The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic Book 1)

by Amy Crook

  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.

  "Your final course," interrupted the waiter, bringing them a single plate with two different kinds of sashimi; their dish of soy sauce had remained when the dishes from the previous course vanished. "Will you be wanting dessert?"

  More to annoy the man than out of any real hunger, Alex said, "We might, if you could bring a menu once this course is done, that would be lovely."

  "Of course, sir," said the waiter dryly, and Alex had to wonder what it was about him that seemed to ping the man's radar.

  "Perhaps he thinks you're a terrible tipper?" said Julian, and Alex was gratified that it wasn't just him that felt the waiter was being rude.

  "Maybe he's got a bet on one of your other suitors to win?" said Alex with a chuckle. "Like the society page horse races."

  Julian groaned. "Don't even suggest that!" he protested, but Alex could tell he found it a little funny, when it wasn't mortifying.

  "Sorry," said Alex, picking up a piece of fish and dipping one edge in the soy sauce before tasting it. The pink-fleshed yellowfin tuna practically melted on his tongue, cool and sweet and subtle as the crab but in an entirely different way. The sashimi was made of the highest quality fish possible, and Alex nearly moaned in delight at the difference between this and the pedestrian sushi he was used to. "Oh, my, I'd almost have done the whole Courtship for this."

  Julian laughed and took a piece of the same side, his expression showing the very same bliss. "Mmm, I might have to marry you for your excellent taste in food," said Julian, and Alex blushed and sipped his wine, realising that they'd each had about half the bottle and were on to drinks next. He'd tucked a pair of bottles of sobering up potion into his coat, so as long as he remembered to retrieve them, they should be all right.

  "Don't promise anything foolish while you're on fine wine and even better seafood," teased Alex, trying the fish on the other side, this one something white-fleshed he didn't recognise. It, too, was exquisitely tender, with a subtle fishy flavour that reminded him a bit of good mackerel, but refined to near perfection. "Though if we can come here more often, I might take you up on it."

  "Tease," said Julian, taking up his own bit of white fish and showing every ounce of his enjoyment. Alex wondered idly how he'd be to make love to, then shoved that thought away and replaced it with his second, and sadly last, bite of the white fish.

  "Well," said Alex, when he'd washed down the morsel with a bit of wine, "I am Courting you."

  "So you are," said Julian, taking his own morsel of tuna, leaving one piece of each on the plate.

  Alex picked up the tuna and gave it his full attention, wondering if there was anything in the evening that could possibly top it. He remembered Julian's sweet, unexpected kiss, and tried to pretend it hadn't been better, but he'd always been terrible at self-delusion. At least on the really obvious things.

  There were more insidious delusions at play here, he supposed.

  "I'm not sure I want dessert here, do you suppose they've got sweets where we're going next?" asked Julian, once he'd finished off his fish and they'd traded plates for a single menu.

  "I've no idea," admitted Alex, "but look, doesn't this sound interesting?" He pointed to an intriguing dish that seemed to be a sort of tiramisu, only made with matcha green tea and sour plum jelly.

  Julian oohed, and that got him to read over all the selections. They ended up with the one Alex had suggested and a white chocolate cake with apricot jelly and jasmine tea ice cream, and when they arrived there was steaming matcha and jasmine tea to go with them. They traded bites and sips and talked mostly about the food, and in the end Alex was glad they'd bothered, because Julian was smiling when they left and still talking about the food.

  "I probably ought to tell Henry that dinner was a success," said Alex, who'd overtipped just to annoy the waiter, and even tipped the coat check girl, "but I'd rather make him wait and wonder."

  "You're wicked," said Julian, amused.

  Alex handed him into the waiting car, which had appeared as soon as it was needed, a different sort of magic that Alex had grown used to doing without. "Only as wicked as you want me to be," he said, sliding in next to Julian.

  "I like you a bit wicked," said Julian, his voice lower now, intimate and flirty.

  Alex pulled him close and kissed him softly, unable to resist the invitation in his posture and tone. "But not too wicked," he said, shifting to tuck Julian in next to him in a surprisingly comfortable cuddle. "I haven't earned it yet."

  Julian laughed. "You haven't, but you're trying," he said, pulling Alex's head down for one more lingering kiss before he gave in and cuddled up. "I like this, you're skinny but you're warm."

  "Thin men put out more heat, we've no padding to keep it in," said Alex thoughtlessly, distracted by the soft scent of Julian's hair, a mix of the man and his styling products that Alex found quite appealing.

  "I suppose you've taken a sampling?" asked Julian tartly, tensing up. He didn't pull away, but the threat was there, and clearly dependent on Alex's answer.

  Alex shrugged and wondered which would be worse, the truth or a flirty deflection. "I've been with my share of men, yes," he said carefully, "But I was under the impression that a master-husband was supposed to, well, have mastery of these things, for his consort's sake if nothing else."

  Julian sighed and, though he didn't relax precisely, he settled more firmly in Alex's embrace. "I suppose it's silly to expect you've been with just one person," said Julian. "I know the reputations of many of my other suitors, I guess I just didn't think of what yours might be."

  "Well, that's one advantage to having dropped out of society years ago," said Alex, kissing Julian's hair gently, "I don't have much of a reputation."

  Julian chuckled. "Well, you do, but it's all from people who knew you as a boy and have no idea what you're capable of as a man."

  Alex, too, chuckled at that and said wryly, "Well, they'll find out, won't they?"

 
; The car began to slow, and this time they were in a different sort of neighbourhood, this one more like the area he'd bought the paintings. While they parked, Alex paused to fish the sobering potions out of the overcoat along with everything else he'd slipped in there, finding places on his jacket that didn't leave too much of a bulge. A tasteful neon sign on an old brick building read simply, "The Gin Joint," and the doorman looked amused about the ceremony involved with the driver opening their door as though they couldn't do it themselves.

  This time, at least, Alex was prepared. "Stop number two on the Benedict Whirlwind Tour," teased Alex, getting out and offering Julian a hand out before palming the card with its bribe still attached.

  "From the look of you, you can only be Henry's big brother," said the doorman, relieving Alex of at least that burden.

  "I am, thank you," he said, offering his hand for a shake. "I'm afraid my brother failed to give me your name, though, or much information at all, really."

  The doorman laughed. "That's Henry," he said. "They call me the Judge." He shook Alex's hand with a strong but not crushing grip, and Alex appreciated that he felt no need to prove his strength when it was so very obvious he could wipe the floor with them both. The Judge was a burly man in a retro suit that was well-tailored enough to make him look good despite the unusual fit, handsome in a way that probably got him the sort of girl -- or boy, though Alex would bet he was straight -- who enjoyed a bit of danger.

  "We'll stay on the side of the law," said Julian, artlessly charming in his way.

  "Good," said the Judge, opening the door and gesturing for them to enter.

  The interior matched the outside, though rather than the updated retro Alex was expecting, the furnishings were well-cared-for originals. The whole place had a wonderful aura of being loved by its staff and owners, and Alex could see why Henry wanted it kept a bit of a secret.

  "Sit anywhere you like," said the bartender, gesturing toward the half-full interior.

  "Thank you," said Alex, leading Julian over to a cosy little round booth that would seat two with plenty of room, and four only if they were very good friends. He hung Julian's overcoat and scarf on the waiting hook next to the booth and they settled in to enjoy the ambience. "I can see why Henry wants to keep this place from becoming trendy," he said idly.