by Amy Crook
Alex and Julian snuggled shamelessly in back since the driver left the partition up between them. "I wonder if he and Godfrey get along?" asked Alex, when the man let them out in front of the St. Albans home with a look of familiar disapproval.
Julian laughed. "Perhaps they play whist together," he said teasingly.
The butler in question was there to let them in, somehow managing to stare pointedly at their lack of cravats without changing the angle of his head at all. "Welcome home, Mr. St. Albans," he said.
"Thank you, Godfrey," said Julian cheerfully. "We brought Emmy a little something for tea, will you see it gets where it needs to be?" He handed off the box, more of the cheese truffles that had turned out to be a favourite of everyone's. Saveur had struck a deal with Victor and was now making them as a regular item, and had even named them Benedict Truffles.
"They're Benedicts," said Alex with just a bit too much glee.
"Of course, sir," said Godfrey, his town dripping disdain as he gingerly accepted the box and vanished with it.
"He really hates you," said Julian, sounding impressed.
"It's my natural charm," said Alex with a laugh. They headed through parts of the house that Alex hadn't ever seen before and found their way to Emmeline's suite, her parlour done up in a very tastefully feminine manner.
"Julian, Alex, so good of you to come," she said, coming over to give them both a hug and cheek-kiss.
Alex accepted and returned the greeting, feeling all the welcome from her that Godfrey denied him. "It's good to still be invited," he said with a grin.
"A sentiment I can wholeheartedly echo," said the man by the mantel, whom Alex had barely registered. He turned and Alex laughed to see it was none other than Phineas O'Connor.
"Is this your mystery man?" asked Julian, delighted.
Emmeline looked decidedly relieved. "Yes, he and I began corresponding after the Courtship dissolved, at first he was just inquiring after you, and then, well..."
"Well, I approve," said Julian, kissing her cheek again. "I always did enjoy our dates, even if there wasn't any kissing."
"None at all?" asked Alex, arm around Julian's waist. "Was I the only one so blessed?"
"Well," Julian prevaricated, "not the only one."
They all laughed, and Alex kissed Julian soundly. "Good, you deserved all the kissing you could get while you endured your Courtship." He turned to O'Connor and put out his hand for shaking. "I approve as well, not that it matters."
"It matters," said O'Connor, shaking hands readily. "Brothers-in-law shouldn't clash."
"Plus, this way we can foist most of the work of the St. Albans estate off on you," said Alex with a wicked grin.
"Ooh, and the titles," said Julian. "That's brilliant!"
Everyone laughed, O'Connor looking frankly surprised at Alex and Julian's eagerness to be rid of the very prizes that had drawn many of the men to him in the first place. "You'd want that?" said O'Connor.
"Oh, yes, Emmy's always done better with those things," said Julian happily. "And this way no one can give me the stink-eye when I move to the city and live with my Alex."
"You must call me Alex, by the way," he said. "If we're to be brothers-in-law and all."
"Phin, please," said Phineas with a grin. "Well, this has gone rather better than I'd hoped."
Julian giggled. "Just as long as you still let Emmy write to Whitby about their porcelain," he warned.
"I wouldn't dream of interfering," said Phin with a chuckle. "She might make me learn about it in his stead."
"Phineas!" she said with a laugh, lightly hitting his arm. "I think the animal husbandry will be quite enough to be going on with."
That started a whole round of teasing between the four of them, and they were all laughing and happy when Godfrey showed up to scowl and led them to yet another parlour where a full tea was set out, including the Benedict truffles.
"Oh, you brought sweets!" cooed Emmy, delighted, and she made sure to take the seat closest to the silver tray of them.
Alex laughed. "There'll be a little bit of Benedict in all of us, I suppose," he teased, taking his own seat opposite her. Julian sat on Alex's right, and Phin on Emmy's right, so the suitors each faced off the siblings.
Tea was served, and the food was as exquisite as Alex remembered, which made Alex assure Emmy that they'd visit regularly, for any meal she wished to invite them to. That caused a great deal more laughter and teasing, and Julian telling Emmy about their brownie, once he made sure it was okay with Alex. That led to talking about Julian's plans for moving, and Phin's intentions toward Emmeline, and back around to Alex assuring Emmy that he'd eventually make an honest man of her brother, just as soon as they'd taken care of any pesky lands or titles he might otherwise have to deal with.
"Oh, that reminds me!" said Emmeline. "I got curious and looked it up, it turns out there was a parcel of land that Duckworth's grandfather sold to our dad that held a natural magic source, except neither of them knew that so dad got it for a song."
"Do you still have it?" asked Alex, surprised. That was a very valuable bit of real estate indeed, and Alex was suddenly interested in the St. Albans lands for purely personal reasons.
She laughed. "We do, and there's even a cottage on the grounds that's in woeful shape. I thought, well... I thought we might renovate the house for your wedding present, once it's that time."
