Magaestra: Loyalties: An urban fantasy series Read online

  "I am a man of my word, Miss Kaylee. I shall look for my copy later this evening."

  "You're the best, Uncle Aldric!" Kaylee said, squeezing him before jumping around and racing out the door. "Jake! Uncle Aldric has the book!"

  All three adults stared at the empty doorway and listened to the fading thumps of Kaylee's footsteps. After a moment of silence Lucy's bright laughter broke in.

  "Well, she seems to be just fine. That's quite a relief to an old woman." The laughter in her voice was clear as daylight, and Faith felt herself relaxing just a bit.

  "Aunt Lucy, what are you doing here?" Faith finally felt like she had her brain unscrambled enough to catch up with the moment.

  "Well, like I said. You've missed several of our weekly calls, and when I called you, worried, you either didn't answer or brushed me off as quickly as you could. I may not be your mother, but I did raise you. You and Crissy are my girls and when you both drop off the planet and start avoiding me, I know damned well something isn't right And don't think I haven't noticed that you haven't called Crissy down to see me." Lucy fixed her with a sharp look, then glanced over to Aldric and swept an assessing gaze over him. "Now, introduce me properly to your friend here, and tell me what the hell is going on."

  Aldric smiled and bowed to Lucy as he handed her a cup of coffee and a small plate with some cookies on it. "My name is Aldric Donnelly, ma'am. It is a great pleasure to meet you. Faith has told me some about her childhood, and I am very glad that she and her sister had you to rely on."

  "I am glad to meet you as well, though my niece has told me nothing whatsoever about you," Lucy raised a brow at him. "Though anyone who so cheerfully promises to read to children as a method of distracting them seems a solid enough person to start this conversation with. Am I to meet this mysterious Jake as well? And his father? And where is Crissy? You won't distract me so easily."

  "You will get to meet me right now, Miss Latham," Marc said. He strode into the room and extended his hand to shake. "I'm Marc ELEPHANT. I guess you could say this is my house, but it feels more like a circus tent most days. Welcome."

  A shriek from outside the window drew everyone's attention as two small blurs dashed to the play set. Tamika, Ori, and Kenya following behind a bit slower.

  "Well at least I know Kaylee's happy. And not one of you has answered my question yet." Her expression was one that could make hardened warriors shiver, and Fatih winced, knowing that she didn't want to have to tell this woman about... well... anything.

  "Crissy has been kidnapped, Miss Latham," Marc jumped in.

  Lucy's gaze frosted over and she turned to Faith. She didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow at her and waited for details.

  "Um, she, uh." Faith swallowed. This woman raised them, she wasn't going to attack Faith because of events outside her control. She might be mad that Faith didn't call her right away, but, she wouldn't be mad for long.

  "We were attacked. Me and Kaylee, at the cabin. That's why Rod is staying there right now and we're here," she started. Marc nodded when she glanced over at him and she felt Aldric's hand on her back, his thumb stroking gently up and down her spine. "The guy who was Crissy's one night stand somehow found out that she had Kaylee, and came to kidnap her, but when I fended off his, um. His thugs long enough for Aldric to show up to beat them, he went after Crissy. We haven't been able to find her yet, but everyone who's investigating thinks that she's not too far away. It's too personal a situation, and they still want Kaylee for some reason."

  Faith was very pleased with herself for not letting any paranormal information slip.

  "Everyone who is investigating?" Aunt Lucy asked, her eyes narrowing. "You mean the police, I should hope."

  "Yes. Detective Lincoln has been here a lot, and I know he's working hard to track down the people involved. And Aldric's cousin is doing some unofficial investigating, too, since he's a computer whiz." Faith scrunched up her face and shrugged "He's not hampered by all the red tape and official nonsense that the police are, and Ken-- Detective Lincoln-- has very carefully not asked too much about it. I don't think he wants to know where any anonymous tips come from in case Leo finds anything."

