Magaestra: Tested: An urban fantasy series

by Katherine Kim

  The man had taken Mia’s death very hard, and Aldric wished that there was more they could do, but grief had its own timeline, after all.

  “What are you thinking about?” She asked.

  “Frankie.”

  Faith sighed. “It sucked what happened to Mia. I feel so guilty about it. I mean, I know it wasn’t my fault, but…”

  Aldric nodded.

  “I can understand why he’s standoffish with me. I don’t blame him at all. He’s nice to Kaylee, though,” she added.

  “Is he rude to you?” Aldric asked. He hadn’t noticed much change in Frankie’s attitude, aside from the air of sadness that clung to him now. “I can talk to him.”

  “Nah. I don’t have to be best friends with everyone. I’m worried about him, though. He’s in so much pain.” She scrunched up her face and shrugged. “I knowhow he feels, a bit. It will take some time but he’ll recover.”

  Aldric nodded again. She wasn’t wrong. He would heal, and it would take time. Hopefully someday he could regain the outgoing friendliness that had drawn Mia to him in the first place.

  Right now, however, Faith seemed content with this, curling into his side while they talked. It was a new development, and one he enjoyed a great deal. It started after they had been trapped in a cave the week previous and Faith had forced him to drink some of her blood to prevent his death. Even a vampire can be killed, after all. But since that day, once she had forced him to stop avoiding her, they had grown much closer.

  "So I finished that book. The one about the vampire rescuing the werewolf princess? It was completely bonkers." Faith shook her head and laughed softly. "I know that shifters don't howl at the moon like that, but it was a neat trick to help him find her after she got kidnapped by the evil king."

  Aldric nodded. "I told Marc he should read that one and he came back and threw it at my head when he finished it."

  "I did like them together though," she sighed. "It's such a ridiculous trope, vampires and werewolves locked in mortal enmity forever, but it worked as something for them to overcome."

  Aldric chuckled. "There was a time during the war that factions split off, it is true, but it has never quite reached that level of enmity across whole species."

  Faith sighed and snuggled closer into his side. “These books are really silly, but I’m glad that they’re so inaccurate on that subject. It's a nice thought, though. That there's someone out there, a soulmate for you."

  Aldric huffed a quiet laugh into her hair before kissing her head softly. "There is no mystical force, no fate or goddess pairing souls together, no. But there is a... a tradition perhaps I could call it? The idea of a soulmate is not unknown to us, after all. And yes, wolves do call them mates. I like the idea of a beloved, like in many of the books about my kind. The main difference between fiction and real life is that we choose them, rather than allowing some mystical universal force to select them for us."

  Faith wiggled around to peer up at him. "What do you mean?"

  "Do you recall when I told you about my parents? About how my mother died soon after my father did because they were bonded?"

  She nodded.

  "They knew that they were perfect for each other and that they would not wish to live apart, so they performed a ritual that bound their lives together. They joined their lives so closely that when my father was killed, my mother followed him within days. She was sad to leave me, but we all knew that she would have likely pined away even without the bond. She died, surrounded by family, and excited to see my father again."

  Aldric smiled and knew it was not a fully happy expression. He loved his parents and missed them terribly, but he also remembered how they had lived for each other. It had been a romance novel sort of love, and he knew that was one reason he had never dated too seriously. He had hoped to find something like they had, and he always felt something lacking with the few serious relationships he had attempted.

  "Wow," Faith said on a sigh. "That's both the sweetest thing I've ever heard and heartbreakingly tragic."

  Aldric nodded because there was no other answer. Faith was right.

  "But Uncle Eldridge didn't bond with your aunt?"

  "No." he shook his head, then rested his cheek on her hair. "My aunt was a wonderful woman, and loved us all very much, but they decided not to take that step. It's very personal and needs to be carefully considered. Uncle Eldridge knew that if my aunt died he would want to stay living with his children, and she felt the same way. They still loved each other very much, though. It was simply more of a human historical romance story rather than a contemporary paranormal one."

