Binding Magic (An Obscure Magic Book 7) (7 page)

She paused for a moment before she changed the thrust of the conversation. “I might start looking in the elves. They usually go after blondes with weirdly long lifespans and consistent youth.”

He tried to imagine the hyper woman with a sober, eternal elf. It was an odd picture. “Invite me to the nuptials. I would like to see what you consider to be a good match.”

She raised her bowl to him. “Keep me posted if you catch Minerva. She’s a quick one.”

He sighed in frustration. “I know. Her trail is gone now. She knew I was coming.”

She wrinkled her nose in amusement. “There’s a seer here. So, yeah, she knew.”

He grimaced. A moment later, a cup shattered in the hands of a woman doing a reading for an extranaturally handsome man.

The woman looked at Sophy with wide eyes.

“I believe that is my cue to leave. I do apologize, Zemuel. All the ladies seem to be running out on you tonight.”

“My ego can take it. Have a good night, Sophia.” He reached out and kissed the back of her hand. He could taste the magic of her ancestors in her skin.

She blinked and smiled. “That never gets old.”

“Good to know. Nice to know I still have moves.” He winked and inclined his head. He sipped at the bowl of something that could have been coffee in a world made of sugar, and he leaned back on the creaking chair.

It had taken two weeks to get Matthias to allow him in his territory, and he was only allowed to find Minerva and leave. The king’s new assistant had promised to intervene on his behalf and buy him some time, but he knew why the vampire didn’t want him to remain for any significant period of time. If he created a nest, he would be bound to the land and that would mean Matthias would have to share power with him. It was not a situation that would appeal to either of them.

The frazzled woman with the broken cup sat at the empty chair. “Would you like a reading?”

He looked her over. She was brunette, petite and had the stamp of magic on her. It was peculiar; it was enforced from without and didn’t bloom from within. She had been cursed with magic.

“If you could.” He wanted to watch.

She nodded and flicked her hair over her shoulder, exhaling onto the surface of the liquid, and it heated again. Curls of steam rose and she caught them, examining them carefully. “You are looking for Minerva.”

He blinked. “I am.”

“You can find her if you ask politely.” She flicked a glance at him, and her eyes spun with quicksilver.

“Would you please show me where I can find Minerva?” He leaned forward eagerly.

“It is not me that you must ask. Go to the home of the Gangers and ask for Minerva there. They are as close as family to her, and you would not be able to find them from the air. Knock and ask and be polite.”

The woman shivered and smiled at him. “There. Heated it up for you.”

He smiled in return. “Thank you. Do you have Wi-Fi?”

“Of course.”

He pulled out his phone, and he looked up Dr. Emile Harcourt Ganger. Through cross-referencing, he found an address from fifty years ago, and he smiled, swallowing the last of the coffee before he left the café with a few hundred dollars on the table.

He returned to the car that Matthias had provided and gave the address to the driver.

“The Ganger home?”

“Yes.”

He sat on the edge of his seat as the car rolled forward. It was not a traditional mate hunt, but if Minerva were the prize, he would do whatever it took.

The moment they turned onto the drive, he could feel the protective spells, the wards and the ancient magic.

The dowager house had a number of vehicles out front, but the sleek black vehicle continued to glide along until it was in front of the worn stone steps of the Ganger home.

Zemuel let himself out of the vehicle, and he walked up the steps, ringing the bell and waiting with his wings folded.

The scaled green features were familiar, and he grinned. “Harcourt!”

“I go by Emile now, but yeah. Wait, Zemuel, is that you?”

They clasped hands and slapped shoulders.

“Emile, who is this?”

The feminine voice was smooth to Zemuel’s ears, and he looked past his old friend to the elegant woman walking toward them.

“Master Mage, Dr. Lenora Ganger, this is an old friend. Zemuel.”

“Madame Lenora, it is an honour to meet you.” He bowed low and took her hand in his for a moment before releasing it.

She smiled. “It is an honour to meet any friend of my husband’s. Please, come inside.”

He could smell Minerva. She was close, but her scent was even throughout the halls and building. She had been here and then left... or was there something he was missing.

