Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,29
intentions aren’t pure, we don’t have the numbers or the setup to make that visit.” Austin took his drink off the bar, swirling the dark brown liquid. The people trying to get to the bar for their free drink gave our group a wide berth, but several of them shot furtive glances at Austin and me. “I have a few guys who can operate well in small spaces, but they won’t show well in an affair like that. They have more raw talent than honed skill. Do we know anything about this guy’s magic or power level?”
“Mid-level mage, I think.” Sebastian put his hand up and teeter-tottered it back and forth. “I know him only by reputation. He’s made it farther than a man of his stature normally would, and it’s because of pure viciousness.”
“I really need to stick me head out of me arse and get better acquainted with the magical world again,” Niamh murmured.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Austin said, his expression troubled. He glanced to the side as someone slowly shuffled by, watching Austin with tightly pressed lips. His expression smoothed over into the hard mask.
“My side of the link is going to stay open now, I hope you know.” I reached for my bottle of beer, the dark brown glass sweating. I felt like something a little lighter than my normal glass of wine. “It’s only fair.”
“Oh, ye worked that out, did ye?” Niamh twisted her mouth to the side in distaste. “I wanted to see that go down.”
“What would be the downside of putting off the visit?” I asked. “Would he lose interest, do you think?”
“Are ye jokin’?” Niamh tsked. “He’ll surmise ye don’t have the forces to keep yerself safe. I may not know much about the current players in the magical world, but I doubt the game itself has changed. Ye are new and untested, mostly. So far as he has heard, anyway. He wants to get a gawk. He wants to size you up. If ye snub him, fine, but ye better have the power to swat him away if he takes offense and paints a target on yer back.
“Now, maybe he doesn’t know if he wants anything a’tal. Maybe he’s just sizing up the new kid. A few vicious shifters led by Austin Steele will make a statement. Then there is the house staff. We have a lot of experience. We might be able to make it seem like we are— Well, no.” She batted her hand through the air. “I’m full of shite. Earl has lost his marbles, I’m out of the loop, and Edgar will just make them feel sorry for us. We’re not enough. We need a few more powerful fliers, another mage or two who’s not so wet behind the ears, and some stronger units on the ground for Austin Steele. We go like this, and we’ll look like a rinky-dinky, two-bit circus they can hang upside down by the ankles and shake all the money from our pockets.”
The digits from the ledger rolled through my mind. A cold sweat broke over me. “Would they actually try to steal Ivy House’s money?”
“If there was enough of it, yes,” Niamh said. “Or…they would’ve back in the day. Not sure now. Maybe there’s a different commodity the magical world is into.”
“Money and power will never go out of style,” Sebastian said, looking at his feet. “I didn’t realize at first how much power you had, Miss Jessie.”
“You can just call me Jessie.”
“You do a good job of masking it. When you opened up and let it roll out earlier with the alpha, it blew my hair back. Figuratively speaking. You’d want to be careful showing off that much power without the knowledge of how to properly use it. Your power is worth more than Ivy House’s money.”
“Speaking of…” I traced my finger down the side of my bottle. “I could really use help with that. You said you’d give me the week, right? What if we treat it as a trial run? We train with magic once a day for two to three hours—whatever we can handle—and the rest of the time is yours to do with as you please. We can have a chat at the end of the week, see where we are and what you’re thinking.”
He shrugged, watching the people in the bar. “The week, sure. I’ve never been given an apprentice. I’ve always wondered about the apprentice/master bond.” Austin stiffened before leaning an