Read Online Heart's Magic by Gail Dayton - Free Book Online Page B

writing
"apprentice" after each name.
    She blotted the entries,
wiped the pen clean, and smiled up at those gathered in the office
and beyond in the hall.
    "Time to celebrate." Harry
grinned at her. "Cook's laid on a big spread. Everyone's
invited."
    He'd invited them all
beforehand, of course. Win or lose, they would want to gather, but
Harry had been supremely confident of victory.
    "Shouldn't I visit the
guild hall?" Elinor asked him quietly. "To claim it as well?
Perhaps locate the cauldron?" Not that she really wanted to, but
she wondered if she ought.
    "The register is the
important bit," he said as the hallway began to clear. "You might
ask for Briganti to go an' make sure no one's carryin' things off
as shouldn't be carried, though."
    "Brilliant idea.
Grey?"
    "Already in train." The
elegant conjurer tipped his head toward the omnipresent Norwood.
"Simmons left shortly after the counting of votes, laid low by his
gout, but his very efficient executive officer is managing
everything magnificently."
    Norwood flushed a dull red
under the praise, but maintained his stone-like Guardsman's
expression. He stepped out of the office into the just-cleared
corridor and gestured for those still in the office to follow
suit.
    Elinor was almost the last
one out, only Harry behind her. As she entered the hallway filled
with laughter and happy chatter, Edgar Dodd stepped forward to
block her way.
    "Elinor Tavis," he said in
a voice harsh and growling with anger, "you are not fit to be
magister of the wizard's guild. I challenge you for the title of
magister."
    Dodd raised his hand and
people gasped, obviously fearing he would strike her as she had
slapped Cranshaw when she challenged him. He didn't. He threw his
glove in her face. It fell to her bosom, then her wide skirt, then
to the floor as he backed away. Elinor was too surprised to try to
catch it. She shouldn't have been.
    "Witnessed," Sir William
said wearily.
    "Witnessed." Thomas Norwood
didn't sound any happier, but he was evidently a man who knew his
duty and did it.
    "Challenge to take place
one week from today," Sir William pronounced.
    Dodd nodded in acceptance,
turned on his heel, and walked away.
    Dr. Rosato cleared his
throat. "I will, of course, be in delight to serve again as
your secondo, signorina ."
    "Thank you, Dottore ." Elinor managed
to smile. Why had she thought the challenge with Cranshaw would be
the end of it?
    "Don't fret." Harry tucked
her hand in his elbow. "Cranshaw was the best of 'em, and look 'ow
easy you beat 'im. Course you'll be able to trounce Dodd. 'E ain't
'alf the wizard you are. Come on. We still got somethin' to
celebrate."
     
     
     
    The celebration was loud,
long, and merry, with much laughter and many toasts, beginning with
toasts to Elinor, running through the queen and her late consort,
to the lovely wands Elinor had used in her victory. That was
Pearl's rather tipsy contribution to the festivities. They ate
lobster patties and tiny beef Wellingtons and hothouse strawberries
and crème fraiche until Elinor thought she would burst. That did not include the
lemon cakes, chocolate biscuits, and buttery scones brought out as
teatime stretched toward supper.
    Dr. Rosato opened the piano
and played off-key music for impromptu dancing. Off-key due to the
piano, not his playing. Elinor thought it was the first time the
piano had been played since Harry bought it with the house ten or
so years ago. It obviously had not been tuned in all that time, but
the sour chords didn't dampen the merriment.
    Elinor didn't want to
dance, though with only three ladies present she knew it wasn't
fair to keep refusing. But dancing implied flirting, flirting
implied interest, and she wasn't interested. She wouldn't be. Her
life's path was set.
    Harry, of course, paid no
attention whatsoever to her preferences or refusals, sweeping her
into a rollicking polka without bothering to ask. He simply seized
her and took off. He swung her around, making faces at her