Tea was produced, and as the tray flew in and settled, Lenora poured for all of them.

“Cream or sugar?”

“Just sugar, please. Two.” He inclined his head as she handed him the delicate saucer.

When they were all settled, Emile smiled. “Now, not that I don’t enjoy seeing you, but why have you come?”

Lenora’s eyes were suspicious, but he was polite to both when he said, “I am seeking my mate. I believe she is in this city, and I need your help to find her. Will you help me?”

Emile smiled. “Of course.”

“Emile!” Lenora tried to stop him, but the words were spoken before she could.

Zemuel sipped at his tea. It was quite good. “I am looking for Minerva Rogati.”

Emile winced and looked at his wife in apology. “Sorry, but he did have to come in through the door.”

Lenora growled, an incongruous sound from such an elegant woman.

“Fine, but she is having a shower. I will go and get her in an hour. Do not worry, Zemuel. She is not leaving this property. I will abide by my husband’s asinine promise. We will help you find your mate.”

Zemuel inclined his head. “I have heard of the Ganger family since coming to Redbird City. I never connected it with you Har—Emile.”

“I repented my wild ways and settled down with the only woman I could ever love, who would tolerate me enough to give me a child.” Emile reached over and took his wife’s hand, kissing the palm.

“Your daughter is recently married?”

Lenora smiled proudly. “She is in the XIA. Her team are her mates, and it is a good fit.”

Zemuel raised his brows. “The entire team?”

Emile chuckled. “Vampire, elf and lion shifter. It is a good match, and she is my daughter.”

Lenora jerked her chin up. “Minerva designed the binding spell.”

“Which was compromised by some enchanted equipment, but it all worked out in the end.” Emile nodded.

They sat and chatted about Beneficia and her mates for an hour before Lenora rose to her feet and left the room.

“Where is she going?” Zemuel nibbled on a cookie.

“She is keeping my promise. Don’t worry. You will see Minerva in the next hour or so.”

“Why so long?”

“I am guessing that Lenora will have to pry her fingers from the doorframe. Just a guess though.” Emile grinned.

Zemuel sighed. So close and yet Minerva might as well be half a world away. Not that he wouldn’t still find her, but though time didn’t mean much to him, he was filled with an urgency that was hard to pin down.

If he wasn’t sure that it was impossible, he would say that he was excited. He was far too ancient for that kind of foolishness.

Minerva was wandering around the new guesthouse when Lenora knocked. There was no doubt of who it was. The house shivered with her energy.

Wearing the fuzzy robe that the guesthouse had provided, she answered the door. “Lenora, what is wrong?”

“May I come in?”

“Of course.”

She stepped aside, and her host entered, pacing up and down the living room nearly immediately.

“Spill it, Lenora.”

“Zemuel is here.”

Minerva felt her body go hot. “He is?”

“He is apparently an old friend of Emile’s, and he believes you are his mate. Is there a reason for that?”

Minerva held up her hands. “We just had sex.”

“I recognized his scent from that morning. Did you do anything or say anything that would indicate you had bound yourself to him?”

Minerva shook her head. “No. There wasn’t a lot of talking to be honest.”

“Mating marks?”

“Nibbles and scratches but no bites. I was healed up in two days.”

Lenora smiled. “What do you think of him?”

Minerva blushed hot. “Uh...”

“I see. So, lots of hormones and not a lot of thought.”

“Something like that. I just thought he would make a fun and enjoyable one-night stand.”

“Did he?”

Minerva had to be honest. “Definitely.”

Lenora cocked her head. “You knew he would come after you.”

“I thought my memory spell would hold him.”

“Did you remove all traces of yourself?”

Minerva winced. “No.”

“Then, on some level, you wanted him to come for you. You are too experienced to think otherwise.”

Minerva thumped down onto one of the couches. “I knew he would.”

“So, you ran. Like a mate. You are making him chase you, and he has caught you, so to speak.” Lenora came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“What are my options here?”

“In this house, none. Emile promised his friend that he would help find the mate before we knew it was you.”

