Bound Magic Read online

  Oscar had the responsibility for furnishing the hall, but I added massive sofas and chairs to my order. I’d talk with him later about where we could set up a common room for us all to relax in. The kitchen, once the tables and chairs were in place, wouldn’t fit us. And besides, the cook needed to be in charge of that space and not distracted by our traipsing in and out and gossiping.

  Gossip was running rampant through the bazaar. The longer Yana and I lingered in the furniture warehouse, the more people who entered it. Yana positioned herself to block most of them from me, using the biggest pieces of furniture as temporary walls.

  The goblin manager surveyed the throng. Excitement gleamed in his yellow eyes, but he heaved a disapproving sigh. “Perhaps you would be more secure in my office? We can discuss additional—”

  “We’re good for now,” Yana interrupted.

  “Thank you,” I added. “Do you have Istvan’s account details?”

  The furniture king waved aside the question. “No matter, no matter.”

  By which I understood that he did, indeed, have Istvan’s account details.

  We departed briskly. A couple of werewolves—I identified them by their grayish hazel eyes—attempted to stop Yana and meet me, but she growled at them.

  “We’re on official business.”

  “Shopping?” The taller guy sneered. “Listen, b—”

  A sharp elbow caught him in the ribs before Yana could swipe his nose off.

  “Tineke!” I recognized the elf who’d intervened.

  She grinned at me before scowling at the rude werewolf. “Go away, pup.”

  He did, which convinced me that my elf friend from the trials was more powerful than I’d guessed. Then, again, like Istvan, she’d been there to be partnered with a human familiar, and the Fae Council wouldn’t have squandered the first human familiars on weak magicians.

  I looked around as I hugged her.

  “Koos isn’t here,” she said. She and the werewolf had hung out together at the trials. Or, perhaps, Koos had hung around Tineke trying to keep her out of trouble. She’d been an outspoken critic of the trials and the hardships they’d piled onto the human candidates.

  “I was looking for your familiar.” My searching gaze snagged on another notable elf. “Lajos is here,” I hissed.

  Tineke grimaced. “He’s not as bad as you believe.” She beckoned him to join us.

  Yana shifted to stand near me, blocking Lajos.

  “As for my familiar, I wasn’t assigned one.”

  My eyes went wide in disbelief. “But you’d be a great partner.”

  “The thirty candidates who failed the vigil are still being treated,” Lajos said. “Nearly half of the potential magician partners weren’t matched with a familiar.” He hesitated, just barely. “There won’t be another round of trials for a while.”

  I was glad that no one would have to endure what we’d gone through any time soon. Maybe by the time the second trials were called, a kinder method of matching familiars to magicians would have been designed.

  “So, Istvan has the North American Territory,” Tineke changed the subject, her voice determinedly cheerful. She linked her arm through mine. “And you’re shopping to fill his new hall. What do you need?”

  “Oscar, he’s the steward, is furnishing the hall. I’m shopping for my room.” I’d agreed with Oscar that he’d oversee the fit-out of my bathroom. I’d indicated my preference for white or light shades of gray, and beyond that, Oscar had a better understanding of Faerene plumbing fixtures than I did.

  “And Rory’s?” Lajos asked slyly.

  I blinked, wondering if the annoying elf had just implied that Rory and I might share a room.

  By the way Yana bristled, he had.

  Tineke poked Lajos in the chest. “You are not endearing yourself to Istvan when you tease his partner.”

  And that was part of why I liked Tineke. She said “partner”, not “familiar”. To her humans weren’t pets or slaves, conveniences or annoyances. We were people.

  I remembered my manners and made belated introductions, with Tineke and Lajos both interested to learn that Yana was both a magisterial guard and a member of Rory’s new pack.

  Unfortunately, my animated conversation with the two elves emboldened other Faerene to approach.

  I nodded, shook hands, nudged Yana when she growled, and wondered how I’d push through the increasing audience to finish my shopping. Or whether I’d have to give up on the shopping and settle for being glad the furniture had been ordered.

