The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (Consulting Magic Book 2)

by Amy Crook

  "Nah, it's got a little extra something to make it sink in quick-like," she said.

  Julian obediently removed dressing gown and pyjama top, trying to ignore the goosebumps that rose up. She looked and hmmed and did some things, and then he felt the cool paste smoothed over his bruise all the way out past where he'd been able to see colour in the mirror. "How long should I keep it on?" he asked.

  "Brush your teeth afore you shower, and it'll be fine," she said. "I'll have biscuits and tea when you get out for being a good boy," she teased.

  He giggled and stood up, leaving the clothes where they sat. "You're a gem," he said, and headed into the bathroom. He rushed a little in the shower, then dressed partway in a button-down shirt and trousers, well aware that Dr. Tamlinson would want his own peek at Julian's shoulder. It did feel better after both Alys' treatment and the warm shower, less stiff and achy, though still sore.

  Julian smiled to see tea and biscuits set up at his writing desk as he emerged, along with paper and pen, and he whistled to Horace as he sat down. The little bird flew over to chirp and twitter at him while he wrote a short love note to Alex, and then he folded it up in a flower-shape and hid it in Horace's chest. "You give that to him in a little while, when he's in there alone, okay?"

  Horace chirped assent, nibbling Julian's fingers gently, then hopping up to his shoulder to preen his damp hair.

  "Oh, now you're not afraid of a little damp," said Julian, checking the time. "They should be here any minute, let's go start a pot of tea."

  "You just have a sit, dear, I'll have tea and biscuits ready when the boys arrive," said Alys, though Julian wasn't quite sure where she was at. The brownies didn't do their invisibility thing often anymore, but sometimes she just felt like it, especially when company was coming. Julian went and stood by the window instead of sitting, looking out at the city and thinking about having some plants there to soften the man-made landscape.

  Horace hopped down his arm until he could be petted comfortably, which made Julian smile. "I'm glad you like this, even though you're metal," said Julian softly. Alex had never really explained what made Horace the way he was, but in a way Julian didn't want to know. He knew it was magic, and that was all that mattered.

  "How could anyone not like being petted by you?" said Alex, coming up to hug him from behind.

  "Oh, I didn't hear you come in," said Julian, turning to steal a kiss, though he kept his hands as they were. "I'm not just keeping you for your bird, but he is an excellent perk," teased Julian.

  "If you two are done being disgusting," said Geoff with mock-irritation, "I'd like to make sure someone with actual medical training sees to Julian's shoulder."

  "Alys put a poultice on before my shower," said Julian. "And Alex has been putting on his own bruise potions."

  "And now I want to see it," said Geoff, and then he relented and grinned. "I'm sure it's fine, but you know how it is. You'd want to see it if I got a plant for my desk and tried not to kill it."

  Julian chuckled. "Yes, all right. Here," he said, handing Horace off to Alex, letting the construct hop up onto Alex's shoulder. "You go fix my amulet, and I'll be safe enough in Geoff's hands."

  "Your wish is my command," said Alex with a grin. He stole one more kiss, and snagged the cup of perfectly-prepared tea that had appeared on the table, then vanished into his work room.

  "Just don't take forever, I get cold easily," said Julian. "Hello, by the way."

  "Hello," said Geoff. "Now, sit here." He guided Julian to sit sideways on the couch, taking a seat behind him but not so close as to seem untoward. Julian shook off his sudden foolish self-consciousness and unbuttoned his shirt, letting it fall down. "So, Doc, am I gonna live?"

  Geoff chuckled as he was meant to, and Julian relaxed. "I'm pretty sure you were going to live whether or not I examined you," he said, "I just want to check for underlying bone damage, so this might hurt a little."

  "Ugh, more poking. You're putting more of Alex's potion on after, then," protested Julian.

  "Deal," replied Geoff, already sounding distracted. Julian felt fingers on his skin, and tried not to twitch as Geoff gently probed the edges of the bruise, then moved carefully to the centre. He ran his fingers up and down the length of the oblong where the pipe had impacted, and Julian remembered what Alex said about him sensing magic through touch.

  "Are you using magic to probe me, Doctor?" asked Julian, making it sound flirty.