  Faith chuckled and Aldric smiled at the sound, and at the memories of the love he had grown up watching.

  "And werewolves do the same thing?" she asked after a few minutes.

  "They have something similar, yes. I do not know about mages," Aldric frowned in thought. "The way it works for us, you see, is that we are creatures of magic, and our bonds share that. We can share it with human partners as well, which will have many of the effects written about in the books. I sometimes wonder if some of those books aren't written by vampires or werewolves themselves."

  Faith laughed again and shifted around to swing her legs over his and leaned forward to rest her head back on his shoulder. She handed him her empty coffee cup to put on the side table and draped her arm over his chest, and something inside his soul settled.

  "I wonder if mages do have something like that. I'll have to ask Ken if he knows," she said. "Have you ever thought about doing that? Binding your life to someone else?"

  "I had not, until recently. Not since I was a child and dreaming of my future," Aldric said, slowly. He knew that it was far too soon to discuss that sort of thing with Faith. They had only just met, really. Just a month earlier and neither had ever heard of the other. But they had been together through a great deal of pressure. Situations where a person's true self is often revealed, and he had learned that Faith was loyal, fierce, protective... She cared deeply for those she chose to surround herself with, and she fought for them with everything she had.

  Aldric risked a glance down at her and found her biting her bottom lip to hold back a smile as she stared at where her fingers idly stroked his chest.

  After a moment the smile faded. "Do you think I'm a bad sister?"

  Aldric blinked at the abrupt change of topic.

  "What? Why do you ask that?"

  "Because I'm sitting here with you talking about romance novels and true love in real life and Crissy is still out there, somewhere. She's been gone for weeks now, and I'm curled up on your lap, flirting." Faith sighed.

  "You have protected your niece, found allies, and attempted two rescues thus far," Aldric said. "You are not sitting idly, enjoying life while your sister suffers. But you cannot take on a burden of guilt for taking what joy you can when you can. Should the worst happen and we never find your sister, would you prefer to live your life miserable in penance?"

  Faith sighed. "No, I know. But..." She grimaced and shook her head, her cheek rubbing against his shoulder. Aldric wrapped his arms around her and tried to surround her with himself.

  "You have friends working with you to find her. We are doing everything we can to learn who took her from the lodge and where they are keeping her. It is unlikely that they took her for the usual, human reasons so that at least should reassure you some."

  "But what if she's scared? Or being starved? Or..." Her shudder broke Aldric's heart. He thought it likely that she was being harmed. He thought it was extremely likely that she was being involuntarily fed from by greedy vampires who felt that humans were nothing but prey and that human mages were there to provide vampires with extra powers.

  "If she has been abused, then when we find her we will help her heal," he said. "Just like we did for Greg Honeyford. Marc has claimed her as a Frostwalker Clan member. She is family to us as well, now, as are you and Kaylee. We will find her and we will help her."

  Faith bi
t her lip and frowned for a long moment before she nodded. "Thank you, Aldric."

  Aldric wrapped his arms around her and bent down to kiss her hair. "Anything you need, love," he whispered so quietly he wasn't certain she heard. "I'm here."

  3

  The rest of the day was almost dull in comparison to playing with her magic or settling the nerves of a stressed child. Cuddling with Aldric was the best part, though. Faith always felt more confident after he held her, even if it was just for a moment. Like his presence helped her find her footing again, even if he did or said nothing.

  She wondered what it was like to be magically bound to someone like that. The way Aldric talked about it...

  Faith knew that real life wasn't like the romance novels she had taken to reading since she got here, but boy did it sound nice. To know that there was someone always there for you, dedicated and loving and protective. And she wasn't going to lie to herself: she liked feeling that around Aldric. She snuggled deeper into his arms and nuzzled against his shoulder, just so she could feel him stroke his hand up and down her back like she knew he would.

  Was it possible to fall flat on your face in love in three weeks?

  Was it fair to Crissy that Faith did exactly that while her sister was god knew where suffering god knew what?