  Yana decided the matter. “Magistrate Istvan expects us in just under two hours and his familiar has shopping to complete before then. Please. You can meet Amy later.”

  “But her Faeraesh is excellent,” a goblin objected, wriggling to the front of the crowd and grinning at me. “We want to talk to her. So few—”

  Yana grabbed my elbow and towed me into a fabric store. “Choose rolls of fabric for curtains and cushions.”

  Rolls of fabric made a lot of sense. I could use them for clothing, too.

  I selected a lovely dull blue and white brocade that would fit any subtle color scheme and which I could clearly envisage in my room. Heavy denim cotton could be cushion covers or made into work clothes. I ordered two rolls of that.

  “I have a door through here to my sister’s blanket shop,” the sympathetic stallholder said to us.

  And just that easily we entered into a treasure trove of blankets and quilts while Lajos continued to block the doorway to the stall.

  “What did she buy?” the goblin who was fascinated by my command of Faeraesh called from the crowd.

  I went a little crazy in the blanket shop. It stocked linens as well, so I bought up towels and sheets, pillows and pillowcases as well as a dozen blankets. A huge, puffy quilt in a purple silk cover was irresistible.

  “Buy two.” Tineke was the voice of temptation.

  Looking at the wistful manner in which Yana stroked the quilt, I succumbed to temptation and bought a second one in red for her and Berre. Istvan could consider it our wedding—mating?—gift to the couple. I was spending his money recklessly.

  “Books,” Tineke said.

  My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t considered… “Books.” I was stuck at the magistrate hall for the foreseeable future. It was safe and well-resourced, and I didn’t have to work from morning to night for survival. I had time to read.

  “I’ll order you a set of classic novels and examples from some of the current popular genres,” Tineke said. “They’ll give you an insight into Faerene history and culture. Our mindset.”

  “A news slate,” Yana said.

  Tineke clicked her fingers. “Good idea.”

  “I don’t know if I even read Faeraesh,” I said.

  “You were reading the labels in the stalls just fine,” Yana answered.

  “Oh.”

  I ducked into a rug store and spent my last few minutes—and possibly Istvan’s last few credits—on rugs to keep bare feet from the cold kiss of the hall’s stone floors.

  “Food.” Yana hauled me to a stop as we half-walked, half-ran out of the bazaar.

  Of course. We’d be returning via the portal to lunchtime at Justice.

  The food stallholders were as willing to accept Istvan’s name in lieu of immediate payment as the furniture and furnishings people had been. We were accepting a huge wrapped parcel of spicy meat pastries and a wheel of cheese—I remembered Rory’s comment that Istvan liked cheese—when Tineke rejoined us, Lajos accompanying her.

  We spotted Istvan and Oscar waiting for us outside the courtyard restaurant where we’d breakfasted.

  Istvan immediately opened the portal. “Hurry.”

  Unsure why he required haste, we nonetheless ran through the portal. Tineke and Lajos tumbled through it before Istvan entered and closed it.

  “Harold had more questions,” he said tersely.

  Ah. So we, or rather, Istvan, was escaping the Fae King’s relentless curios
ity.

  I held up the wheel of cheese. “For you. For lunch.”

  He blinked.

  Rory appeared from nowhere, or rather from somewhere within the magistrate hall. The portal had deposited us inside the huge and vacant official hall. He snatched the parcel of pastries from Yana. “Heaven bless you. Where’s your share?” He grinned.

  She tapped him on the head. “Blockhead.”

  “Is that anyway to treat a superior officer?” he countered even as his quick strides took him into the kitchen and we all followed.

  It had been a hectic morning. I looked forward to sitting down—collapsing—on the kitchen floor in front of the fire and just thinking about nothing. I was out of practice with crowds, and I’d never before been the center of attention the way I’d been in Civitas. I was the freak everyone wanted to know.

  Ugh, self-pity and self-denigration. Signs of exhaustion.

  Rory didn’t stop in the kitchen. He went out the door, and since he had the food, we followed him as if he was the Pied Piper.

  I hugged the huge wheel of cheese to me, before stopping with relief.

