“Helen says you have something a little smaller,” Scout said. “I have the feeling most of the shops have little apartments over and under them. We lucked out because Helen and Marcus want to live in their little cottage in the woods.”
Lucky grunted humorlessly. “Well, they do call me Lucky.”
Scout winked at him. “And you have no idea how lucky you really are,” he said, making his way to the kitchen. The kitchen wasn’t huge like the one in the compound, but Kayleigh had taken a look around and pronounced it “adequate.” “Here. Sit. There’s soda in the fridge and chips in the pantry. I’m going to go change out of my work clothes.”
He indicated the formal waistcoat with the red satin shirt underneath, and he watched Lucky’s comic dismay dawn across his face.
“No,” he said, grinning, “I do not wear this around the house. Why do you ask?”
Lucky ignored his injunction to sit and instead followed him to the single bedroom with a single bed on either side of the room.
“Isn’t that inconvenient?” he asked as Scout slid off his waistcoat and hung it neatly on the hanger. “Living with your sister?”
Scout shrugged and started unbuttoning his red satin shirt. He had a T-shirt on underneath, he admonished himself. There was no reason, none whatsoever, for this to feel quite so intimate.
“I’m gay, and she’s so disenchanted with men right now she might as well be,” he said. “She’s my best friend. It’s not a problem.”
Luckyhmmed. Scout looked up quickly to see what he was thinking but only saw curiosity in his eyes. “Why’s she hate men?”
Scout shrugged and slid off the shirt, then went to work on his suit pants, hanging them up on the same hangar and very carefully not glancing at Lucky, who seemed absolutely fascinated at seeing Scout in his skivvies. Scout had spent his entire life sleeping in a dorm/barracks with all of his brothers and half brothers, and not once had he felt so self-conscious. But he wasn’t going to tell Lucky that.
“Kayleigh and I grew up in… sort of a family ranch,” Scout said, trying to explain it without exaggeration while he was rooting through his drawer for his jeans, a new T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. He adored hooded sweatshirts—had bought five on the trip from upstate New York to South Carolina—and T-shirts to match. The freedom of jeans or cargo shorts and T-shirts as opposed to a button-up shirt and slacks, which he’d been required to wear every day, was probably in line with Kayleigh’s joy at eating something she hadn’t cooked. “Everything was very patriarchal. The women were expected to give birth to more people who could… uhm, move tables, I guess, and cook for the men. And everything was about the men. Could we move tables well enough? Were we onboard with the family plan? When I was a little kid, my older brother, Macklin, managed to escape. My father kept expecting him to ‘sow his wild oats’ and come back to the fold. About a year ago, Macklin fell in love with another man, and basically, they both told Dad to fuck off. Since then, Dad has beeninsaneabout breeding more—” He hesitated at using the word. “—wizards.”
“Table movers,” Lucky supplied dryly.
“Yeah, that.” Scout winked. “Anyway, the situation hadn’t been ideal before, but my table-mover power is… well, I don’t want to say weak, because Macklin says I’m pretty strong. And I don’t want to say wonky, because… well, it always does exactly whatIwant it to do, but not what anybody elsetellsme to make it do. So, that thing you saw today? That was Kayleigh and me playing around. If Alistair, my father, showed up and said, ‘Move that table or I’ll blow your brains out,’ Kayleigh would have a lot of cleaning up to do.”
Lucky recoiled in horror.
That’s the way to make it romantic, Scout. Gross him out.
“Would your old man really do that?” he asked, sounding appalled.
Scout found his sweatshirt and set it on the bed before rooting for a T-shirt that wasn’t white. In the barracks, they’d had to keep their clothes neatly folded and in the appropriate drawers, all in a row. His way wasn’t as efficient, but, well, it was giving Lucky more time to look at him, and the thought was making him sort of tingly.
“Let’s say Iwasthrilled to get kicked out of the house, but it was also inevitable. I did the two things that would get me disowned. One was like boys better than girls, and Dad found my favorite romance novels to prove it, and the other was not be able to perform to spec. I was supposed to do a particular trick for him, and I guess my magi—erm, table moving wasn’t up to his standards, so next thing I know, I’m standing ten miles from home, barefoot in my ceremonial robes.”
“Yikes!” Lucky said, obviously sincere. “How did you get Kayleigh to join you?”
Scout chuckled. “It was the damnedest thing. The trick I was supposed to do was open up a portal. It’s one of the biggest things you can do because it disrupts time and space. Anyway, Alistair asked, I couldn’t perform, and I end up alone in the woods. Then I discover that one of my other brothers had prepared for this very moment. I’ve got a phone, I’ve got cash, I’ve got my brother Macklin’s number in my pocket—I amfree.And the first thing I think of is Kayleigh, because as trapped as I was, she was, like, a thousand times more trapped. She was going to get married to some asshole she’s never met who would expect her to pump out a few puppies and cook for the rest of her life.”
“Oh wow,” Lucky said faintly. He looked genuinely sympathetic for Kayleigh, and that earned him points right there. “That’s… wow. So what’d you do?”
“Well, I thought about Kayleigh, and I summoned my… uhm—”
“Call it magic, Scout. I can deal with magic.”
Scout gave him his biggest smile and found his jeans, aware as he did so that Lucky had been listening to every word he’d said, but he hadn’t taken his eyes from Scout’s body as he’d done so. Scout felt that tingle amplify and wished he had more muscles or a six-pack or a chest. He thought when he’d hit his twenties, he’d fill out—Macklin had a broad-shouldered build—but no. He’d stayed tall and slender, with only his definition to show his strength.
“So I summoned my magic and thought miserably that I wanted Kayleigh there, and boom. There’s the portal I couldn’t call to save my life. I yanked Kayleigh through it—willingly, there was hugging, I’m a good brother—and now we’re on the run. Alistair didn’t give a rat’s ass aboutme, buthermarriage was supposed to seal some sort of power deal. My brother Macklin and his boyfriend have been zipping around the country keeping Alistair busy for the last few weeks. I think they’ve got Jordan’s friends working on a way to block Kayleigh from Alistair forever so she can really be free of him.”
He gave Lucky a sober look. “So like your coin—if your coin ever gets warm in your pocket, you’ll know someone’s looking for you. Jordan’s friends are casting spells to protect Kayleigh. If their spells ever turn on them, we’ll get a phone call about Alistair and….” He shrugged.
“You’ll be on the next ferry,” Lucky said with satisfaction.
Scout pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Maybe. Or maybe my magic decides to stop being chickenshit and keeps her safe. Or even better, she figures out balefire—I mean, she’s got enough justified rage, believe you me—and then Alistair returns home with his hair all crispy and decides this is not a place he wants to come anymore.”
Lucky snorted into his hand. “Really? You spend your life afraid of the guy and you think that’s gonna happen?”