  Aunt Lucy hummed and sipped her coffee, letting the information turn over in her mind. She eyed the way Aldric stayed close to Faith, and glanced at Marc, who sat quietly drinking from his own cup, then outside where Kaylee was dragging Tamika into the play set prison again, and Kenya and Ori were clearly on guard duty without being too stiff about it. Faith held her breath when a sentry stepped out of the shadows of the treeling for a moment before fading back into the brush. If Aunt Lucy saw them, she didn't say anything.

  Hopefully she just thought it was a dog at this distance.

  She turned back to raise an eyebrow at Faith and set her coffee cup down carefully on the side table by her elbow.

  "That seems like a fair number of people for watching those kids out there," Lucy said, slowly. "And I have heard the movement in the rest of the house, so I know there's more people here than just us and them." she nodded outside. "Not to mention that Rod fellow back at the cabin."

  "When I offered Faith and Kaylee a safe place to stay, my people and I took that promise seriously," Marc nodded. "They don't look it, bit those three out there are some of the fiercest fighters I know, and they adore Kaylee and Jake both. They couldn't be in better hands."

  "And I give you my word as the head of security here that every precaution is being taken to make sure that Faith and Kaylee are both safe here while we search for Crissy," Aldric added with a slight bow.

  "You say that this hoodlum was the man that fathered Kaylee? Why would he try to kidnap her instead of sending a lawyer? It doesn't make sense." Lucy pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Faith.

  "Faith?" she asked. "You trust these men? And those folk out there?"

  "I do," Faith said. "Completely. These are good people. They didn't have to step in to help us, but they did, and they even fought off another attempt at snatching us. Ori got hurt and he's still out there on watch."

  Lucy nodded again. "That's good enough for me then." Her words were brisk and final, like a decision had been made and she was moving to the next problem. "Do you suppose it has something to do with the gifts your mother passed down to you girls, and I assume to Kaylee as well?"

  "Wh-- what?" Faith's hand shook so had that Aldric took her coffee cup and sat it on the table before taking her hand in his. She knew that she was gaping like a fish in a boat, but couldn't seem to stop.

  Aunt Lucy just huffed and rolled her eyes. "You girls always thought you could pull the wool over my eyes, like I didn't already know everything. You two have never been as careful or clever as you thought you were. So, I'm asking again." Lucy leaned forward, and flicked her eyes over Aldric's now blank countenance. "Was Crissy taken because of you girls' magic or not?"

  * * *

  Wait what? What does Aunt Lucy know, and what does that mean for Faith and Aldric? Read Magaestra: Tested and find out.

  Acknowledgments

  These notes are so tough to write. So many folks help me through these books, from my husband and son who put up with me while I toil deep in the Word Mines, to my friends who help distract me from my sticking point of the week, to my beta readers who find all the crap I didn’t get quite right.

  I want to especially thank my dad who helped me rewrite the first few chapters here about a dozen times. I hope he likes the frosting situation. It… it may seem familiar to him. Let’s just say I had personal inspiration for that bit…

  If you liked this book, I hope that you’ll leave me a review! I read every review and it makes a huge difference to me and to my work, but even just a few stars would make my day.

  About the Author

  Katherine Kim is a lifelong lover of fantasy. She started early, being read Tolkien as bedtime stories, which honestly explains a lot. More recently she’s been drawn to more urban fantasy stories through both books and televisio
n, and reading continues to be a passion. She is an American that lives and writes in Tokyo, with her family.

  Books by Katherine Kim

  The Demon Guardian

  A Demon’s Duty

  A Demon’s Sanction

  A Demon Saved

  The Riverton Demons

  Personal Demons

  Spirits of Los Gatos

  Sarah’s Inheritance

  A Spirit’s Kindred

  Finding Insight

  Brewing Trouble

  Spiritkind

  Federal Paranormal Activities Agency

  Quick Study (Prequel)

  Caroline’s Internship

  In The Blood

  Heavy Traffic

  Vampire’s Curse

  Fighting Fire

  The Magaestra Trilogy

  Magaestra: Found

  Magaestra: Loyalties

  Magaestra: Tested