  Rory had a plan. I was beginning to suspect that he always did, even if he wasn’t as ponderous as Istvan about his scheming. A fire pit was sunk in the center of the yard and edged by stone benching. With the wind blocked by the building on three sides, and the sun shining, we’d be sheltered and warm even without the fire burning in the pit.

  “I bought sheepskin rugs that would be perfect to sit on here,” I said. But I didn’t mind the cold stone bench. I sat at the end of one, and Istvan sank down beside me. I handed him the wheel of cheese.

  He took it with his beak, and placed it between his front paws.

  Berre brought me a mug of coffee.

  My hero. I smiled at him. “If you weren’t mated to Yana, I’d marry you.”

  He chuckled.

  Rory shot me an indecipherable look. Maybe the Faerene didn’t use that sort of exaggerated language. Or maybe mating was too serious to joke about.

  But no, Yana grinned at me. “Hands off my mate. Occupy them with this.”

  I put the mug of coffee on the bench beside me and took the meat pastry. Flaky crumbs drifted onto my knees as I bit into it. Yum.

  Beside me, Istvan savored the rind of the cheese wheel.

  Oscar sat down on the other side of my coffee mug. “I have earned this lunch.”

  As well as the coffee, Rory and Berre had rabbits roasting on spits. Oscar had a haunch of rabbit as well as a pastry. Even with the uninvited addition of Tineke and Lajos to the meal, there was food enough for everyone.

  Tineke and Lajos took their share with the easy confidence of friends sure of their welcome. However, they chose seats near Istvan and quietly began explanations of their crashing of his portal.

  “We’d like to settle here,” Tineke said. “My work with the Reclamation Team can be done from anywhere, and I think there’s value in aligning responsibilities along magisterial territory lines.

  “I thought you were settled on the Gulf of Mexico?” Nils took one of the last three pastries.

  Rory slapped the elf’s hand away from the final two. “Mine.” He crumpled the paper they’d been parceled up in and threw it in the fire before settling on a bench across from Istvan and me. With werewolf hearing, he’d be able to overhear any conversation held in the yard, and like Yana and Berre, his position left him with his back to the guard unit’s quarters. That might be more than coincidence. Just how territorial were werewolves?

  “I…” Tineke’s gaze shifted to me. “The Fae Council has me on the list for the next round of familiar candidates. Even though that’s a while off, I’d like to be part of Amy adapting to Faerene society and to observe how your partnership develops.”

  Istvan had ripped off the cheese rind completely. “A number of people have indicated a fascination with Amy. There are other familiar partnerships.” Fifty three of them, in fact.

  Tineke shrugged. “Amy is the youngest by ten years and the most accepting of us Faerene. Have you told Nora that she is conversant in Faeraeish without a translation spell?”

  “Not yet.” Istvan ate half the cheese.

  I finished my pastry.

  Where there should have been chatter over our shopping trip, there was silence.

  Lajos broke it. “I’m not here to observe Amy. I worked on holding off the Kstvm while the Rift was sealed, then the Fae Council appointed me to run the familiar candidate trials. Now that I’m finally free I’d like to lay out my herb garden across the river. A site near a growing town will give me access to workers as well as to a market.”

  And Tineke would be here.

  I studied the two of them. I didn’t think they were a couple, but I suspected that Lajos wished they were. It was there in the way he looked at her when she wouldn’t notice. There was longing, hope and determination in his expression. Tineke had been angry with him for his managerial role at the trials, but their underlying friendship was obvious now: their body language casually accepting of one another and their actions and words anticipating each other’s.

  “Justice isn’t my town,” Istvan said. “You can settle where you will.” His beak scraped a last trace of cheese from a paw. “I’ll be opening a portal to Civitas at breakfast time tomorrow. The merchants will transport our purchases through at that time. A number of Faerene have expressed interest in settling in Justice and will likely travel through the portal.”

  Beside me, Oscar didn’t as much as twitch. He and Istvan must have already discussed the portal. As steward, Oscar would take advantage of it to arrange any further purchases from the Faerene capital.

