Julian’s parted lips. “I want to do so much more than kiss you,
Julian.”

Julian let out a hungry little sound and kissed
back, hands curling in Alex’s hair and body melting in his arms. They kissed
and kissed, snogging like teenagers there up against the door, Alex’s hands
roaming over Julian’s body, slipping under his frock coat to stroke the warm
fabric at his back and sides.

The knock at the door startled them both, and
they jumped and laughed. “All clear!” called Jacques. “I’ll get
the sweets ready.”

Alex rested his forehead against Julian’s.
“I wasn’t sure I really wanted this,” he said hoarsely, “but
whenever I think of you, all I can think of is making you mine.”

Julian reached up and stroked Alex’s cheek.
“I hope we can make it work, your life and mine,” he said, soft and a
little sad. “I love your flat, and the people you’ve surrounded yourself
with, but I have responsibilities, too.”

Alex kissed him again. “If we can’t get
you out of the velvet trap, then I’ll join you in it and find a way to make us
happy,” he promised. It didn’t even feel reckless, after his time the
other day at the Temple; he’d already come to terms with the fact that he was
falling in love with Julian and would be willing to work to have a life
together.

Whatever form that took.

Julian leaned up for one more achingly sweet
kiss and grinned. “Come on, I want to see what Jacques cooked for
us.”

Alex laughed and hugged him close, then
retrieved his walking stick and let them both out. They headed into the
brightly-lit kitchen, where the table was covered in sweets and empty boxes, James
putting every single item from the restaurant into proper dishes while Jacques
put the finishing touches on the Opera cake he’d made earlier. He was cutting
them each a rectangle and decorating it with a curl of chocolate with a level
of concentration that Alex found rather adorable.

Julian just looked a bit
stunned. “We’re not going to eat all that, are we?”

“We might,” said
Alex. “What do you want to start with?”

Julian giggled. “Tea,” he said,
“and this.” He sat down in front of one of the plates of Opera cake
and picked up a fork. “This looks amazing, my chef hates making any of
these sorts of things with all the layers and the soaking.”

“It helps that no one makes me do
it,” said Jacques cheerfully. “Hobbies are always more fun.”

“That’s so true,” agreed Alex.
“I always enjoy making things I want to make more than things I’m paid to
make.”

Julian dug into the cake and took a bite,
making a very appreciative noise as he chewed and swallowed that got Alex’s
undivided attention. “Well, here’s to hobbies, then,” he said,
grinning. “This is delicious, thank you, Jacques.”

“Yes, thank you, you guys have really
helped tonight,” said Alex, sitting next to Julian and digging into his
own piece of Opera cake. He echoed the noises Julian was making, and once again
briefly considered never solving the crime just to keep the Guardians around.
“How did I rate you two?”

James laughed. “He doesn’t usually cook
for our charges,” he said, “Most of them have their own staff, you’re
an exception all around.”

“So you usually keep him to yourself?
Cruel,” said Alex, taking another bite. “So cruel, mmmm.”

They all laughed at that, and then the tea was
done and poured and they sat around the table and nibbled and chatted about
nothing of importance. It felt like friends, like something Alex hadn’t
bothered to cultivate much before this, and he hoped it wouldn’t all go away
when he was done.

“All right,” he said, once Julian had
gotten to the stage of picking at things rather than eating them, “want to
see what I’ve got for you?”

“Yes!” said
Julian, grinning and wiping his hands. “In the living room?”

“In the living room,” agreed Alex. He
freshened up their tea and then they went on out, leaving the Guardians in the
kitchen to continue their chat.

He’d laid out two things on the coffee table.
The first was Julian’s gift, so it was covered with a makeshift wrapping box,
and in front of that there was a line of objects. “So, gift first or our
evening’s activity?”

Julian looked intrigued and annoyed. “Oh,
I hate choosing! All right, gift, you know I love presents.”

Alex grinned. “I know,” he said.
“That’s this, if you hadn’t guessed, just lift it off.”

Julian complied, revealing a neat little
window-box of plants, each with a green thumb charm stuck in the dirt next to
it. The cheap little trinkets consisted of a bit of copper wire wrapped around
a glass bead, which would change colour if the plant needed water, nutrients,
space, or relief from pests. Right now they were all a soft green, indicating
Alex hadn’t managed to harm them in five days he’d had them in his care.

“All right,
explain,” said Julian.

Alex grinned. “Fairy flowers,” he
said, pointing to three of the seven plants, the two outside and one in the
middle. “They attract a certain sort of fae, and having them out is said
to bring good luck. These two,” he said, pointing to the inner pair,
“are ward-thistles, which help to dissuade wandering creatures of ill
luck, and these two,” he said, pointing to the outer pair, “are lucky
clover.”

Julian laughed and kissed him. “You, my
Mage, are so very clever. I assume you’re suggesting it go outside my bedroom
window?”

“If there’s space, yes. You could also put
them inside the bathroom if it gets enough natural light, though they won’t do
as much good.” Alex gently stroked one of the green leaves. “They’re
not powerful magic, but they’re old magic, natural magic.”

“Magic that doesn’t take a mage to
use,” said Julian. “Thank you.” He leaned up for a warm, sweet
kiss that turned a bit warmer than perhaps intended.

Alex didn’t mind a bit.

