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Mara tasted smoke and bone dust at the back of her throat. She reached for her phone and stared at Augustus's number.
Would telling him make him feel better, or worse? Augustus was a man who wasn't happy with unsolved mysteries, so she took a photo of the book and texted him.
Foundthis.Doyou think this why their bones were taken?
Mara sent the text and the photo. She didn't expect a reply. She imagined him drunk in a bar or getting lost in the arms of a beautiful woman.
Just the thought made her chest ache uncomfortably, and the strange miracle shudder inside of her. Her phone buzzed with a single word, one that conveyed layers of meaning.
Fuck.
Fifteen
"Although the workof a sorcerer is to be above all scholarly matters, never forget that you are also a gentleman and must participate within society so as not to become isolated within your studies. Isolation leads to a narrowness of thought, and peers may be able to assist by offering insight." — Sorcery in the Age of Reason.
Augustus lay on the grass in his backyard, the trees around him occasionally dropping leaves on him to ensure he wasn't dead. He had a decanter of brandy in one hand, but surprisingly, it was still mostly full.
The sorcerer was only drinking a few mouthfuls per hour which the trees thought was very out of character of him.
Augustus himself was holding off on getting as drunk as he wanted to prove that he could. He was also nervous about being too inebriated in case the teashop pulled him in again, and he didn't want to make a complete fool of himself in front of the troublesome saint.
Mara, who was his key to freeing him from Melbourne's magic. Mara, whose miracles were forcing him to deal with the pain that had been crippling him for centuries. Mara, who he couldn't stop thinking about. Mara, who he would likely forget as soon as his pain was out of him and her miracle complete.
Augustus rubbed at his chest. He didn't want to forget her when the miracle was over. For the first time in a hundred years, he didn't want to die as soon as Melbourne's magic had released him.
Augustus wanted a chance to be a complete man again. Kiss a saint who was also a woman. Wake up beside someone other than the ghosts of his past. Study something other than his own mistakes. Go back to England and see what remained of the Society of Sorcerers. Publish a paper on everything he had learned.
The last one especially surprised him enough to have another mouthful of brandy. He had always hated writing papers, but now the thought of maybe sharing some of his knowledge didn't seem so disagreeable.
Don't make plans for a future you might not have. No. Augustus had to believe he did.
He would find a way to ensure that he didn't forget Mara either. She had said that she had more than one curse, and he couldn't help but wonder what they could be.
Perhaps he could convince her to tell him, and she would let him help her when she was ready.
Or you are using it as a ploy to try and stay in her life longer.
Despite what she said about paying for miracles, he would never rest easy until he felt like he was out of her debt.
Augustus also couldn't stop thinking about the Russian saint murdered by Rasputin. He hadn't considered that the fae bones were being used, only that the Leopard Sorcerer wanted to fuck with him as much as possible. They were probably traded centuries ago.
The Academy and himself had been so focused on the raw, wild magic that was being traded that they hadn't stopped to look closer at everything else that was being shipped over.
Augustus promised the trees above him that if he lived through his great ordeal, he would find a way to shut down London's Midnight Market if it was still in operation. The trees agreed that it was a good idea.
After the chaos caused by the Leopard Sorcerer, Augustus had done everything in his considerable power to ensure a Melbourne Midnight Market didn't develop in the city's supernatural underground.
There were some dark creatures that he couldn't control the actions of, and there was a letter on his kitchen table about one such being.
Take Mara with you to deal with it. It will be educational for her.
"No. I need space after Gwen," he said aloud, like the decades he had lived through alone weren't space enough.
In that final mouthful of tea, Augustus had tasted her smile. It was too messed up for words to talk about his old love to a woman he was already falling for. His past was hardly a recommendation either.
There would be no hiding his messy and poorly patched heart from Mara.
Space. He needed space from her and her wild magic and crooked smile.
