Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up 5)

I glanced down at it, finding a vintage watch with a black leather band.

“How kind of you to notice. I stole it, of course. From…” The man pointed at the row of faces. “The man in the middle, there. Jacobson. He didn’t deserve it, and the crows in his employ wouldn’t have appreciated it.”

“You’re Elliot Graves,” I said, my anger bubbling up, hot and heady. Magic pulsed around me, eager to be used.

His focus was acute and his smile disarming. “Hello, Jacinta. Lovely to finally make your acquaintance.”

The slicked-back hair—I recognized it from the first time I’d seen him, the night I’d claimed Ivy House’s magic. He’d blown me a kiss that had turned into words. He’d had facial hair that night, but today he was clean-shaven. And the pale blue eyes—those belonged to a delivery guy about half this guy’s age. He’d delivered a note from Elliot Graves and then disappeared in his truck on the street. Clearly Elliot Graves could change his appearance at will.

He’d also attacked me, tried to have me kidnapped, had his people spy on me, killed my—

“No, no, no!” He bent and pushed out his hands, but my spell had already been let loose. It passed straight through him again, cracking into the wall on the other side of the tunnel. A deep rumble rolled beneath my feet. Elliot looked at the ceiling. “Keep doing that and you’ll bring this mountain down on top of us.”

“Why does it go right through you?” I asked, taking a step forward. Could an illusion be this lifelike?

Austin stepped with me, staying even.

Elliot laughed softly, shaking his head. “You are something. You’ve grown in might since I last…” His speech hitched, but then he spread his hands wide. “Let’s just get it out there, shall we? Since I last spied on you.”

A boot scraped the ground. Austin spread his fingers in a stop motion, keeping Brochan from doing whatever a moving boot indicated.

“Ah yes, the new shifter. Broken Sue, wasn’t it? How do you like your Rolex?”

“It’ll fit perfectly around my dick,” Brochan growled.

I widened my eyes. That was unexpected. And strangely hilarious.

Elliot took a step back and then shivered. “I’m not even there in the flesh and that freaked me out. You’re quite the power player. Austin Steele has found a protégé.”

“Why aren’t you in the… How aren’t you in the flesh?” I asked.

He winked at me. “It’s a pretty common practice for those of us in the know. And with enough power, of course. One of the mages at this party is too weak to manage it. I invited him to attend so as to make a fool of him. It’s a personal grudge. Petty, some might say, but…” He shrugged. “And then there’s you—you have plenty of power but not enough experience.”

“You aim to make a fool out of me, then?”

“Hardly.” He chuckled. “I would like to inform you, however, that you will be the only female head mage at this gathering. That was an intentional decision. I fully intend to demean many of the mages here, one way or another. To taunt or condescend to them. Since female mages are routinely treated that way in the magical world, I didn’t want to add to their…misfortunes. They’re also better at ignoring such behavior, which makes them more dangerous. It’s also simply more fun to taunt those who are not used to being taunted. They get angry and flustered. It’s comical.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Not because I thought I could get one over on you, that’s for sure.” He paused, and I just blinked at him, waiting for the answer. His smile told me he knew what I wanted and didn’t intend to offer it up. “All the other mages have only been granted one seat at the table. You get two, one for you and one for your shifter. This is because you treat him as your equal, do you not?”

“Yes, I do.”

“It’ll raise contention with the others. Make you look weaker. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes. He’s my date.”

“I thought as much. You don’t care how people perceive you…”

I shifted from side to side, frustrated. After all these months, I’d actually gotten an audience with the guy who’d been plaguing me, and he wasn’t physically in front of me. Worse, he was one hundred percent leading this conversation. He held all the cards.

I pointed at the wall. “Kinsella.”

“Ah, yes.” He took a step closer. “He gave you some trouble, I believe.”

“What is this wall?”

“That wall represents my illustrious status as the Mage Most Wanted. I am claiming my kills to serve as proof that I have done what the Anal Repository Guild, as some call it, says I did. One of the mages that walks these halls is on the cusp of financial ruin. Given the repository has a huge price on my head, I suspect our greedy little mage will try to cash in.”