Page 124 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“I’d say you’re still enough of a mystery,” Jonathan said as we started walking back down the alley toward the busy street calling at the end of our cobbled path. “You can’t shield, it’s true, but you’re hardly an easy read.”
“Glad I don’t bore you,” I said dryly.
“Darling Cass, I suspect you couldn’t if you tried.”
I didn’t necessarilywanta thrill to run through my body when he called me darling, but I also couldn’t claim to dislike it.
“As for the previous question,” Jonathan said, providing a helpful distraction, “the answer is no. Cary and I have known each other since we were brats in our first year of school, both ofus complete cast-outs. We’d no one but each other in those days. He wouldn’t break my confidence now.”
“So why bribe him at all?” I wondered.
Jonathan cocked his head and considered the question. “People become resentful of obligation. I find that if at all possible, it’s best to give them the option of consent. Or at least the perception of it.”
“How Machiavellian of you.” Not for the first time, I wondered about the hidden sides of Jonathan that I never seemed to see, even with his growing comfort with my touch. After all, what kind of person would play such games with a close friend?
“The kind whose friends expect it,” he replied. “Cary understands my life is…complicated.”
Complicated, how?I wanted to ask, though undoubtedly he would hear the question anyway. Maybe I should call him The Prince for his plotting ways.
His mouth quirked. “A prince, you say?”
“You know, I’m not so sure I like the fact that you can read my thoughts as easily as I can yours. Maybe even better.” I pulled my hand from his and ignored the odd emptiness I felt. Had I always felt that way, or was it just more obvious now, under the effect of alcohol and companionship?
Jonathan tipped his head back, and a deep, sonorous laugh bounced off the brick walls and out to the street. “Fair enough. Riddle me, this, Cass. If I’m a prince, does that make you my princess for the night?”
He regarded me with heavy-lidded eyes, and it was only then I considered just how much he had drunk this evening. If Jonathan was good at procuring secrets, Cary was better at putting people at ease. An evening filled with pirate stories had been lubricated by as many pints of sweet, dark beer. I’d had at least four, and I was certain my escort had put down far more.
“Jonathan,” I ventured. “Are you drunk?”
He swayed noticeably as we stepped over a particularly crooked cobblestone, reaching out for my shoulder to steady himself. Guilt swept through his touch before he pulled back. “Of course not. I can stand, can’t I?”
At that, he tripped over a cobblestone, lurching forward and nearly taking me to the ground with him. Slouching back up next to my shoulder, he peered mischievously over the edge of my sleeve.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You are toasted,” I informed him. “Does that mean I have to find the way back to the hotel?”
“Absolutely not. We’ve one more stop to make.”
“Jonathan, I don’t want to go to another clandestine meeting?—”
“No, no, nothing like that.” He offered that smile, a bright one that was deceptively innocent.
It was a smile I could fall in love with, I realized. Quite easily.
I was glad we weren’t holding hands anymore.
“Come with me,” Jonathan said. “It’s only a few blocks away.”
We turned onto a busy street, but instead of heading back to the hotel, Jonathan turned in the opposite direction. We walked for several more blocks until he stopped in front of a pub hewn from gray stone out of which the sounds of a lively jig and an even livelier crowd poured through the front door. The Brazen Head was etched in gold lettering on a black sign.
“Oh!” I clapped my hands together in recognition. “I know this place!”
Jonathan grinned. “Do you, now?” The Irish in his accent was even thicker after several drinks. He glanced up at the sign.“Think you might want a bit of a craic in the same pub where Jonathan Swift and James Joyce enjoyed a pint or two?”
I looked eagerly inside but shied away from the entrance once I spied the interior packed with plain folk. “I don’t know…”
Jonathan held out a hand. “Don’t worry, Cass. I’ll keep you safe from the beyond.”
“Will you, really?”
