Chapter 9
Julian enjoyed the soup course as best he could, hungry still from tea and not really being filled up by the succession of light courses so far.
Hopefully there would be something more substantial down the line, as he could feel the same pangs coming off Alex, as the only other magic user at the party.
Well, except for the rumoured illusionist, but they had no idea who that was or where they were eating.
"Did you do a lot of hunting this season?
" asked Julian. He was mostly surrounded by strangers, with Dahlia Smythe-Darbyshire, the Lady Herbert, across from him, Adelina Halliwell on his left, and Johanna Applewhite on his right.
Grover was across from Applewhite, at least, with Bruce Camellia across from Halliwell, the two singletons paired off in what was hopefully a kind manner.
So far Julian had been unimpressed with Camellia, however, and found Lady Johanna quite kind, if a bit flighty.
Lady Herbert was possibly the second-oldest here after her husband, but she had an air of wanting to mentor the younger ladies rather than annihilate them as some older women seemed to.
Grover, of course, was shy but made an effort to talk, and Julian did all he could to encourage him.
Camellia was still bragging about some hunt he'd been on at the end of the summer, so Julian sent Grover an amused look and went back to eating his soup.
He didn't like the wine with this course, finding it paired badly with the rich soup, and wondered if there was some other thing that was supposed to go in this course whose ingredients hadn't appeared.
Every vegetable and ingredient in the soup felt like the Chudleigh estate, from the broth to the parsnips, and even the garnishes. He could imagine some deliveries might have been delayed by the storm just as the musicians had been, after all.
"This soup is quite good, don't you think?" said Julian, into the silence left by Camellia's declaration of triumph over nature or whatever.
"It's very warming for such a cold night," agreed Applewhite, looking relieved to have a new subject to touch upon.
"I think all of the ingredients are local, too," said Julian, taking another bite just for the taste of its history.
"How would you know that?" drawled Camellia, supercilious and clearly expecting Julian to have no answer.
"Oh, I can taste it through my magic," said Julian cheerfully. "Everything feels like it belongs here on the estate, and it's all winter garden veg that are in season now, too."
Horace chirruped from where he'd been quietly posing on Julian's shoulder, as if to remind them that Julian was, in fact, a very magical person. Julian chuckled and stroked down his back, finding the metal cool but not cold, kept warm by proximity to Julian's body and magic both.
"You really do all that magic all the time?" asked Lady Herbert, though she sounded at least curious under the judgmental tone.
Julian smiled at her, ignoring Camellia's stink face. "Oh, yes, I can't help it. It's just part of my nature to sense all the time with my magic. It's been quite the change since I started learning to pay attention, but I wouldn't give it up for the world."
"How charming," said Lady Herbert, and Julian got a sudden image of her as a doting dowager, just waiting to age into the role, and liked her the more for it.
"Horace is the real charmer," said Julian. "Did you want to see him? He loves meeting new people."
Horace chirped again and hopped along Julian's shoulder to show off his eagerness to, well, show off.
"Oh, I'd love to!" she said, looking younger as the bird fluttered over to land on her upheld hand. She looked him over while he posed for her, and then smiled when he trilled a little snatch of song. "You're right," she said, launching him gently back to Julian, "he is a charmer."
"Alex used him to court me, and it was very effective," said Julian, letting the bird alight on his hand before offering him to the eager-eyed Lady Johanna. "Would you like to hold him?"
"Oh, no, I'll just look from here," she said, clearly wanting to. "He's so beautiful, where did your husband get him?"
"Alex made him years ago," said Julian. "He's got so much personality, it's a real marvel."
He turned to offer the bird to Halliwell, but she was busy conversing with the man on her other side, so he returned Horace to his shoulder instead and went back to his soup, feeling even more ravenous after the pause.
"We tend to use a lot of local produce in our food, too, from the main St. Albans house, and also the Benedict estates. "
"You mean your servants do," drawled Camellia again, as if determined to be unlikeable.
"Oh, no, they have brownies," said Grover with a delighted, if shy, smile. "I got to see them once, they're wondrous little beings that take good care of their humans."