Alex looked a bit stunned. "You'd let me work out there?"
Julian laughed. "We wouldn't live there all the time, but why wouldn't we? It's not as if we've another mage in the family trying to get to it, and right now the whole plot's lying fallow if it's the spot I'm thinking of."
"It is, where we used to go for fairy-ring mushrooms," said Emmeline.
"Oh, there's some great berry patches in there, too," said Julian, clearly excited by the prospect. "And this spring that's so clear you can see right to the bottom, with a little stream and a waterfall by the cottage."
"It sounds beautiful," said Alex. "You won't mind us taking that bit of land, Phin?"
"Of course not," said Phineas with a chuckle. "If it wasn't for Julian's generosity, I might not have any land at all to steward with Emmeline."
They chatted a bit more, until the food was gone and the teapot had been refilled far too many times, and it was dark outside. They took their leave with Phineas still looking a bit stunned, though in the happiest of ways.
"I think he really likes her," said Julian, as they cuddled up in the back of the car.
"She's a remarkable woman," agreed Alex, "and he'd be an idiot not to. Or really very gay, as in my case, not to mention desperately in love with her little brother."
Julian mmed and kissed him, cuddling up practically in his lap. "That was a good save," he teased.
"You're worth saving," said Alex, stealing another kiss.
~ ~ ~
It took more than a bit of shopping to get Julian all moved in, and when it was all done Alex's mismatched furniture had been replaced with the most comfortable of the St. Albans antiques. The kitchen, living room, and bedroom were all redone, though Alex had to admit it was an improvement. Even if he had spent a lot of the time hiding in his work room while Emmeline and Julian discussed paint chips.
They had a little housewarming party when all was said and done. Emmy brought Phineas, now her fiancé. Lapointe came with Smedley and even the overeager Thomas, plus Dr. Geoff and Jones, Jacques and James, and Master Stephen from the Temple. The Benedict siblings made appearances here and there, though Mother was back in Paris and sent her regrets, much to everyone's relief.
Mary Margaret from the nursery came and brought him a bigger pot for his butterfly plant as a housewarming gift, then repotted it right there in the kitchen, much to everyone's amusement. The brownies helped cater but stayed hidden, though Nat had assured Alex that telling people about them wouldn't violate their bargain. The butterfly fairy swooped and giggled and generally enjoyed the attention, especially since the pot
Mary Margaret brought had little wells around the side for honey, milk and tea.
Alex was actually rather enjoying himself when Smedley came over, drink in hand. "So, you're coming back to work someday, right?"
Alex laughed. "Yes, of course I am, I'm almost done with the last of the amulets and whatnot, and I'll be available once again for cases. Dr. Chesterfield assures me that I'm back to normal. I'm not even on the maintenance potions anymore."
"Good, Armistead's getting all full of himself without you around to take him down a peg," said Smedley with a grin. "Oh, that reminds me, they gave me back your keys, said the residue from the dead guy was all gone." Smedley fumbled in his jacket for the little evidence baggie, handing it over to Alex.
"They won't do any good, we changed the locks again. The brownies insisted when they found out I used to have a human cleaning lady," said Alex with a laugh. He lifted up the baggie to look at the keys, whistling to see how they felt after being stored in evidence for weeks.
There was still something tainted, Alex thought, though it didn't sound the same as the curse that he'd been hit with originally. He whistled again, and then his eyes went wide and he nearly dropped the baggie when words began to form on the surface of the metal.
NEXT TIME was spelled out on the head of each key, the letters glistening a sickening red as though whatever had scratched the metal caused it to bleed.
"I, uh, think you may want to keep these," said Alex, showing Smedley the writing.
Smedley's eyes went big. "Yeah," he said, taking the baggie back. He pulled a pocket-sized magic-proof box out of his left jacket pocket and put them inside with great care. "I think we might." He snapped the box shut and returned it to his pocket.
"You're learning," said Alex, impressed.
Smedley chuckled. "Some things, I don't have to be taught twice."
Julian came sidling up to Alex, Horace perched on his shoulder and much-admired by the crowd, and stole a kiss. "You're not trying to steal away my boyfriend, are you?" he asked Smedley teasingly.
"Oh, no," said Smedley with a smirk. "He's yours, creamy mounds and all."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Crook has made her living for the past 15+ years with art and design. She lives in San Leandro, CA, with two cats, a roommate, and a pair of custom-made tentacle pillows. She's a dilettante geek and non-practicing goth. That means that she loves in-jokes and things with skulls on them, she tends not to go too deep into most geeky pursuits, and she rarely dresses up as a Goth (though she does use her purple tentacle parasol to ward off the sun). Strangers stop her on the street to tell her that her hair is long. She loves tea and gin, and she hates it when the trees try to have sex in her sinuses. She's a real geek girl, for certain values of “real,” “geek,” and “girl.”
This is her fourth novel written, but the first one that she feels is polished and ready to unleash upon the world.
