The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (29 page)

CHAPTER 17

For
all their preparations, the rest of the night passed quietly and Julian and
Alex woke mid-morning to the news that Dr. Chesterfield would be there soon.
Julian felt like he was getting the flu; his body and head ached from
everything he’d put them through, and from the expression on Alex’s face he
wasn’t alone. They shared a quick but hot shower to clean up for the doctor,
then put on fresh pyjamas and made their way to the kitchen for a huge
breakfast.

“I
have to admit, I’d want to stay home even if I didn’t have to stay home,”
said Julian, slumping in his chair and cradling the coffee Alys had provided
once they’d eaten, after Alex had declared they needed it to be human enough
for guests.

“And
we still have people coming,” said Alex, just as miserable. He sat up
enough to drink some coffee, then flopped against the table again.

“Soon,
in fact,” said Jacques. He had dark circles under his eyes and a bit of a
bruise on one cheekbone, but was otherwise perfectly chipper despite the
magical output yesterday.

Alex
let out a little moan and forced himself to sit up and drink more coffee.

“Dramatic,”
said Jones. He was a lot more bruised, with adorable bed head on top of his
sleepy face.

“Good
thing I like the brooding dark hero sort,” said Julian, though deep down
he really wanted to echo Alex’s sentiment. “Maybe we can nap later?”

“Doctor’s
orders, possibly,” said James. He didn’t even have the grace to get dark
circles under his eyes, and he kept getting up and pacing over to stare at the
door.

Alex
sighed. “The wards are fine, no one else has poked at us since
yesterday,” he said.

The
oven timer dinged, and a batch of cinnamon rolls emerged from it. “Give
‘em ten minutes or so to cool, and you boys can have those for a snack with
your coffee,” said Alys, sitting on her tall chair and eating her own
breakfast.

“More
coffee?” said Alex hopefully, holding up his now-empty mug.

She
snorted, but the cup floated away to meet with the pot rather than her telling
him to get it himself, so apparently they were going to be properly coddled
today as befit miserably drained men.

“So,
am I trapped here with you?” asked Jones, sipping his own coffee more
slowly.

James
and Jacques exchanged glances. “We think you’d be safer here,” said
Jacques, “but you’re not our Charge, so we can’t make you stay.”

“I’ll
alter yon pyjamas today,” said Alys, “and your clothes from yesterday
are clean, I don’t mind cleaning ‘em every night.”

Jones
chuckled sheepishly. “I’m not your Charge, but you can order me around if
you need to,” he said. “Obviously I wasn’t being safe enough.”

“Was
it worth it, to finally get Jenny’s number?” teased Alex. He’d managed to
keep his pretty face from getting bruised, but he had a fair number of interesting
ones on the rest of his body, and Julian suspected this was his way of telling
Jones all was forgiven.

Jones
grinned. “Maybe,” he said, voice full of glee. “Depends on how
she reacts when I call her later.”

“Totally
worth it,” said Julian. “And we get fresh-baked cinnamon rolls as
consolation.”

“That
is pretty good consolation,” said James, eyeing the pan. “Especially
since Jacques helped bake.”

“Alys
did most of the work,” Jacques said, rubbing the back of his neck with a
little smile playing around his mouth. “I just helped a little with the
recipe.”

“We’ll
see whether or not it’s an improvement,” said Alys, but she was grinning,
too. “Jacques and I will be cooking dinner together tonight, as
well.”

“Ooh,
you must like him if you’re letting him into the kitchen,” said Julian,
impressed despite having eaten Jacques’ wonderful cooking before. Alys didn’t
even let Julian and Alex make tea.

“He’s
not bad, for a human,” said Alys, shrugging. Her tone was grudgingly
factual, as though it pained her to admit any human might be up to her
standards. “He’s not one of those recipe-bound clods with no sense of the
seasons.”

“Alys
understands about making do with what you have,” said Jacques, sounding
openly admiring. “That’s why it’s so good that you get food from the manor
houses, it’s always seasonal and fresh.”

“Will
we be able to get deliveries still?” asked Julian, eyeing the cupboards
dubiously, since he had no idea what was in them from day to day.

“Oh,
aye,” said Nat. “Yer Guardians’ll check out the deliveries afore they
come inside, and Alex’s wards are good enough to bank on.”