  I leaned a fraction sideways and Istvan shifted his bulk so that I leant into him. I let him take some of my weight. Unlike the stone bench, his feathers were warm and soft, and I obviously wasn’t hurting his wing or he’d move. I could smell traces of perfume and spices on him from his time at Civitas. It made me think of how much less attractive I smelled and that there was a warm swimming pool close by. I could be clean.

  “Thirty four people have already arrived from Atlanta,” Rory said. He’d expected an influx from the city Yelena had intended to make the site of the magisterial hall for North America. Thirty four wasn’t too bad.

  Even if magistrates had officially taken up their duties scarcely three days ago, people had, of course, known her plans. People always did. Persons in positions of power were monitored for opportunities and threats arising from their actions.

  My dad had been a lawyer and my mom a tech company CEO. I knew about power plays and people jockeying for advantage.

  Rather than look outside and see the town of Justice taking shape around the hall, I decided to devote the remainder of the afternoon to bathing. Tomorrow my purchases would arrive and I could spend the day arranging things.

  Actually, before then—and now that I’d seen the bazaar in Civitas—I should consider if there was anything else I needed. And ask Istvan if I’d already overspent his funds. But that was a question that deserved privacy.

  “How many of the thirty four want to speak with me?” Istvan asked Rory about Justice’s newest citizens.

  Across the fire pit I saw Rory’s very toothy grin. “All of them.”

  The black griffin was too professional to groan or even sigh. “Thank you for keeping them out of the hall. I’d best go meet with them.”

  I patted his wing consolingly. “A magistrate’s work is never done.” I dared to tease him.

  I was yet to learn that Istvan could handle teasing as effectively as he did everything else.

  He angled his head around so that one big, black eye regarded me commandingly. “They’ll want to meet you, too, Amy. Come with me.”

  I stared at him in dismay. “I was going to have a bath.” Not spend more hours being polite to strangers. Although, listening in to Istvan’s conversation would teach me a lot about his work and the nature of the town about to spring up around us.


  My skin tingled as if it had been lightly scraped. “Hey!” I objected.

  “A cleansing spell,” Istvan said. “I used it on myself, as well.”

  “Griffins use them on fledglings.” Lajos lounged beside Tineke, sounding amused and intrigued.

  I felt clean and I smelled clean. “I’d have preferred a bath.”

  “So would have I.” Istvan rose to his full height. “Come along.”

  I hastily swallowed the last of my coffee and placed the empty mug beside Oscar. “Ordinarily, I’d clean up after myself…”

  He waved me away. “Go on.”

  I followed my magician partner out to the front steps of the hall.

  The Faerene who spoke with Istvan and studied me interestedly for the remainder of the day were as varied as those in Civitas: a dragon, goblins, elves, a centaur, werewolves and a couple of nymphs.

  I listened and learned, but also planned for tomorrow.

  It seemed that merchants, professionals and tradespeople were all setting up shop in Justice.

  Istvan stared into the slowly setting sun across the river. We were finally alone. “Others will arrive, tomorrow. Farmers and staff Oscar and I have hired. Rory and his people could do much of the work on the hall. They’re capable people. But I don’t want any confusion about their role. Magisterial guard units are elite fighters.”

  I wondered if there was a message there for me. “So I shouldn’t ask them for help with things?”

  “With ‘things’? What sort of things?”

  I sought for an example. Asking advice, as I had with Yana as we shopped, or as I shopped and she guarded me, was fine. “Bookcases. I’d like to add bookcases to my room. I didn’t buy any. I didn’t think to until Tineke mentioned buying books. She bought some that she thinks will help me understand you all better. I don’t know if she charged them to your account.”

  “It’s fine if she has. You are significantly under the amount I allotted to ensuring your comfort.”

  “Oh. Good. I worried if I’d spent too much. I might buy a few more items, tomorrow.” Some were luxuries to be found in a stall I’d noted but hadn’t had time to investigate, one that promised “lotions, potions and pretty notions”. Other items would go on my list after I’d talked with Oscar. I didn’t want to tread on his toes, but this was to be my home, and I wanted people to feel at ease in it.