AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I will be careful, grandfather. I promise." Mara patted his head to reassure him and maybe herself. If she really was getting close to her one extraordinary miracle, how would she know it when she saw it?
Seventeen
"There aremany things that will distract a sorcerer from his noble path, chiefly dark magic, deals with gods, and women." — Sorcery in the Age of Reason.
Augustus couldn't remember the last time he had been so nervous or when he'd gone on his last date. He straightened the cuffs of his jacket for the hundredth time and wondered if he was making a big mistake.
He thought the suit was too much and then remembered that nothing was 'too much' on a blood moon. He didn't doubt that Mara would be looking outstanding and didn't want to look sloppy beside her.
"Well, look at you all cleaned up," Flynn whistled, coming through the front door without knocking. "I'm half tempted to hit on you myself."
"Thank you, Flynn, but I actually have a date."
"Sure you do. Wait. What? Surely not…thesaint? She must be really something to get you out."
"She is, and you thought so too when you met her."
Flynn frowned. "I think I would remember meeting a saint."
"Not this one. She's cursed," Augustus reminded him, for the third time since he had made them dinner.
"Huh. Explains why she would stoop low enough to give you a shot. Poor darling must be desperate. Introduce her to me, and I'll make sure she has a grand time."
Augustus laughed. "She saw through your bullshit once. I'm sure she won't have a problem rejecting you again," he replied, tying his tie.
"If she can see through mine, then you are doomed. Here, let me do it. You're mangling it." Flynn knocked his hands out of the way and started to re-knot his tie.
"I'm really…" Augustus faltered, not knowing the right words. "I really like her, Flynn. It's been over a hundred years since I liked anyone."
"Sounds like you're well overdue then, aren't you? There, that's better. You look positively dashing and not like the useless, drunk sorcerer you are. Gods, you even trimmed your stubble. Youmustlike her."
"I do. Her family hates sorcerers, so I'm determined to prove some of us are trustworthy."
"Oh, a forbidden love on top of everything else! Be still my beating heart." Flynn clutched his chest, ever the drama queen.
"You are going to be fine, Augustus. Remember one crucial thing: you might be a surly, rude, alcoholic sorcerer, but you are also really hot. Like really, unfairly hot. Just keep your mouth shut, and you'll be winning."
"You're such a dick." Augustus grabbed his sword cane and checked that the silver stag engravings were shining. "I'll see you there?"
Flynn's smile turned wicked. "With bells on."
"Clothes too this time."
"Don't tell me what to do."
Augustus shook his head at him and headed out the door. He could already feel the snap and tingle of magic in the air.
Blood moon nights were always charged, and the night was already feeling particularly powerful. Was it because the hole in Melbourne's magic was smaller? It was something to think about later.
Augustus stared up at the cloudless sky, the stars twinkling despite the city's determination to try and outshine them. He breathed the night air and let the power of Mara's store guide him to her.
He caught his reflection in car windows parked along the streets and tried not to stare. He was looking suspiciously like his old self. He gripped the cane that had belonged to his father and tried to remember what that too confident young man had been like.
You have a great capacity to turn into a rake, he remembered Emmaline chiding him.
Augustus smiled, the memory not hurting him for once. He was still thinking of his sister and what she would think of Mara when the red shop door came into view.
Augustus stared at the door, straightened his jacket, and before he could reach for it, it swung open. Athanasius's eyes glowed with malice in the warm shop light.