“Much
better than when Con broke in,” said Alys.

“Hey!”
said Alex, mock-offended. “He had help, you know.”

Before
they could get too into the old familiar bantering, the doorbell rang, and
everyone went on alert. The brownies vanished, and James rocketed from his seat
to the door. Alex followed at a more leisurely pace after retrieving his flute
from the bag he’d slung over his chair. There was a bit of low conversation and
a short tune from Alex, and soon enough Dr. Chesterfield was inside, along with
a couple of bulky equipment cases.

“There’s
coffee,” said Julian, and he chuckled when the pastries began to leave
their pan for plates and gain delicious drizzles of icing. “And cinnamon
rolls.”

“Cinnamon
rolls from a brownie? That’s a good reason to leave the office,” said Dr.
Chesterfield, smiling cheerfully. “You’ll all be glad to know that
Apprentice Jordan woke up this morning, thanks to your assistance, Alex.”

“I
am glad,” said Alex, pausing to wipe off his flute before stowing it back
in the bag. “Let’s move out here to the living room?”

The
plates detoured out to the coffee table, followed by the sugar bowl, milk
pitcher, and an extra mug of coffee with a spoon already inside. “Our
brownies are a little shy around strangers,” said Julian, standing and
following once he was sure the food was all that was going. “But they take
good care of us.”

“So
I see,” said Dr. Chesterfield, taking a seat on one of the chairs. Alex
shared the big chair with Julian, and the other three men shared the sofa,
making a comfortable conversation group. “These look delicious, tha-”

“Don’t,”
said Julian. “Say ‘that’s wonderful’ instead.”

“Right,
sorry,” said the doctor with a laugh. “That’s splendid.”

“That’ll
do,” said Alys’ disembodied voice. “Just ask if you need more
coffee.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” said Alex, using his longer reach to snag rolls for himself and
Julian. “So, you’re definitely here to see me and Julian, and we’d like it
if you could also look over Jones.” He paused and glanced at the
Guardians. “I don’t know how James and Jacques feel about it, but they did
get drained, too.”

“Though
you were the only one that fainted,” said James. “If the good doctor
wishes to examine me, he may, but it’s not necessary.”

“I’m
not sure I could resist,” said Dr. Chesterfield, “It’s not often one
gets the chance to treat a Guardian’s magic.”

“You
wouldn’t say that if you were a Temple healer,” said Jacques with a snort.
“But you’re welcome to examine me, too.”

“He
may stay for lunch if he likes,” said Alys. “There’s plenty.”

“Then
it’s decided,” said Dr. Chesterfied. “After I finish this absolutely
delicious pastry, I’ll start with Alex, whose magical anomalies I’m at least
familiar with. Now, why don’t you tell me what happened to get you all in such
a state?”

They
told a shortened version of the events of the past ten days, from the first
murder to the last and all the attacks between. They were all well into a
second cup of coffee before they finished, and Alys had sent out biscuits that
so far no one had touched.

“That’s
quite a story,” said the doctor, setting his cup down. “I think I
have an idea of what to look for now, anyway. Alex, where shall we go?”

“Hm.
Bedroom’s got more space, but my lab’s got better lighting,” said Alex. He
gave Julian a little nuzzle before disentangling them to get up.

“You
should use the lab, so Jones can shower,” said Julian. “That way
he’ll be clean for Dr. Chesterfield to look at his bruises.”

“The
doctor doesn’t need to worry about my…” began Jones.

“That
would be perfect, thank you,” interrupted Chesterfield. “I’ll want to
see to all of your health, I’m primarily a Healer of bodies still, despite my
specialised interest in magical cases.”

“Yes,
sir,” said Jones sheepishly. “I’ll go shower, then.”

They
all went their separate ways, with Alys making sure that the doctor had what he
needed in the lab, and Jones had clean clothes and towels in the bathroom.

“This
flat was really not meant to hold five,” said James with a chuckle.
“We’re lucky you two trust us and sleep soundly, or we’d never manage to
get us all clean.”

“We’re
lucky you guys are used to going short on sleep, too,” said Julian.
“If we all slept like we eat, we’d never manage.”

“You’ll
get used to the eating,” assured Jacques, patting Julian’s knee and then
giving him a biscuit before taking another pair for himself and James.

