Magic's Crown

by Sela Carsen

  “Then why would I do that?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just that every man I’ve ever gotten into this truck with has assumed they’d drive it.”

  “Because you’re short?”

  “Because I’m a woman.”

  He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at her, making her chuckle. “Yes, you are. But it’s your truck. You drive it. I’m just gonna sit back and watch the scenery go by.” Javi gave an exaggerated stretch and folded his hands behind his head. When she still hadn’t started the vehicle, he waved an elbow at her. “Get a move on, Boris. Dogs to train, critters to vet.”

  He was a little surprised to hear country music blasting out of her speakers when she finally cranked the engine, and she blushed when she reached over to turn it down.

  “What?” She scowled at him, her nose in an adorable scrunch with her pointy chin sticking out.

  He shook his head. “Nothing. Just didn’t take you for a country music fan.”

  Medina backed out the parking lot quickly and competently before shooting him a cool, regal look. “My musical tastes are very eclectic. You can scroll through my playlists.”

  Trick Scanlon’s pleasant baritone voice provided a nice background while Javi took her up on her offer. The SUV was new enough to store digital music on its hard drive, and he found country, classical, hard rock, show tunes, and Celtic fusion available at the touch of a button. She didn’t have any of the hip-hop he preferred, but he was happy to listen to what was already playing. Even before moving to Nocturne Falls, he had enjoyed the few Scanlon songs that had become chart-toppers. Now that they lived in town, he’d found that Trick and his pretty red-haired wife, Daria, were often at the shelter, visiting Katya.

  Katya Leonov had been Katya Dostoyevna when she moved to the small town as a teen, and over the years, she’d not only begun a shelter that took in not only mundane cats and dogs (and the occasional hamster), but she had also developed a space where magical creatures could find safety in a time of need. Javi had heard there had been some trouble when Danil Leonov—now her husband—showed up, but everything had been smooth sailing as long as he’d known them.

  The light touch of magical wards prickled over his skin as they drove onto the property of the shelter. The buildings that housed the animals were set a little bit away from the giant old-fashioned house where the Leonov’s lived. The locals called it Cherry House, and sure enough, there were two flourishing cherry trees flanking the decorative fence in front of the house. That always threw him a little bit because even he knew Georgia wasn’t a good place to grow the fruit. Not that he’d complained when Katya had given him a little jar of homemade cherry jam as a welcome gift. He’d never tasted anything so fresh.

  Katya met them at the door, practically vibrating with excitement. An elderly terrier did its best to prance around her feet, but Mr. Puddles—who was in remarkably good shape for a dog of his advanced years—was past his prancing prime. Javi slowed down to carefully approach the new situation. He’d already thrown off his routine today, and he’d been hoping to settle in again once he got to work.

  Lando had no such reservations. He ran up to touch noses with Mr. Puddles before they dashed in through the open front door.

  “What’s up, Katya?” said Javi.

  “New dog,” she said, her voice higher than usual, her normally shy manner erased by excitement. “New dog, new dog, new dog! And I have such a feeling about this one!”

  The sanctuary owner might have been wearing denim overalls and holey sneakers, but her hair and makeup were pure pin-up glam with sleek rolls and red lipstick. Her eyes glistened as she bounced over to Medina and took her by the hand.

  “Come meet her, Dr. Theron. She needs an exam anyway, but you really need to meet her.”

  Javi followed the two women back to a sunny area with a dozen large dog runs. When they walked in, only four of the runs were occupied. Katya had a gift for pairing animals with people, and it was remarkable how quickly she was able to place the strays that came her way.

  Lando, Mr. Puddles, and a massive dog so black it seemed like she was a walking shadow all waited in front of one fenced run. On the other side of the gate sat a dog with a curling silver coat. The Borzoi, or Russian wolfhound, was tall and slender with a long, narrow skull and silky ears that lay flat against her head. The large, dark eyes of the sighthound gave an impression of watchful intelligence.

  Medina gasped, and Javi switched his attention to her.

