She had been an adult cat then, and she had waited for years for her mage to come along, probably part of the reason that she stuck to my side a lot more than most familiars. But why was she growing?
With more effort than it would normally take, and a dramatic grunt, I stood up. It was a question for another day as she walked to the door of the office.
I followed Patagonia for a few steps before scooping her in my arms. I wanted to hold her close to me, and after a few seconds of fighting, she resigned herself to the contact and purred. My stomach was in knots at the idea of meeting Colleen. What if she didn’t like me? What if she didn’t have the answers to all my questions?
“Hold up.” Bear stepped between me and the door. “I would like you to investigate this.”
“Me? Why not you?”
He gave me a level stare. “I will help as well, but this is what you do best. And it’ll help you.”
I grunted. We had had this argument before, and I knew he was right in theory. Investigating murders gave me a great deal of satisfaction but also increased my skills. I debated for a minute. “Okay, you’re right normally, but not this time. With Colleen coming into town, I really need to focus on that. Once she agrees to train me, then maybe I can help out. But in the meantime, I think you should lead the investigation. I didn’t even find anything useful in my vision, so it’s not like I have an advantage you don’t. Can we go now?” I bounced on my toes, barely able to contain my excitement. Patagonia bit me on the shoulder and growled, but she couldn’t have been too upset because she didn’t break the skin this time.
He let out a little chuckle and opened the door. “Fair enough. Let’s go.”
I bounded out through the door and trotted to the car. I let Patagonia in first then shoved her into the back seat despite her protests.
When Bear got the car into reverse, he still looked worried.
I buckled my seat belt with an exaggerated motion and helped Patagonia settle into my lap. “I bet it was natural causes. He probably had a weak heart and was using some black market weight-loss spells. I’m sure it will be a simple case, and you won’t miss me at all.”
He grunted as he pulled onto the street. “Famous last words.”
CHAPTER THREE
On the drive back to the hotel for Vin and Tiffany’s pre-wedding party, my nerves ramped up. Bear ran over some reminders about his great-great-aunt Colleen, who preferred to be called Colleen because “Great-Great-Aunt makes her feel ancient.” He was unsure of her exact age, but he was sure it was well over one hundred and twenty years. Mages had much longer life spans if they could avoid being killed by a rival, and mage females often had children later in life.
Colleen was his favorite relative though he hadn’t seen her in a decade. They kept in touch through letters, phone calls, texts, and the occasional email though Colleen was suspicious of technology and claimed that for every email that made it through, two were eaten by the internet.
Right as we entered the party, Bear grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “There’s one last thing.”
I listened with half an ear as I scanned the crowd, looking for the unfamiliar face of a mage well into her second century of life. Patagonia stretched up onto her hind legs and used my hip as a scratching post. I tried to detach her claws. “Am I not giving you enough attention or something? Ease up a little.”
She narrowed her eyes in response, and I scratched under her chin in apology.
“This is serious, Ella. She’s here to meet you, but I think she is a bit hesitant about training you.”
“What?” I spun to face him. “But… I thought…” I swallowed hard as all my dreams about having my questions answered were put in jeopardy.
“She didn’t say she would train you, but she didn’t say she wouldn’t. No, don’t look at me like that. I will talk to her more, but she said that these things are delicate and she might not be able to help you.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t as bad as I had feared, though my nerves were now doubled. I could probably convince her. Old ladies always loved me, and I loved them. We could have some tea. I would listen to her stories, and she would see how good an apprentice I would be. That’s it. We would click, and she would know I was worth training.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, of course.” I smoothed my dress down and cleared my throat. “Where is she?” I had not spotted a white-haired, wizened woman in the crowd except for the ones I already knew like Granner Santini, who was Vin and Vanessa’s great-great-grandmother, and Gertrude Preston, who stood next to her husband, Ralph. They were the casino’s seers.
“She’s greeting the marshal and his men. She’s wearing the red dress.” He discreetly jerked his head off to a far corner of the room.
“Her?” She was not even close to what I expected. She had the pale skin, dark hair, and intimidating presence of Morticia Adams. She wasn’t especially tall, even in her heels, but she seemed to intimidate the most powerful men in Rambler who surrounded her.
She had on a sleeveless, knee-length red dress with a shawl draped over her arms. As she adjusted it to cover her shoulders, I could see the strength in her body. Bear had told me that she was a skilled fighter not just with magic but also physically, and I could believe it. I could picture her racing through a jungle like Lara Croft. It was probably the first time someone had been a mix of Morticia Adams and Lara Croft, but it fit.
I swallowed hard and rubbed my sweaty palms on my hips. Even Marshal Felix seemed to pause before he replied to her. He scared me senseless as the most powerful man in Rambler and was also part of the reason that I was trying to keep my distance from Thomas.
A grim-faced man in the group turned to face me and scowled. Victor Bruno looked like death warmed over on the best day. He was suspicious of me from the beginning, and his demand to the marshal was the factor that had me declaring myself a Monza in front of most of the Rambler population long before I knew what it meant. I would never forgive him for that.
