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"The city was like that then. Anyone could arrive, make a fortune, and become a gentleman. Rutherford had been mediocre as a sorcerer, and yet he was seen as the most powerful practitioner in Melbourne," Augustus said and shook his head.
"The man was an idiot who got himself in the worst kind of trouble and was too stupid to realize how deep he was until he was drowning."
Mara stirred her leaves, waiting for him. "And then what happened, Augustus?"
"I started to follow up leads on the murders and found Gwen doing the same digging. She had been acquainted with one of the murder victims called Katie, who was half-fae like Gwen. When her body went missing from the morgue, Gwen and I decided it would be better for us to start working together. In other words, I disagreed, and she ignored me until I stopped fighting with her about it. The thing about Gwen was that she could talk her way into anything and get information I had no way of acquiring. People liked her, gravitated towards her, and I was no better.
"We got a lead on one of the dead girl's friends, a were-fox who was working for Madame Brussels. Once Gwen had convinced the madame that they were interested in sharing the girl, we got an insightful meeting with Lizzie Friar. She was scared. The man who she thought killed Katie had also done horrible things to people who had betrayed him."
"I convinced her that I'd be able to protect her, that my magic would rival his." Augustus's voice broke, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Lizzie t-trusted us. She told us that Ulysses Rutherford was a pawn for a greater sorcerer working his way through Melbourne's underbelly. We encouraged her to go and stay with Gwen, but Lizzie needed to finish the night off so as not to arouse suspicion with the madame. She was responsible for her little brother, Tommy, who worked as a bouncer for the brothel. They were both due to move in with Gwen the next day."
Mara stilled, her stomach and heart fearing what would come next. If Augustus knew he had tears in his hollow eyes, he didn't show it, her grief magic still holding him tightly in its thrall.
"I woke the next morning to hear William shouting. I went down the stairs and followed the noise to the backyard. Slung over the fence were two were-fox furs, all that remained of Lizzie and her brother. The pieces of fur had been torn off and slashed with what I initially thought to be knives, but later turned out to be c-claws."
Augustus was gripping the bar so tightly, his hands had gone white.
"Not just any claws. Those of a leopard. They matched the scars on my body, and Iknew. I knew he was here. I followed him, even as I was escaping him.
"I got Gwen to move into Albert Street within the hour. I shut my wards up so tightly that no one could get through without me. You are the first person I've built into them since then," Augustus said. "And I never did find out what they had done with the bones of Katie, Lizzie, and Tommy."
Augustus shuddered all over as the memory, and the magic released him.
His gaze focussed on Mara, his eyes going wide in horror as he wiped at his wet cheeks. Mara quickly put her hand over his and held on.
"Don't do that. Let them come. They need to. It's okay, Augustus," she whispered, her heart in her throat. She didn't let go of his hand as she poured out his tea. "Drink. It'll get better."
Augustus didn't say a word while he winced his way through six cups of tea, the final one making him choke down a sob.
Mara didn't ask what it tasted like. She only let his hand go and fetched her scotch. He held his cup out, and she filled to the brim.
"I hate this," he said hoarsely.
"I know." Mara hesitated before she added, "But I'm your friend, so you aren't doing it alone."
"Ah. There's that forbidden word again," Augustus said, a slyness replacing the horrible pain on his face.
"Just don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to keep, and people will talk," Mara replied.
Augustus laughed a little like she hoped he would. "I promise, but only if you don't tell the cat you made me cry, or he'll never shut up about it."
* * *
That evening, curled up in bed with a mug of soup and a sore heart, Mara finally learned what it was like to have a friend in pain with no way to help them. The irony that her first friend was also a dreaded sorcerer was not lost on her.
She thought about all he said about not knowing what the Leopard Sorcerer did with those poor people's bones and dreading what happened to Gwen. Amazing, stubborn Gwen, whose vitality seemed to beam out of him as he talked about her.
"A shame I missed him. I was hoping he'd be a good boy and bring me more catnip," Athanasius yawned before curling up at the end of the bed.
"You've had enough," Mara said automatically and openedThe Lives of the Crow Saints. Twenty pages in, and her heart stopped.
"It can't be," she murmured and reread the passage again. Augustus said he had no idea what happened with the bones of the murdered half-fae. Mara had a horrible feeling she had just found out. Taking a deep breath, she reread the passage:
Saint Anoushka Korvolova fell in love with a sorcerer in Moscow in 1912. When his enemies poisoned, shot, and drowned him in an assassination attempt, Anoushka used her miracles to save his life.
When he was well again, he killed her, boiled her bones, and ground them into powder so he could sustain his long life through the divine power of her relics.