Minerva grimaced. “Oh well. I will get dressed and go and meet with him.”

“Good girl. You can always bespell him and run later. There is a family that made a tradition out of it.”

Minerva nodded and headed to the bedroom where her clothing was draped over the edge of her bed. She flicked a spell that cleaned her underwear and got dressed. She wasn’t heading into a room with Zemuel without underwear. Well, not again.

Dressed and steeled for the meeting, she linked arms with her master, and Lenora led her out, across the open field where the fey horses occasionally ran, though now, they hung out near the dowager house where Benny and the guys were living.

The path that led from the guesthouse to the main house felt like a road to her doom. She ruthlessly squashed the part of her that was feeling trills of excitement.

Her inner novel-reading teenager needed to zip it.

Once inside the house, Lenora nodded. “They are in the sitting room.”

Minerva headed down the hall and looked into the sitting room. She muttered, “Not anymore.”

She continued on and into the library. It was Emile’s favourite spot, and he was showing his acquisitions to Zemuel.

The dragon turned the moment she came through the doorway. His smile was slow, but she could feel her mental block in his mind. He had sought her out without remembering everything.

“Minerva Rogati. I am pleased to meet you... again.” He walked through the banks of tables and stopped in front of her. He bowed low and took her hand.

“Lord Zemuel, I am surprised you sought me out.”

“Once I had caught your scent, there was no stopping me. It was easy to do, it was all over me.”

She blushed. “I knew I should have taken more time with the spells.”

He shrugged, still holding her hand. “You panicked. I did as well the moment I knew I had met my mate and she had escaped. Norman had to remind me that I had surveillance footage of the meeting earlier that night.”

She paled in horror.

He raised her hand to his lips. “My surveillance ends at the bedroom door.”

She shivered at the touch of his lips against her. A thousand and one memories assailed her, and he smiled.

“I am really missing those memories if a kiss to your hand does that to you.”

She licked her lips and cleared her throat. “Your memories aren’t missing. You are too powerful for that. I just subdued them. They are still there.”

He leaned down to her and whispered, “What will it take to wake them?”

She stared into his eyes, the silver of his face was completely unmarked by time, but his eyes showed that he had seen more than her lifetime had to offer.

“Uh. I could remove it now, but it would kind of rush in on you.”

Emile muttered, “Take him to the guesthouse.”

Minerva panicked. “What?”

“You broke him, you fix him. Those are the rules.”

Lenora was in the doorway with a tray. “He’s right. Those are the rules.”

Minerva felt like her skin was radiating ice and fire in turn. The rules of the Ganger house had always been clear. If you used a spell that affected someone, you had better know how to undo it.

She was a little plaintive when she said, “Can I have some tea first?”

Lenora fixed her cup and handed it over. “There you go, precious.”

Minerva scowled and took her hand back from Zemuel to take the tea. He didn’t let go easily.

With the cup in her hand, she headed to one of the nearby couches and took a few sips of the hot brew.

The familiar taste relaxed her, and she settled into the seat while Zemuel watched her with amusement, and Lenora got Emile his cup.

Zemuel came to stand next to her. He crouched down and smiled. “I will not jump on you the moment the suppression comes off.”

She looked at him glumly. “That is what you say. I have done this kind of thing once before, and it ended up in a fight that nearly killed him.”

He chuckled. “I can take whatever you have to give, little goddess.”

She froze. Lenora and Emile looked at her in surprise. “Why did you call me that?”

He sipped at his own tea. “I have met many goddesses in my time. You radiate with that particular energy.”

Lenora had a weak smile. “Did you know?”

Minerva nodded. “I haven’t had a proper chance to tell you.”

Zemuel looked to her master and Emile. “You didn’t know?”

Lenora smiled. “I knew she had power and abilities beyond standard magecraft. I did not know she was born to be a deity.”

Minerva made a face. “How could you know? I was adopted. It wasn’t like my house was shaped like a temple.”

Emile cocked his head. “Do you know your origin?”

“I do. It is a bit private though.” She glanced at Zemuel.

He nodded. “I will leave you for a few minutes. Do not doubt that I am staying close.”