James
nibbled on it and nodded. “It’s just at first that it seems crazy to try
to stuff that much into yourself.”

“Your
body needs the fuel, though,” said Jacques. He’d eaten his own biscuit in
two big bites.

Jones
chuckled. “It’s a good thing Alys knows how to portion for a normal human,
too, or I’d be about to burst. I don’t know where you put it all.”

“So,”
said Julian, glancing toward the closed door of Alex’s work room, “do you
guys know more about the new murder?”

“We
do, but you can wait until Lapointe comes and tells you both,” said James.
“The location was another old site, in her majesty’s historical garden
maze.”

“Don’t
they have guards on that or something?” said Julian, surprised.

“Do
you guard your gardens?” James shot right back, then he chuckled.
“There are guards, but in that area they’re not frequent. They found him
pretty fast, the coroner said he’d only been dead for an hour or a bit
more.”

“It’s
harder to feel sorry for him, since he did help try to hurt me,” said
Julian, dunking his biscuit in his coffee and taking a bite. “Mmm, these
are so good.”

They
talked about food instead for a while, and gave Julian more suggestions for
managing his new appetite. Alys promised to work on some seedcakes and other
portable forms of energy, and switched them all to tea when they finished their
coffee. Soon enough Alex and Jones both came out of hiding, and then it was
Jones’ turn with the good doctor.
 

Alex
snuggled up with his own cup of tea and biscuits and stole a kiss. “He’s
going to examine all of us and then go over the data, and give recommendations
in public or private as we wish.”

“Good
thing you’ve got that big, private work room for him to use,” teased
Julian, claiming another kiss for good measure. “I haven’t had my magic
looked at much, is it weird?”

“No
weirder than any other medical stuff,” assured Alex, tickling Julian’s
side.

Julian
giggled and kissed him to make him stop, and then kissed him a little more
until the doorbell rang and he sighed. “Who is it?”

Alex
whistled and the wards showed them an image of Father Stephen carrying a
satchel and looking worried.

“I’ll
get it,” said Jacques, getting up and opening the door while Alex
retrieved his flute and did a tune to let him in through the wards.

“Hello,
my boys, how are you all today?” said the Father with a grin, setting his
bag by the door and giving Jacques a kiss on the forehead, for which the tall
man bent down obligingly.

“Very
tired, Father,” said Julian, still in his nest of blankets. “Would
you like some tea?”

“That
would be quite nice, and I see your house-brownie has been baking again,”
he said, stopping to give his blessing to James, Alex and even Julian before
taking a seat and finding a fresh cup of tea and a cinnamon roll had appeared
in front of it while he was greeting them. Julian purred at the warmth from the
kiss, then sighed and snuggled up when Alex joined him in the chair again.

“How
are you, Father?” asked Alex.

“As
good as can be expected, with so many of my friends in danger,” said
Stephen. He ate the cinnamon roll with his fingers, messy and grinning the same
way they all had, clearly enjoying the treat. “I’ve brought everything for
purification, you said you’ve a bathtub big enough?”

“It
should be,” said Julian. “We’ll help you get set up, Jones is in
Alex’s work room with Dr. Chesterfield.”

“I’ll
have to get you through the wards, anyway, there’s extra ones on the
bedroom,” said Alex, sounding a little sheepish.

“That’s
wise, to protect yourself where you’re most vulnerable,” said Stephen.
“We’ll get everyone sorted, I’ve got the whole afternoon. I sent my driver
away with orders not to return until I call, no matter who bothers him about
me.”

Julian
smiled, feeling very grateful for the friends he’d made since his Courtship
now. “Thank you,” he said.

“I’d
do the same for anyone in such need,” said Stephen, then he smiled,
“but it’s good to be able to do it for friends.”

“Alys
is going to feed you lunch,” said Jacques, sitting and snagging a few more
biscuits for himself and James. “She and I are going to spend the
afternoon cooking, if you can stay for dinner, Father.”

“That
is quite an incentive,” said Stephen with a little grin. “I expect I
can find some excuse.”

Jones
came out of the work room then, and there were greetings and a quick discussion
with the priest and the doctor about how to go about their day’s work, and then
it was Julian’s turn to be prodded while Alex took Father Stephen back to
prepare their bathroom and bedroom.