  “She’s beautiful.” It was a whisper of adoration.

  He’d seen her examine and help dozens of animals since he’d been here, and while she often said that about the creatures under her care, he’d never heard the words with that amount of sheer reverence in her voice.

  The dog stood when she approached, and her long, plumy tail began a slow sweep while her long jaw opened in a smile.

  Katya opened the gate, and Medina was short enough—or the dog was tall enough—that she had to lift her hand slightly to slide it over the animal’s head in a sweeping caress. A note of love and triumph sang through the enclosure, ringing off metal and concrete and the living, breathing heart of everyone inside.

  Medina Theron had found her familiar.

  Chapter Four

  Medina had owned pets all her life—dogs, cats, guinea pigs, tarantulas, iguanas, and some animals that were only found in mythological encyclopedias. After losing her dog, Arthur, to cancer almost a year before, she simply hadn’t had the heart to search for a new companion

  This dog was magnificent—and not just a dog, not just a friend, but a familiar that connected with her on a level she’d never known before. Medina was no witch—not that she knew of, at least. There was definitely magic in her blood, but it had never been anything obvious. Not like her sisters and brothers, who all had different abilities to one degree or another. The most she’d ever been able to do was conjure up a little breeze that did nothing more than mess up her hair.

  She reached a hand back, needing someone to ground her in this moment. Javi’s fingers enveloped hers, and the connection between the three of them hummed through her. A word, a sound, glimmered in her thoughts.

  “Shura,” she whispered. “Your name is Shura.”

  Expertly, she ran her free hand over the dog’s body. A little too thin, and her coat was rougher than it should be, but Medina didn’t detect any abnormalities. Her eyes were bright and clear, her teeth gleamed white and sharp, and her nose was cold and wet—which she discovered when Shura poked it into her ear before giving her a delicate slurp.

  “Gah!” Medina overbalanced and landed on her rump, which Shura took as an invitation to step into her lap and give her face a much more thorough washing. Javi knelt behind her, supporting her back while Medina wrapped her hands around the dog and hugged. Everywhere they touched forged a connection, linking them all together with magical threads that couldn’t be broken. Having Javi there with her at that very second felt as right as the bond she made with Shura.

  “Here.” Katya held out a clipboard. “I filled everything out for you. You just have to sign at the bottom.”

  Medina’s vision had gone a little wavery with tears, and she sniffled a bit as she took the papers and scrawled her name where she thought the line might be. “Thank you so much, Katya. This is…” she paused and sniffled again. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “She came in this morning. She was just sitting at the door when I opened up and she told me she was waiting for you.” A rare gift among supernaturals, Katya had the ability to communicate with all her animals, both magical and mundane. The shy woman laid a hand on Shura’s head and scratched behind her ear. “It’s kind of funny. When she came in, every animal in here just perked right up. Even the cats haven’t yelled at her.”

  “Did you take her into the bestiary?” The space behind the shelter was dedicated to the care of magical creatures, and new ones always caused a ripple in the delicate balance of the sanctuary.

>   “I wanted to wait until you met.” Katya, who was pretty no-nonsense about the animals she cared for, was as emotional as Medina had ever seen her.

  Javi held out one hand to help her back onto her feet, and Shura took the opportunity to do a lot of quick end-to-end swapping and sniffing with the other dogs who had been waiting. She and Lando danced around each other like long lost friends and licked each other’s muzzles gleefully. The silver Borzoi was a little taller than Lando, but neither of them seemed to care. Medina left her hand in Javi’s while their dogs got acquainted, and she realized after a couple of minutes that her face was starting to ache a little from the grin stretched across it.

  She poked at her cheek and Javi laughed. “I like the smile. Looks good on you.” He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her fingers. “I need to get set up for the training class. I’ll hitch a ride back to the clinic for my truck.”

  Medina felt an unaccustomed blush heat her cheeks. “I’m here for the afternoon. I can wait.”

  He nodded, then leaned over to plant a sweet kiss right where the blush was warmest. “See you later.”