  "Only a little," said Geoff. "I don't feel anything broken, though, and whatever they've been giving you is working really well. It already looks a lot more than half a day old."

  "Good," said Julian. "It really does feel better, that hurt a lot less than I was expecting."

  "Let me put this on, then," said Geoff. "This is the right bottle?" Julian turned; Alys must have brought the bruise potion out for them at some point, probably when she made the tea appear.

  "Yep, that's it," said Julian, sitting straight again.

  Geoff's fingers were gentle but professional, and Julian relaxed as he rubbed the potion in. "Thanks," he said, once it was done.

  "As I'm not a fairy, you're welcome," said Geoff. He handed Julian his cup of tea. "You drink a bit of that while I wash my hands, just to make sure you don't stain your shirt."

  "All right," said Julian, giving a little shiver. The tea was warm, though, and Geoff didn't take but a minute to wash up before declaring Julian shirt-safe.

  "You really do get cold easily," said Geoff, sitting to have some tea of his own, finally. "You must love it outside right now."

  Julian shrugged, but he was smiling. "I do, I always loved August in the orchards, when there's peaches and trees to climb to get to them."

  "I'll bet you gave your family a heart attack a time or two doing that, no wonder you're not much fussed about a little bruise," said Geoff. They talked about childhood bad habits and Julian's plans to go harvesting after the equinox, and ate Alys' wonderful shortbread biscuits until Alex emerged from his work room.

  "All better," he said, holding up the amulet on its cord. It looked a little different now, and Julian was sure Alex had done more than just 'fix' it, but he wasn't going to complain. "Wear it for me?"

  "And for me," said Julian, but he let Alex put it on and tuck it away. "Thank you."

  "You're very welcome, especially if you saved me a biscuit or three," said Alex.

  A whole plate of them appeared and, a moment later, Alex's cup, which proceeded to fill itself with the requisite amounts of tea, milk and sugar.

  "Okay, that's just cool," said Geoff. "That's your brownies I guess?"

  "Yeah, Alys is feeling antisocial today," said Julian. "I can never decide if it's cooler when we have stuff serve itself, or when we get to see real life house-brownies in our own flat."

  Alex looked very pleased. "It's all magic, you've enjoyed that as long as I've known you."

  "I bet Chudleigh would love it here," said Julian teasingly.

  Alex surprised him by looking pensive. "He would, I wonder what he's been up to since the Courtship?"

  Julian kissed his cheek. "You're so thoughtful, I forgot how you two got along. He writes sometimes, he's learning more about his family's estates. I think he's hoping to do another Courtship now that they're in fashion."

  "We should have him over sometime, then," said Alex.

  "You really think so?" said Julian, snuggling up closer. "I'm not sure most boyfriends would say that about a former suitor."

  "Good thing I'm not them, then," teased Alex, stealing a kiss, and then another two biscuits. These were a lovely soft spice cookie with crunchy sugar on top, perfect for giving a hungry mage back some energy, and Julian took one for himself.

  "If you two don't stop being so cute, I'm going to get depressed," said Geoff, only mostly teasing.

  Julian leaned over and offered him another sweet. "It's not my fault you spend all your time hiding down in the infirmary instead of up flirting with handsome men."

  "O
r women," said Alex. "I think Geoff likes both, right?"

  Geoff actually blushed. "I do, though I've been thinking I want to date a man for a while now. I blame Alex's creamy mounds."

  "They are very pale and pert," agreed Julian, though he couldn't keep a straight face while doing it.

  They all cracked up laughing, which took away some of the shadow from Geoff's face. Julian made a mental note for them to have another party sometime, and invite some people who might not know each other. He also made a mental note to write to Emmy, and probably call her, too, before she killed him for not telling her about his latest adventures.

  Alex's phone pinged to inform them that MacLean and Lapointe were on the way to his place, and they were welcome to join them any time.

  "Let me eat a few more of these, and we can go," Alex said, alternating huge bites of cookie with sips of tea to wash it down.

  "Alys, did you make dessert for us to take to Thomas' house?" asked Julian. By way of an answer, a lovely cake box appeared, presumably with some sort of sweet treat inside. "You're wonderful as always," said Julian with a grin.

