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“Then give my love to her, will you? Tell her I am okay and I have control of it. I will be just fine here in this realm, with my mate.”
“Did you say your mate?” he asked, startled so he choked on the coffee he was trying to drink when I said it.
“Yes. I’ve been mated. We both aspire to be professors one day. Right here, at Blackthorn Academy where I will teach the defensive arts and he will teach the offensive ones. We are a perfect match.” I nodded.
“Well. It… uh… seems you have it all figured out then. I… knew you were going to grow up fast when you got there, but I did not anticipate… so much.” He nodded, seemed caught between happy and sad. “I will do better about determining if your sister or brother have any extra skills. So far they show no signs of interest in magical things. You always had an interest.”
I nodded. I heard the door open to the doormroom and said, “Give my love to everyone. And Father,” I smiled at him, “Thank you for this communication device. It may not tell my future, but at least I can always contact the most important parts of my past. My family.”
“We love you, Darling. Call me anytime.”
I turned to look at Maxine as I wrapped the crystal ball in the velvet cloth. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I think I just did.” She moved to her bed and dropped down on it. “I was on a walk and I saw what looked like my grandmother ahead of me, but younger and she was walking with several friends and they were giggling and laughing and pointing ahead of them. I couldn’t see what was ahead of them, but the pack of girls broke off to go one direction and she stayed there. I thought she was waiting on me, but then… he came. And they ran into the forest and… I tried to follow, but as soon as I saw them kissing… poof! All gone.”
“Wow.” I took a seat on my bed. “That is some vision. What do you think it means?”
Maxine shook her head. “I have no idea, but he was not my grandfather. In fact, I’d seen his face before.”
“Where?” I was practically holding my breath for this news.
“At Thurston’s parent’s house. It… really looked like a younger version of Thurston in the portrait. The first time I saw it, I mentioned to his brother how it seemed odd for him to be in uniform, but then I learned that was back in the days when the students wore uniforms. We don’t anymore.”
“So. Sounds like we may have a mystery to solve.” I was hopeful of this distraction.
“Or it was a warning that someone in my family is already part of his family so if we hooked up we’d have little merchildren with fins on their foreheads shoving wands up their noses because they couldn’t possibly understand magic.” She flopped back onto the bed in such a dramatic fashion that I had to giggle. “Don’t laugh at me.”
We both laughed at that. “Well. There is only one way to find out.”
She nodded. Either way, she needed to know.
CHAPTER20
A few months later…
Brazrothan
Thirst had gone homefor a weekend and that left me and my mate plenty of time and space to play in my room. I kept her sated, therefore, I kept the realm safe. It was a labor of love. A sacrifice I was willing to make for the good of the realm.
The rumors had become just that, myth, legend, whispers that could not be true because Eleanor Easternwind was a sweetheart and would never hurt anyone. She was a basic witch, not even first in her class, how could she possibly be the enemy of monsters?
“Do you want nachos?” she asked before conjuring up a plate for us both.
I laughed and nodded. “Love some.”
“More than me?” she asked and pulled the plate in her hand out of my reach.
“I love nothing more than you.” I winked at her. She was being a brat on purpose.
“What about Thirst?” she asked. “You’re like brothers.”
“We are brothers. By choice not biology, but he is my brother all the same.” I nodded and she sat the nachos between us on the table.
“So… you know him really, really well.” She dipped her chip into the cheese and looked up at me. My expression had to say it all. “I know it is obvious to you, me, and anyone paying attention, but they… belong together and she knows it. I think he knows it too.”
I wasn’t going to lie to her. “He doesn’t want to know it. She dated his younger brother.”
“Hmmm.” She looked at me and I knew before she said anything. A plan was forming and I wasn’t going to like it much. “What if we… gave them some… assistance? Just a little nudge.”
“A little nudge?” I shook my head. I sighed and resigned to the fact that my mate wanted my help and while matchmaking was not my specialty, I would do whatever it took to make her happy. Even if it meant Thirst might try to murder me later. I laughed at the thought. She’d protect me. “What did you have in mind?”
She was such a monster. My monster and I loved her for that.