  She watched him leave with Lando and didn’t realize she was still staring until Katya gently cleared her throat. “So… Javi?”

  “What? Oh, that.” Although she’d been hoping their relationship would develop, it had taken quite a leap forward today and she was still wrapping her head around the newness of it. She buried her fingers in Shura’s coat. “I guess, yes. I mean, I think so. I don’t know.”

  “I believe my first reaction to Danil when he showed up on my front porch was very much along the lines of ‘Oh, absolutely not.’”

  When the women had first met, Katya had been so shy she’d barely spoken to Medina for a month. She had been working with the vet from whom Medina had taken over the practice, and by the time Katya had finally started talking to her, Medina realized the woman was nearly as knowledgeable as she was. She’d have made an excellent veterinarian, but life had taken her on a different path. One that included marriage to a tall, handsome tech wizard, as well as providing the community with an animal shelter that was the envy of the South.

  Behind the spacious and rigorously clean building that housed all the mundane animals awaiting their forever homes was a cleverly glamoured place for the creatures who made their way through the world with magic. The non-magical people who saw this side of the shelter thought it was an empty space—nothing more than an old, lightly rutted track that petered out partway down to Wolf Creek about a half mile away. But under the glamour lay a neatly paved path leading to a large, modern barn. Inside were all kinds of housings and habitats, each one appropriate to its occupant.

  The firebird perched in rafters that looked like wood but were actually spelled to be flame-proof. The bird with glorious red and gold plumage had built her nest there, studded with fragrant spices that lent an exotic warmth to the air. That didn’t stop her from trying to nest on half the flammable roofs in town.

  One stall was hung with stunning silk tapestries on the walls. The unicorn who lived there, Galatea, brushed up against them to keep her bright white coat smooth and beautiful—especially when she was getting ready to wander down to the creek to see Bubba, the kelpie who had claimed her for his herd. She was round with the foal she carried—one of the reasons Medina had planned to visit today.

  There were other, less friendly creatures there, as well, but as long as they were left mostly to themselves and fed on time, they all maintained a peaceful accord.

  Then there was her new patient, Blue the bonnacon. Katya had conjured up a stall where the walls were entirely coated with teflon, a substance resistant to the burning acid that spewed from the back end of the nervous bull. The floor of the stall was natural rubber, which was also acid-resistant and gave the bonnacon a firm place to stand.

  She approached the animal carefully. His excrement had burned holes through her truck, and flesh wasn’t as sturdy as steel. Blue snorted at her and shook his inward curling horns. She waved Katya back.

  Medina put her hand out for him to sniff, and Shura stuck her nose up to the bull’s when he approached. The dog gave the short, longhaired bull a swift lick, and Blue settled down.

  “Whew. I think we’ve dodged a bullet there.”

  “Or an acid bath. Again.” Katya was only shy until she got comfortable with someone. Then, her dry wit came out in force.

  Medina smiled—the expression was coming more easily today than usual—and examined her new patient’s stitches. “Everything looks good. He hasn’t scraped them off, and the wound looks clean. Keep scrubbing it down, and I’ll take the sutures out in a couple of weeks.”

  Giving the animal a hard rub between his horns, she went to check on Galatea. The unicorn was due to drop her foal any day, but aside from her bulging middle, was as calm and sweet-natured as ever.

  Bubba, a killer water horse known as a kelpie back in the Unseelie fae court of Scotland, had come to Nocturne Falls some time ago and claimed Wolf Creek as his territory. He hadn’t drowned anyone since he’d been here, although he was prone to giving strangers a very wet ride. He had claimed Galatea as part of his herd and hadn’t left her side for the last few weeks as she came closer to her due date.

  Shura again touched noses with both of the magical creatures, then let Medina get on with her examination.

  “You’re in great shape, mama. Your baby is in the right place, and everything is progressing normally. I’d say you should see your foal within a few days. A week at the outside.”

  Galatea flicked her tail at Medina, and the silky hairs slid over her with a warm tickle. Bubba reached out and blew at her, then lipped at her white coat.