  That question was one of many that were gnawing at her in the cover of night when she couldn't sleep. She was about to bring it up again, whether she had any right to feel content while Crissy was missing when the doorbell rang. Faith sat up and looked toward the hallway, then back to Aldric, and she could tell he was listening as one of the enforcers opened the door. One of them was always near each of the doors since the raid on the lodge where they almost rescued Crissy.

  Aldric stiffened and frowned. "Come. We must deal with this." He stood and turned to help her up. She put her hand in his and let him tug her to her feet before they headed to the front of the building.

  The Frostwalker Clan House was huge and to the unaware looked more like an exclusive hotel or resort. Aldric's office was beside Marc's own, just around the corner from the entry hall. Once they had stepped out the door, Faith could hear voices. Tamika's and...

  "Aunt Lucy?"

  Faith dropped Aldric's hand and dashed around the corner to see that she wasn't hearing things.

  "There you are, sweetie! You really are alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere, not that I would have known that, mind you. You've missed our weekly call twice now, and you didn't sound right on the one before that," Aunt Lucy said. Her hair was streaked with grey now, instead of the mahogany brown Faith still expected to see, but it was pulled back in her usual ponytail and her earrings fairly danced with her worry and irritation.

  "Now then, show me my other girls and we can sit down for some explanations." Aunt Lucy stepped inside, brushing right past Tamika, who blinked in surprise. "Be a dear and pull my bags inside, please? I'm not as young as I once was and the cab driver has gone already."

  "Um..."

  "It's all right, Tamika," Aldric said from just behind Faith, which was a good thing since Faith was still gaping at the sight of her aunt, who should be in LA, not way up here near the Oregon border. And definitely not in the front hallway of the Frostwalker Clan of paranormals who were in the middle of a damned pack war and hunting down possibly rogue vampires to boot.

  "Aunt Lucy!"

  Kaylee barreled into the hallway, not stopping until she leaped into Lucy's arms.

  "Oh my gosh, what are you doing here? You have to see the playset in the backyard, it's the most amazing playset ever and Jake and I put Tamika in jail there all the time and she pushes us on the swings so high and it's the most fun ever and when we can't play outside Jake's dad has so many movies! They have all the movies and their tv is ginormous! It's so cool!"

  Kaylee paused to take a breath and Lucy jumped into the slight pause.

  "That sounds wonderful, Kaylee-bee! I'm so excited to hear all about your new friends! But whatever are you doing here?" Lucy transferred her gaze to drill into Faith. "I went to the cabin, and some strange man told me to come here. He gave directions to the cab driver and then closed the door in my face."

  “That was Rod. When he's sleepy he loses his manners," Tamika rolled her eyes. "I bet he called Marc to let us know you were coming, but lord knows if that man has his phone on him. He probably called you, too, Aldric. What’s your excuse?“

  She smirked at him and put Lucy's suitcase and small carry-on style bag on a bench at the side of the door. Aldric ignored her, but patted his pocket and frowned.

  "Indeed. Would you go let Marc know we have a guest?" Aldric asked. "I will show Miss Lucy into the den and arrange for refreshments."

  "You got it, sugar." Tamika winked and turned to head outside to the wooded area that most of the clan used to shift in some privacy, then called back over her shoulder. “And find out what happened to Kenya? She’s supposed to be on Kaylee duty now.”

  Faith felt Aldric's hand press into her back, warm and strong.

  "Come right this way, ma'am. It will be much more comfortable in the den than standing around in the entry." Aldric gestured to the left, and Kaylee hopped down and tugged on Lucy's hand, but the woman herself was peering at Faith who hadn't managed to speak since her first astonished outburst.

  "Well, sweetie? Is that a good plan?" Lucy asked.

  Faith shook herself out of her stupor. "Uh, yeah. Yes. The den's got a wonderful view of the backyard. You can see the play area, even. Kaylee's eyes almost leaped out of her head the first time she saw it." She tried to keep her tone steady and her face free of any sort of tells. Aunt Lucy had always known when she or Crissy were hiding something. And the secrets Faith had now were way bigger than a plan to sneak out to a party at a boy's house in high school.