Colleen followed his look, and when she spotted Bear at my side, she excused herself to come over. I was able to get a better look at her as she greeted Bear first.
“My little Panda Bear.”
He leaned over to wrap her in a hug. “Aunt Colleen.”
Up close, it was impossible to judge her age. No wrinkles marred her face, but she also didn’t have the soft pads of fat on her face to make her look young. Her skin was smooth and clear, but her eyes carried centuries of wisdom.
A chill shot down my spine, and my mouth went dry. This was not a woman I would impress easily or at all. My only hope was that she took pity on me.
Once their greetings were done, she turned to me. “You must be Ella.”
I shook her hand, but my nerves got the best of me. “Hello, Ella. I’m Colleen. You’re so glad to be here—” My face felt on fire as my words hit my ears. I coughed as though my slipup was caused by a frog in my throat and not a total brain meltdown.
She removed her hand from mine, which was still shaking hers long past the time that a handshake normally lasted. She didn’t look judgmental or understanding, perhaps only the mildest bit curious. She was probably wondering how I managed to navigate life with the intelligence of a rock. I tried to read her emotions, but she had a shield so tight that I couldn’t even sense it. If I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t even have been able to tell that a mage stood there.
The silence stretched out, and I realized she was waiting on me, so I tried again. “I have been looking forward to meeting you, Monza Colleen.”
“Please just call me Colleen.”
I smiled at her, and again the silence stretched out between us. She seemed comfortable, but the compulsion to fill the air with words was overwhelming, like a magnet pulling on iron filings. “You’re the first Monza I’ve met.”
She tipped her head slightly and nodded in reply.
Anxiety crawled up my throat and made it feel difficult to breathe. Over the past year I
had dreamed of the day I’d meet her. I had imagined it a million ways, her wrapping me in her arms and welcoming me to the Monza sisterhood, or she might immediately push me into training exercises. I even had nightmares that she would accuse me of not being a Monza, but never had I expected her calm, almost-bored detachment. She wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t impressed by or interested in me.
But everyone was very interested in her. No one approached, but all eyes were swiveled in her direction. Could everyone tell that I was totally striking out?
I fidgeted from foot to foot, trying not to be too obvious in my discomfort. “It’s probably weird that I’ve never met a Monza, but I am one. I can explain but obviously not now… I mean obviously this is not the time or place. You are probably very tired. I always look like death after a long flight.”
She gave me the smallest smile possible that could qualify as a smile, but it wasn’t condescending. “I feel fine. Thank you.”
“Oh good. I mean, if you need anything, I can get it for you. Do you have a place to stay? Do you need some food? A drink?” I was falling over myself verbally, trying to find a way to get this conversation on the track I wanted it on.
“I’m fine. Excuse me. There are some people I need to greet before the evening is over. I will speak with you soon.” As she walked off, she gently squeezed my upper arm, the only sign from her of any familiarity.
I turned to Bear once she was out of earshot. “She hates me.”
He grimaced. “That wasn’t your most shining moment, but it will be okay. Just relax next time.”
“I tried. She is so intimidating. It felt like she could see my soul.”
“She intimidates everyone. But she did come to see you.”
Vanessa caught sight of me and tottered over. She attempted to whisper in my ear, but it came out a lot louder and wetter than I think she intended. “How much longer?” Her lips didn’t fully enunciate the words, as the liquor was just starting to affect her.
I jerked back and rubbed at my ear. “I think there are four more toasts then some dancing then some other magical traditions—something with an ice sculpture and a flaming sword.”
She blew out a raspberry. “No one does that anymore,” she sulked. She finished off her blue drink and raised two fingers to indicate two more to a waiter hovering at the wall.
Bear excused himself to find Badger. Then the waiter brought over the two drinks, handing one to each of us. Vanessa eyed the glass in my hand, and I realized she had probably intended to keep both. I took a sip of mine just in case her etiquette lessons failed her and she was debating snatching it from my hand. She let out a sigh then sucked on the straw of her own drink. Half of the liquid in her glass disappeared.
“Tiffany insisted on doing every tradition any mage had ever heard of. Even Auntie Ann had to look up the details in a few books.” When I had told Thomas, he had sent me a book on magical wedding traditions that was at least a few hundred years old. I had found it open on the kitchen counter to a tradition of elopement. Had that been a hint?
I surveyed the crowd at the pre-wedding party and tried to find where Colleen had gone. I thought she had gone to talk to Marshal Felix and his goons near the front again. Marshal Felix Ricci was not only the law enforcement for the entire Rambler area and someone that I took every chance to avoid, but he was also Thomas’s father, which only complicated things. The marshal had the right to demand to know who I was and who my family was, and when he had, I had come out as a Monza.
Being a Monza protected me because they were known to cut ties with their families and take on the name of their familiar rather than family, but that had caused a whole new host of problems.
I narrowed my eyes when I saw his head stooge come alongside him. Victor Bruno must have felt my eyes on him because he jerked around and, with laser accuracy, returned my glare. I immediately turned away then cursed myself for my cowardice. I had nothing to hide that he knew about, and I forced myself to look back at the group.
