AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I have a way to find out. I just haven't bothered to look. The warning was always enough for me to keep my distance. My whole bloodline would be despairing right now, knowing that I'm breaking bread with one of your kind," Mara said.
She didn't know why she was risking her ancestors' disapproval and wrath. She doubted they would have supported her theory of Melbourne wanting a miracle.
Her mother would've told her that if the sorcerer broke it, it was up to him to fix it.
"I, for one, am glad that destiny has brought us all together," Flynn said over the top of them, breaking up the brewing argument. "Melbourne is weird enough without its magic always in flux. If you two working together can fix it, then it's worth burying the animosity of ancestors and gaining new friendships."
Mara looked sideways at Augustus. "Is he always this positive?"
"Unfortunately. He doesn't like arguments. Better not introduce him to your grandfather cat."
Flynn didn't like that they were finding their common ground in mutual criticism of himself, but he was willing to tolerate it to see the tension between the two relax again.
He focused on his wine and tried not to think too hard about the way the two of them circled each other like wary, curious cats.
After dinner, Mara got lost in Augustus's bookshelves. She still had the book of sorcerers that he had given her, but she couldn't resist running her fingers along the spines and pulling several other volumes off the shelves.
Augustus seemed to be interested in everything from quantum theory to mythography. He found her sometime later, sitting on the floor with a small stack beside her, and a book opened in her lap.
"I've been thinking," he said as he sat beside her and leaned back against the bookshelf.
"It seems you don't do much else," Mara murmured, not looking up from the page of illustrations she was studying.
"I know, I can't help it. It's a sorcerer thing. Hear me out?" Augustus asked. Mara lifted her head and shut the book in her lap.
"I'm listening," she said.
"I want us to have a proper truce. I hate to admit it, much more than you can possibly know, but I need your help. Without your grief tea and miracles, I can't fix Melbourne's magic or detangle myself from it. It's my nature to want to figure out how your magic works so that I can understand how it reacts to mine and Melbourne's as a whole. I'm bossy and demanding and impatient, and I'm going to probably piss you off more than you can imagine. I don't mean it."
Augustus struggled to vocalize what he was thinking at the best of times, and Mara had no idea that her proximity made him even more inarticulate.
"Are you trying to figure out what you can offer me in return for helping you?" Mara asked with a frown. "Because you should know, that's not how miracles work."
"That's the problem, Mara. I don't know how or why any of this is working," Augustus replied. "I had the memories of my sister to contend with the other night, but mostly I was drinking because I can't figure out any of this. Not the magic, not my buried grief, and certainly not you."
Mara rested a hand on his knee. "Perhaps you need to learn to stop being such a control freak, Augustus. I said I'd help you, and I will. That's all there is to it. Miracles don't require payment because they take as much as they give. In your case, you need to sacrifice your pride."
"I know, and that's why I've been fighting it every step of the way. You said your miracles can't be paid for, but let me give you something in return. Please, my honor demands it," Augustus said.
God, that must be lonely.Mara chewed her lip, thinking about her day and his words that wouldn't leave her head. Then she had her answer. "I want to go with you to sort out Melbourne's supernatural disputes like we did today."
"That doesn't seem like a very good payment," he said with a frown.
"It will get me out of the shop. They won't remember me anyway. I'd like to meet with people who aren't telling me their darkest secrets," she replied, and because he was being so painfully honest with her, she decided to return the favor.
"You were right. I am lonely. I can't change the memory curse, but maybe spending time outside of the shop will make it seem less unbearable."
Augustus's expression softened, and he placed his hand over hers. "I remember you."
"For now. Who is to say that once we finish going through your grief, you won't forget me like everyone else?" Mara asked, and his hand tightened around hers unexpectedly.
"I won't forget you."
"You won't have a choice. Try not to let it trouble you too much, Augustus. Saints and sorcerers aren't meant to be friends for long anyway," Mara said. She did her best to sound flippant, but it sounded like a lie even to her.
Why did the Corvo saints hate sorcerers so much?For the first time in her long life, Mara was determined to find out and not take Sophia's word on it.
"I agree to your terms, Mara Corvo," Augustus said, shaking their held hands. "And I am determined to be your friend. Curses, memories, and disapproving ancestors be damned." He said it with a smile, but Mara knew a vow when she heard one.