  Kaylee tugged Lucy's hand to drag her over to the window in the den and after asking if she would prefer coffee or tea, Aldric bowed and left them to head to the kitchen.

  "Wow, Kaylee-bee. That is a serious play structure." Lucy whistled low and nodded. "I can see why you're so eager to show me. That thing could accommodate a whole class of kids!"

  "It's so cool when all the kids come over and then everyone can play, but Jake is the only one that lives here. Well, me too, I guess, but it was so fun when everyone came over! We played the best game of tag and then there was so much food and we all snuck cake into the clubhouse and Deanna's big sister said we shouldn't have food in the clubhouse cause we'd attract pests, and then--" Kaylee's eyes got huge and she looked wildly at Faith for a moment. "And then they went home and that's all. Come look at the movies!"

  Kaylee scampered to the wall with the entertainment system. "Jake's dad buys most of them so they stay on the internet, but he's got a bunch here, too. He says that it's better to have a physical backup just in case, so he gets discs with Jakes favorites and he went and bought some of mine that he didn't have and they came in the mail and we had a movie party and we watched Jake's favorite movie which is The Incredibles which is so good and then we watched Moana cause that's my favorite, then we watched something Jakes Dad likes called Howl's Moving Castle and it was a little bit scary but not too much and the end was really nice and then we had pancakes for dinner!"

  Lucy's eyes were wide and sparkling with laughter by the time Kaylee slowed down to take a breath. Even Faith had relaxed, and when he brought a cart with coffee and snacks on it, Aldric grinned as the words flowed over the room.

  "Did you know that Howl's Moving Castle is a book, as well? It's a bit different than the movie, but I think it is quite good. Perhaps we could find it and read it together?" Aldric said.

  "Really?" Kaylee bounced up and launched at Aldric, who caught her easily. "Promise?"

  "I am a man of my word, Miss Kaylee. I shall look for my copy later this evening."

  "You're the best, Uncle Aldric!" Kaylee said, squeezing him before jumping around and racing out the door. "Jake! Jake! Uncle Aldric has the book!"

 
All three adults stared at the empty doorway and listened to the fading thumps of Kaylee's footsteps. After a moment of silence, Lucy's bright laughter broke in.

  "Well, she seems to be just fine. That's quite a relief to an old woman." The laughter in her voice was clear as daylight, and Faith felt herself relaxing just a bit.

  "Aunt Lucy, what are you doing here?" Faith finally felt like she had her brain unscrambled enough to catch up with the moment.

  "Well, like I said. You've dodged several of our weekly calls, and when I called you, worried, you either didn't answer or brushed me off as quickly as you could. I may not be your mother, but I did raise you. You and Crissy are my girls and when you both drop off the planet and start avoiding me, I know damned well something isn't right And don't think I haven't noticed that you haven't called Crissy down to see me." Lucy fixed her with a sharp look, then glanced over to Aldric and swept an assessing gaze over him. "Now, introduce me properly to your friend here, and tell me what the hell is going on."

  Aldric smiled and bowed to Lucy as he handed her a cup of coffee and a small plate with some cookies on it. "My name is Aldric Donnelly, ma'am. It is a great pleasure to meet you. Faith has told me some about her childhood, and I am very glad that she and her sister had you to rely on."

  "I am glad to meet you as well, though my niece has told me nothing whatsoever about you," Lucy raised a brow at him. "Though anyone who so cheerfully promises to read to children as a method of distracting them seems a solid enough person to start this conversation with. Am I to meet this mysterious Jake as well? And his parents? And where is Crissy? You won't distract me so easily."

  "You will get to meet me right now, Miss Latham," Marc said. He strode into the room and extended his hand to shake. "I'm Marc Keller, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. I guess you could say this is my house, but it feels more like a circus tent most days. Welcome."