He was still looking at me until the marshal said something to him and he turned away. Victor had been the one to egg the marshal on into demanding who I was. Perhaps he knew something about me and my father, or maybe he was just a jerk.
Next to him was another man I hadn’t previously seen. He was very tall and slender. His angular cheekbones stood out. He did not have the same anonymous appearance as the other henchmen surrounding the marshal.
His suit was cut to perfectly fit his body in a way that only a tailor could manage. His manners were more confident, and even though I couldn’t guess at his words to the marshal, I could tell that he didn’t kowtow to him the way others around him did. Colleen obviously wasn’t with them, and I was about to look away when I realized that the younger man reminded me of someone, and when he turned to look in my direction, I gasped as the realization hit me.
“He looks like Thomas!”
Vanessa swung around to stare in the direction I was looking. “That’s Ben Ricci. The marshal’s his dad. Apparently the marshal is quite a ladies’ man. But I never noticed that he looked like Thomas.” She waggled her fingers in a little wave at him and blew a kiss, but Ben didn’t seem to notice her.
I shuddered at the thought of the marshal sleeping around. He reminded me of a praying mantis. “He has the same eyes as Thomas. They might even be the same color. I can’t tell from this distance. Thomas never told me he had a brother.”
“Half brother.”
“That makes sense. Their coloring is pretty different. Why are they”—I gestured to Ben, the marshal, Victor, and the men surrounding them—“even here? Is it, like, required to have the local marshal at your wedding?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes and swayed a bit on unsteady legs. “The marshal is normally invited as a formality, but that’s not why he—they—are all here. I guess Tiffany’s dad is in a wheelchair and not all here mentally, so she got the idea that the marshal should walk her down the aisle.” She pressed a hand to her chest and burped. The stench of liquor enveloped her. “Victor and Ben are going to be ushers and seat people for the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Vin told me that Tiffany’s pushing him to get in tight with the marshal. Since he isn’t working at the Golden Pyramid Casino anymore, she thinks he should start looking to ‘work his way up the ladder.’” She did little air quotes, forgetting about the glass in one hand. Luckily, it was mostly empty, and a waiter scooped the liquid and a few ice cubes off the ground before anyone could trip. “Vin said he would rather die than be put in the mage bureaucracy, but whatever she wants for the wedding is up to her.”
“But why did they agree to it? Heavens know I wouldn’t be in the wedding for anything.”
Of all the places in all the world, Vin and Tiffany’s pre-wedding party was the last place I wanted to be. I had been sure that I could avoid the entire sordid affair, but since Vin’s family had taken responsibility for my training, it turned out that not being present was akin to wearing white after Labor Day to walk under a ladder while opening an umbrella inside then breaking a mirror before spitting on the queen. Bad luck and terrible manners all rolled into one. I had been seriously weighing the option of faking my own death.
But at least I wasn’t miserable alone. Vanessa groaned next to me and fidgeted from foot to foot in her heels that were several inches taller than were practical given the way she listed from side to side, like a ship in a storm. I had tried to convince her to wear something lower, but she insisted they were worth it with all the single men that would be present, but the joke was on her. All the single men were huddled together around Vin and hadn’t given Vanessa even a passing glance.
I lifted my drink, and the bracelet at my wrist made a light, delicate sound like wind chimes as the charms jingled against each other. As I always did, I stopped to admire it, running my fingers over each handcrafted item dangling off the bracelet. A week after Thomas had left for the East Coast, I had found a flat violet box sitting in the c
enter of the coffee table. It hadn’t been there that morning, but a pop of magic with the aura of freshly crushed pine needles had set my mind to Thomas. When I spotted the box in the same striking hue as his eyes, I knew it was from him.
Inside the box was a white metal chain bracelet made up of oval loops, and attached to it was a heart. Folded underneath the jewelry was a note in the handwriting that I recognized.
Dearest Ella, things are far more complicated than anticipated, and I fear it will be months until I can see you again. I must travel far and wide to find who and what I need, but you will never be far from my mind. I had hoped to stay in touch, but I will be unable to call or text. This platinum bracelet reminded me of you, delicate yet strong and tougher than gold or tarnished silver. Danger is everywhere, and I have placed a protection spell on it and the charm. Please wear it and think of me. T
The bracelet gave me an odd mixture of happiness and sadness. I was obviously thrilled with the gift and especially the thought behind it, but I had also vowed to distance myself from Thomas. Not only could I not date anyone, but he was the last person I could even entertain the idea of being connected with. I had suspicions about his intense interest in me, and his father was a dubious character. I would list forever the reasons I should pack up the bracelet right that second and drop it off at his father’s casino, but instead I slipped it on my wrist. What could it hurt to try it on for a few minutes?
The second I closed the latch on the bracelet I could feel Thomas’s magic envelop me. It was a gentle caress across my skin, a stir in my belly, and a warm whisper on my face. I felt safe, treasured, and content. His magic was like walking through a forest as light dappled across the ground and leaves and needles crunched under my feet. Despite my reservation, I wanted to wear the bracelet.
Nice Day for a Mage Wedding: Casino Witch Mysteries 4 Page 2
