Magical Midlife Meeting (Leveling Up #5)(74)

“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.”

“So let’s say…” I felt my people rush forward. Elliot hadn’t been lying—someone else had taken down the spell and let them in. “Let’s say I forgive you for making my life hell. Then what?”

“I’ll ask for the privilege of training you.”

“Where? Here?”

“Of course not.” He held out his hands. “There is no here. Your basajaun destroyed it. I have very little left other than a couple of guest rooms and this common area.”

“I highly doubt that.”

He grinned. “Okay, fair enough. I do have a great many other places I can go in the world. But none of them are home. I haven’t had a real home since I stepped back from the magical world and started preparing for you. We could train wherever you prefer, although I assume that would be on Ivy House soil, where you are best protected.”

“Not so sure about that anymore,” I muttered.

“You rose in the magical world after your sister died?” Austin asked.

“Yes,” Elliot answered.

“Why? Why not just start preparing then? Why climb to the top, with all the sweat and tears that must’ve taken, only to step down?”

“Climbing to the top was preparing,” Elliot responded. “I established myself as a key power. I created a network. Everyone knew my name. You knew my name, which made it easier for me to tamper in your lives. To get people to come to this meetup. It’s easy for me to get an audience with whoever I want. Stepping back doesn’t mean disappearing when you’ve reigned as mob king. Your return will always be feared. As it should be. Also…I like holding court, as Jessie said.”

“If you moved to our town and started training me, wouldn’t the people who’ve been watching you show up and try to kill you?” I asked, monitoring my people above me. They hadn’t been magically transported part of the way like I had been, which meant it would take them longer to reach us.

“Yes. And now you, too. Beating Kinsella put you on the map in a big way. Showing your might here has officially made you a talking point. You are still an enigma, I think, but a powerful one.

Welcome to the big leagues.”

“So you’ve painted a target on my back.”

“No. I’ve scrolled a marquee above your head that says, ‘Do not tread lightly.’ Without that marquee, what you’re about to do next would’ve put a target on your back, and your life would’ve been a lot harder, trust me. A lot more dangerous.”

“What do you mean, what I’m about to do next?”

“First things first. Let’s make sure you trust who I am.” Elliot uncrossed his leg. “And if you want to put on some sweats, that would be fine too. I stole some of those purple ones Mr. Tom orders. They are just…” He motioned at a table across the way, and it was the first time I noticed the neatly folded articles of clothing on it. “Whatever makes you comfortable. I will point out that I am not comfortable, because your big shifter keeps…animating certain parts of his anatomy, and it is incredibly distracting. I’m not used to casual nudity, and I am less used to casual nudity when it’s a man who keeps getting aroused for no reason that I can discern.”

“It’s the mating,” Austin replied. “I’m drawn to how she is handling you.”

“Oh, great. That’s lovely.” Elliot looked away. “Not at all terrifying. God, this is awkward.”

My people came through the door, Niamh first with a surly expression, followed by Mr. Tom. At the back was Broken Sue with his arm out and looped around his hip, straining as though he were carrying something like a bag of sand.

Elliot noticed, and his lips tweaked up into a smile. “I told you, Nessa! Didn’t I tell you that simply being invisible wouldn’t work with these shifters? Now look, Broken Sue has caught you.”

“It isn’t the nicest of holds,” came a disembodied female voice, “but the muscle I am squished up against isn’t unpleasant. He has a lovely, earthy smell. I could definitely be in worse places.”