“Mm, as nice as this
is, we have magic to do,” said Alex after a bit.

“We do?” said
Julian, instantly attentive. “Is that what this is?”

Alex grinned. “It is, usually I do this in
my work room but this one doesn’t need heating or anything, just a bit of
magic. I thought we’d make a Keep-Safe charm.”

“Oh, like kids
wear!” said Julian, clapping his hands delightedly.

“Well, this one will be for you, but the
principle is the same,” said Alex. “It’s not a gift because you’re
going to help.”

“You’re sneaky,” said
Julian, stealing a kiss. “I like it.”

Alex got them settled on the couch, then struck
the tuning fork gently against the bowl and set it back down, so only the bowl
itself was ringing softly. “Now first, put the stone in the bowl. That’s
carnelian, most of the kid’s charms use a bit of coral.”

Julian picked up the little red stone and laid
it in the bottom of the glass bowl in the middle of the table.
“Carnelian’s for protection, right?”

“Protection and joy,” said Alex with
a smile. “Next, add a little bit of this,” he said, pointing to a
blue bottle. “It’s just water, but it’s one of those exotic waters from
far-off lands, in this case a spring in Athens that’s good for divination. It’s
to help your intuition.”

“How much?” asked Julian, picking up
the bottle and looking at it for a moment, holding it in his hands before
taking out the stopper.

“Just a little is fine, there, that’s
good,” said Alex, watching him pour. “Don’t worry, it’s not priceless
or anything.”

Julian giggled. “Well,
it is special fancy exotic water.”

“But not very expensive,” said Alex,
giving him a wink. “Now I need you to breathe on it, like you would a
mirror you were trying to fog up, one whole lungful of air.”

“Got it,” said Julian. He took a deep
breath, then huffed it out into the bowl. Alex had already charged the bowl
with his own power, and despite Julian’s touches it held the pure tone from
being tapped earlier. When Julian’s breath hit the surface of the water,
everything misted over as though the water was also glass, giving the whole
thing a ghostly appearance. “Oh,” said Julian, once he’d taken in
another breath and sat back. “It’s really magic.”

“It’s really magic,” said Alex,
kissing his cheek. “Next, this bit of silver,” said Alex, pointing to
the small coil of wire. “Don’t worry about disrupting what’s there, just
set the silver in the bowl.”

“All right,” said Julian, nodding. He
set it in carefully anyway, leaning against the little polished cabochon,
silver bright against the fogged-up stone.

“Next your second contribution, which will
hurt just a little, I’m afraid,” said Alex. “For kids they use hair,
but for you, I’d like to put in three drops of blood.” He picked up a
straight, clean pin from where it was resting on a handkerchief, with a plaster
waiting right beside.

Julian laughed at Alex’s look of worry. “I
can stand to lose a little blood,” he said, taking the pin. He pricked the
middle finger on his left hand and dripped three drops, splashing red onto the
rock and wire before swirling in the misty water, then allowed Alex to wipe his
finger clean and put the plaster on.

“Almost done,” promised Alex.
“Usually vervain goes here, but I wanted to use a bit of your new clover,
so pluck one whole clover off each plant and add them in,” he said,
pointing to the window box.

Julian did this silently, dropping each little
trio of leaves in so they floated serenely in the bowl. “What next?”

“Next, we make the charm,” said Alex.
He picked up the tuning fork and scooted close, sliding one long arm around
Julian. “Cup the bowl like this,” he said, guiding Julian’s hands to
either side of the bowl, whose ringing tone was barely audible now. “Just
stay there and watch.”

Julian nodded, looking breathless and excited,
and Alex was glad he’d decided to do this. He cupped one hand around Julian’s,
then tapped the bowl with the tuning fork again and cupped his other hand on
the other side, still holding the vibrating fork. “Hum with me,”
whispered Alex into Julian’s ear, and then he chose a harmonious note and
started humming softly in Julian’s ear.

Julian hummed a higher note, but one that
blended well with the rest, and Alex let himself relax, pouring power and will
through Julian’s hands into the bowl, where the water and all the contents
began to swirl, the mist of Julian’s breath obscuring everything as it roiled
and stirred. Finally, just as they were starting to run out of breath, the
liquid flowed impossibly into the stone, which had become wrapped in the silver
wire to make a pendant. There was an etching on the stone of a clover, but
otherwise nothing was left of the other ingredients in the bowl.

“There you are, your very own
Keep-Safe,” said Alex. He produced a chain from his pocket, and smiled.
“Will you wear it?”

“Of course,” said Julian, looking
exhilarated and joyful already. Between them they got the stone threaded on the
chain and put the whole thing around Julian’s neck. Julian slipped it under his
collar to rest hidden against his chest next to the other, more elaborate
amulet Alex could hear there. “It’s funny, but I do feel better now,
wearing it. People always say they’re just trinkets for kids, but that was real
magic.”

Alex kissed him sweetly. “There’s a world
of difference between a personal charm like this and a cheap toy at the corner
shop, but even those do have a little power.”

“Good,” said Julian, snuggling up.
“I like to think of all those kids wearing them, feeling just a little bit
like I do now, like someone’s watching out for them.”

Alex smiled and held him. “I rather like
that, too,” he admitted, which would’ve made eyebrows go up all over the
Agency, were he to be heard talking that way.