  "Ooh, I wonder what she made?" said Alex, reaching toward it.

  Julian smacked his hand lightly. "Stop it, that's for later."

  Alex harrumphed, but he went back to devouring biscuits. "Are you ready to go, then?" he asked.

  "Well, I'll need shoes, and I was thinking of taking a sweater in case Thomas has his AC turned up," said Julian.

  "Go get those, then, I'm almost ready," said Alex, giving Julian a slightly sugary kiss.

  Julian licked the sugar and spice off his lips and grinned. "Be good, now," he said, and got up to go finish getting ready.

  "Does he really get that cold?" he heard Geoff asking as he vanished into the bedroom for his favourite lightweight sweater. It was made of wool off their estate, dyed a lovely golden brown and knitted up by one of the older aunties as a holiday gift. He traded his slippers for socks and shoes, then came out to find Geoff and Alex still talking about him.

  "I'm not dying, I had it checked out, I just get cold easily," said Julian. "You examined me half an hour ago, you can tell I'm not sick or anything."

  Geoff flushed and laughed. "You're not, sorry, it's just one of those interesting anomalies."

  "I was trying to remember if it's been worse since you started using your talent," said Alex, a little sheepish.

  "I don't think so," said Julian with a shrug. "I've been this way a long time, anyway, since I was a teenager at least. I remember when I was fourteen all the aunties got together and made me sweaters and scarves and things from some St. Albans wool, this is one of them." Julian held up the sweater. "They had it all custom dyed and everything, it was a whole production. The next year I got a quilt they'd all worked on, too."

  "You've got aunties like that, too?" said Alex. "Mine mostly spoil the babies now, and leave me be."

  "I do, they went through a couple of quilts, and I'm sure I've still got at least one other sweater, though Mother disapproved of anything that wasn't designer, of course." Julian turned to Geoff. "How about you, do you have any family that gives you knitwear?"

  "Oh, yes, and whenever a new woman marries into the family, they all teach her to knit. So I've got this one sweater that's like a masterwork of fancy stitching and subtle colour, and a hat so ugly even a blind man wouldn't wear it," said Geoff with a laugh. "They do a rota and swap around who knits for who, everyone hopes they'll be Nan's pick that year."

  Alex finished off his second cup of tea and stood; there was nothing but crumbs left on the plate. "I'll bring this," he said, grabbing the cake box with a proprietary air.

  Geoff chuckled. "I'll make sure you don't eat it on the way," he said, standing and stretching, watching as the dishes floated into the kitchen and began washing themselves. "Damn, how do you get a house-brownie again?"

  Alex chuckled. "I've no idea, mine arrived by recommendation."

  "Hm, well, at the very least I'll have to start putting bread and honey out again, I used to but I broke my bowl and then there were ants," said Geoff with a sigh. "You've got a set of charmed bowls, right?"

  They went outside to show him the bowl, and a full one even appeared by the door inside to be swapped on their way out, which gave Geoff a chance to admire them. "These are nice, were they expensive?"

  "I don't know, Flora gave them to me as a housewarming gift, so I expect so," said Alex. "But I know there's less expensive versions, what's your price range?"

  They locked up and talked about fairy bowls and other such practices on the way to MacLean's house, snuggled up in a cab with Julian in the middle. Geoff was big and warm and tried to leave a polite distance, but Alex put one long arm across the back of the seat and poked him in the shoulder. "It's fine, I know you're not trying to steal my Julian," he said.

  Geoff flushed and laughed awkwardly, but he relaxed enough to make the rest of the ride more comfortable. "How did you get to be so confident?" said Geoff.

  It was Julian's turn to look smug. "I make sure he knows I appreciate him," he said, snuggling up to Alex. "We fit."

  Alex grinned. "Plus, Horace is still technically mine."

  That set them to laughing, and the conversation went back to magic, and Geoff even coaxed Julian into talking about his new job a little. "I don't like to bring it up, you know, in case people think it's boring," he said.

  "Well, I'm interested," said Geoff. "What exactly does your talent do?"

  "Well, the first thing it does is make plants grow better," said Julian. "I have this sense that tells me what they need, plus I give them energy so they end up more healthy than they would otherwise."