  His mood turned in a blink. He spat the fabric out with a harsh blow and stepped between the vet and his mare.

  Shura put her ears back with a low growl, but the stallion didn’t back down. He didn’t attack, but he shifted his huge body to shove Medina out of the stall.

  “What the heck is going on?” Medina was at a loss to explain the sudden change.

  Katya, however, put a hand out to the horse and rested it on his neck. “Hold on. There’s something… something he smells on you. Something dark.” She turned to Medina. “Are you all right? Have you been near dark magic?”

  Medina stepped further away from the stall, giving the breeding pair the space Bubba demanded. “How could he know?”

  The mood in the rest of the barn tensed, and the last thing anyone needed was a tense bonnacon. They could hear Blue’s belly gurgling.

  Medina and Katya backed away as Katya sent waves of reassurance to each creature. Shura didn’t leave Medina’s side until they were out of the barn and in the fresh air.

  The women reached out to each other and held on for a moment until they got their breath back. Medina had never been afraid of Bubba before, but when the kelpie’s eyes had glowed red, she’d been forcefully reminded he wasn’t a creature of sweetness and light.

  “What was that about?” Katya finally asked.

  Javi was working with a new prospective owner and dog-in-training, and they watched him for a moment while Medina put her thoughts together.

  “I had a visit this morning from a man who really, really wanted me to sign some papers. He wasn’t afraid to use a potion to get it done. Some of it must still cling to my coat.” Suddenly, she couldn’t stand wearing it anymore. She stripped the thing off in a rush and hung it on a fencepost, leaving her in her comfortable work clothes of tan trousers and a tidy, button-down shirt. She carried overalls and rubber boots in her truck for large animal visits but hadn’t bothered with them this time.

  She sniffed at the collar of her blouse. “I wonder if it’s still on me.”

  Shura stood on her back feet and was as tall as her new mistress. She also incidentally rubbed her fur all over Medina’s clothes as they hugged. “Thank you, Shura, but you have to get down. We’re setting a bad example for Javi’s students.”

  L
ando, who usually napped off to the side while Javi was working, saw them and decided to come visit. The dogs sniffed each other, then wandered off to snuffle around the edges of the sanctuary.

  “Come inside for some iced tea and tell me more about this visit.”

  Cherry House looked like a ramshackle old mansion on the outside, but the interior was a sparkling testament to good design and a lot of polish. They settled at the kitchen table, where a pitcher of sweet tea sweated on a tray with two tall glasses of ice. The hairy, little domovoi—a domestic Russian sprite who took care of the house—nodded to Medina before disappearing back behind the giant iron stove that took up one wall of the vintage kitchen.

  “Actually, you may be able to help me out a little. You know I’m adopted, right?” said Medina once she’d downed some of the refreshing drink.

  “The rest of your family are all six-foot-tall, blond Vikings. You’re no taller than I am, with coal black hair. Figuring it out is not a stretch.” Then the five-foot-two Katya snickered at her unintentional pun.

  Medina arched one eyebrow at her, then smiled. “Oh yeah, you’re a genius. Anyway, this guy—his name was Paul Krovatik—said he was from Volshev, Texas. That’s where you’re from, right?”

  “Right.” All the humor had gone out of Katya now. “Tell me more.”

  Medina told her the rest, about how she was the last of the Simyonov family, and he’d come to cut her a check for the remainders of the family fortune. And then he’d tried to whammy her into signing a bunch of papers. “There’s obviously something not quite kosher going on here.”

  “I agree. No one who’s on the up-and-up needs to use magic to get some signatures. Let me ask Danil if he knows those names.” There was no need for her to get up, however, because her aristocratic-looking husband walked into the kitchen at just that moment.

  He bent to kiss his wife on the cheek and nodded at Medina. “Dr. Theron, how are you?”

  They exchanged pleasantries before he said, “Don’t let me interrupt. I just came up to see if there were any cupcakes left.”