Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up 5)

“Kinsella?”

“Another fool. He was not my design, and it was a real treat to tear off my illusion and give him the justice he’d eluded for so long. What a wanker.”

“That wasn’t part of the vision?”

“No. Not directly. But I knew I needed to extract myself from the situation and figure out a way to lure you here. He provided…” Elliot chuckled and shook his head. “That whole thing was perfect. Talk about fate. You handled it all beautifully, and now here you are. Owning your gargoyle, falling in love, contemplating killing a double-crossing scoundrel. I deserve it, I get that. I wasn’t fully honest with you at Ivy House. Shifters do fascinate me, and they made me feel fear for the first time since my sister died. There was something enlivening about it…I was truthful about that. But the real reason I stayed there was you. To train you. To fulfill the vision. That’s not something I could say.”

“Were you even summoned?”

“Yes, but I knew I would be. It was part of the vision. Listen, Jessie, here’s what it comes down to. So often powerful people will hide evil deeds behind empty promises. I decided early on that I’d wear what I am on my sleeve. I’m weird, I do things oddly, I don’t play into the mage hype, and I’m rotten in plenty of ways. The thing with my sister, with my upbringing, messed me up quite a bit. But I promised myself that I wouldn’t hide what I was behind a crooked smile.” He paused. “Yes, I recognize the irony. I know that when I accidentally smile in that illusion mask, it comes out crooked. You have to be really careful not to make any facial expressions in that thing or the mask slips. That or you look weird.” He waved his hand. “But you know I mean figuratively crooked.”

“What’s your point?” I said, trying to wrap my brain around all this and decide if he was lying, or if he was telling the truth and I was still mad as hell anyway.

“I also decided that if I was ever fortunate enough to get to work with you, I’d be the bad guy so you wouldn’t have to make the hard decisions. To take out mages like Kinsella. Or to organize extravagant meetings with people neither of us have any intention of working with so they can see your power, prestige, and potential. I decided that I would set the stage so that you may shine.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why would you forgo the audience? You seem to love holding court.”

He frowned at me. “I didn’t say I would forgo an audience. I said I’d be the bad guy. It’s much more fun.”

Twenty-Seven

I sat and stared at Elliot, mulling over what he’d said. So much of it had struck a chord. The more I thought about it, the less I doubted him. His story checked out, as crazy as that might be.

But it was hard to let go of the hate. It was hard not to blame him for all the hell I’d been through.

“What do you think?” I asked Austin, turning my head a little.

He shook his head. “This isn’t something I can direct you on. Either you trust him or you don’t. I’ll back you whatever you choose.”

“Including sitting on my chairs without a towel under your naked butts,” Elliot said softly.

I quirked an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged and looked away. “Common courtesy.”

This wasn’t the time to laugh, but I wanted to.

“You’re positive he smells like Sebastian?” I asked Austin.

“Yes. But given his powers as a mage, it’s probably wise to get a second opinion.”

“He’s Sebastian. Here’s your second opinion,” Ivy House said.

“I’m not so inclined to trust you. Or talk to you right now.”

“I sided with Austin when you two had your spat. I was right then, and I’m right now. I look forward to eventually telling you I told you so.”

“By all means.” Elliot waved his hand. “Let them through.”

I stared hard at him.

“You didn’t think I’d be totally alone here, did you?” He frowned at me. “You trust too much, Jessie Ironheart. Your shifter does, too. Never trust a mage. Never.”

“And yet you are sitting here, asking me to trust you…”

“Okay, well, yes, I can see where that would be confusing.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m not a typical mage, though. Also, I’ve taken you on as an apprentice. In mage-land, that means that I will only help you achieve, because your successes will reflect favorably on me.”

“Until the student outstrips the teacher and the teacher gets jealous and tries to kill the student.”

“You’ve watched too many movies.” He crossed his ankle over his knee. “In case you are wondering, my longtime friend and second-in-command has been watching us. She is taking down the spells and letting your people in as we speak. She could have come in and tried to prevent you from killing me. She didn’t. We’ve always known my death was a possibility, and she has helped me orchestrate all of this. That should tell you how serious we are about what we’ve been doing. What we’ve done.”