  "And magical plants are more magical, so they give potions and amulets more oomph," said Alex. "Which is really useful to have around, let me tell you."

  "Oh, that's really neat. Maybe once you're allowed, we can get you in to work on the infirmary greenhouse. It's up on the roof, and I'm terrible about keeping it up," said Geoff.

  "I might be able to do it for free now, depending on what Master Stone says," said Julian. "She thinks I need more diverse experience, and most of the stuff at her nursery is non-magical things like flowers and houseplants."

  "Well, once the case is done, I'll give her a call, then," said Geoff. "If we get them used to you while you're an apprentice, maybe you can get an Agency contract like Alex once you're a journeyman."

  "Making it a family business," teased Alex. "Not that I want murder to be our thing," he added, making a cutely distraught face. "I hate that you got dragged into this one."

  "It's not like you did it on purpose," Julian reassured him, giving Alex a kiss.

  "I'll get this," said Alex, as the cab pulled up, and he handed off the cake so he could get out and pay. There was a bit of juggling with everything, but soon enough they were in the elevator on the way up to MacLean's flat.

  "Why do you still use that cane, anyway?" asked Geoff, as they stepped into the hall.

  "It's proven its worth," said Alex.

  "It's a wand-cane," said Julian, poking him for being vague. "He uses it for his magic, he's got all sorts of neat toys."

  "I do, and I've been researching how to make a few more. I had totally forgotten how much I enjoyed making things while I was living off consulting the past few years, so I'm keeping it up," said Alex.

  "It makes him happy," said Julian, "and I can sit and read in his lab unless he's doing dangerous stuff."

  Alex knocked, and MacLean opened the door with a huge grin on his face. "You brought cake!"

  Julian giggled. "It's from Alys, we don't know what it is yet," he said, "but she likes you, so it's bound to be good."

  "She's not even mad at me for anything," said Alex, going in when MacLean stepped back.

  "She doesn't like me that much, but she did give me biscuits with tea," said Geoff, handing the box off to Thomas.

  Lapointe laughed. "You must've thanked her for something, that always makes them grumpy."
>
  "Maybe," said Geoff with a sigh.

  "So, movie first, or me getting to see Thomas' new game?" asked Julian, settling on the couch next to Lapointe.

  "Cake," said Thomas and Alex in unison.

  Lapointe laughed and stood. "I will take Alex in to make tea and explore the cake, you show Julian your game."

  "I'll go with the boys," teased Geoff.

  "Yes, the adults will make your snack," Alex shot back, claiming the cake box from Thomas.

  Julian got up, too, and he and Geoff crowded around Thomas' gaming computer, with its giant monitor and specialised keyboard setup. Thomas didn't talk about the hobby much at work, but once you got him started and showed some interest he lit up from the inside, and Julian could see how much he loved it. "All right, what's this new game again?"

  Thomas launched into an explanation, showing them his character and some of its different gear, and the beautiful castles he was building in the virtual landscape. He'd decorated them inside and out, and he explained which quests got him what stuff, and told Julian all about how they used a mix of real and made-up plants for the magic in the game.

  At some point during his enthusiastic monologue, Alex handed out cups of tea and Lapointe followed with slices of a rich chocolate cake with hints of some floral flavour, enough for Lapointe and Julian to adore it, and the other boys not to mind. They all joined in the conversation around Thomas' computer.

  "Okay, I admit it, that is really cool," said Alex, heading over to flop in one of the chairs once Thomas had sheepishly realised they'd spent an hour there.

  "I'm glad you guys weren't bored," said Thomas, shutting everything down carefully.

  "It was interesting," said Murielle; she'd been mostly quiet, but Julian could see she was more fascinated than she let on.

  "But now there needs to be movie, beer, and pizza," said Geoff, flopping on the other chair, leaving the big sofa for the other three. Julian curled up in a corner, shoes off and sweater on, forcing Thomas and Murielle to sit together.

  "Beer's in the fridge, what does everyone want on their pizza?" asked Thomas, pulling out his phone.

  The resultant negotiations took another twenty minutes, but their bickering was good-natured, and everyone was happy in the end. They all got started on a beer while they waited for it to show up, and Julian solved the issue of who had how much cash by paying with his card and making Murielle get the tip.