"You and Whitby will have to come by for another visit and tell them so," said Julian, feeling fond. He and Grover had never had any chemistry, but they'd gotten along, and he was happy to see Grover with Whitby. "They love pretending not to like it."
Halliwell turned back at that and asked, "Who does, your cats?"
"No, our brownies," said Julian. "They like to pretend they don't drink in the praise like whiskey, but they do love it."
"Brownies? As in the little fae?" she said, pert nose wrinkling. "I thought you weren't supposed to acknowledge them or something."
"That's for non-magical households," said Julian. "We made a bargain with ours outright, rather than having them try to sneak around our wards."
"You still can't thank them, I seem to recall," said Grover.
"We cannot, and we're well-trained by now." Julian kept eating spoonfuls between volleys, and hoped that he could stop being the centre of attention any minute now so he could finish before they stole his bowl.
"Unlike real servants, who must be thanked or else their service deteriorates," said Camellia. "Tedious but one must maintain morale, you're well shut of it."
Julian felt his jaw clench. "Do you run an estate, then?" he asked, knowing full well that Camellia was barely gentry at all, really, and a third son at that.
"Hardly," he said with a sniff. "I have important business to do."
Lady Dahlia seemed as done with him as Julian was, and started a conversation with Applewhite and Halliwell about flowers that lasted into the next course, giving Julian time to get his face fed.
The salad wasn't particularly substantial, but he noticed that his serving was bigger and heartier than the others, which explained why he'd spotted Alex whispering at one of the servers.
He sent a burst of gratitude as he stuffed himself with candied walnuts and sliced pears, fresh greens and a simple vinaigrette.
The wine this time was a nice, crisp white that went well with the food, and seemed to be from somewhere in France, which he found impressive.
The world outside felt so dead and white, it was nice to have these little bursts of life.
Julian did contribute a little to the flower talk, given his own penchant for plants, but he mostly let it go while Camellia bothered the woman next to him, Sabrina Periwig.
Grover, too, participated happily in this. Apparently he learned a lot about the symbolism of flowers not just for his own interest but as part of Whitby's pottery collecting, since one did not want to end up with a teacup indicating disdain and use it for the wrong guest.
Salads were removed, Julian's devoured to the last leaf, and then there was a fish course of whitefish in wine sauce, on a bed of cooked bitter greens in lemon and garlic.
Julian didn't have any more fish than anyone else, but his greens were generously piled, also from the estate, and deliciously filling.
He sent another burst of gratitude to Alex, finally feeling like he might not faint before the end of the meal.
"Did any of you ever take magic?" asked Julian, expecting negative answers all around but still curious.
"You know I'm quite mundane," said Grover with a smile that spoke of good memories of the courtship.
"Women of my standing are rarely even tested, let alone educated in magic," said Lady Dahlia.
"Yes, I didn't learn about my own talent until Alex helped me figure it out," said Julian sympathetically.
"I have not," said Camellia, trying and failing to catch Periwig's attention again. He paid little attention to Halliwell, his ostensible conversation partner, which made Julian feel bad for her.
"I had a little talent," said that lady, "and a few lessons, mostly in how to control it. Lady Herbert is correct in that we aren't encouraged in it."
"Men aren't, either," said Julian, "but sometimes the magic does what it wants."
Lady Applewhite giggled, and even Halliwell cracked a smile. "I'm very mundane, according to the testers from school," she said. "I never really minded not having magic, but I do love hearing about yours."
"Thank you, Lady Applewhite," said Julian, choosing the most polite form of address. "I'm not nearly as fun as Alex is, as you saw. I can't do the illusions like he can, though I'm learning some other things besides plants, like potions."
He figured mentioning the combat magic was probably not polite dinner conversation.
"What did you learn at university?" Halliwell asked Camellia, attempting to draw him into the conversation.
"Oh, you know, the usual," said Camellia, turning his attention to her and giving her a somewhat rude once-over. "These days I'm mostly concerned with matters of finance, keeping the family fortunes growing."
Julian thought she was a lovely girl, and of an appropriate age for Camellia, but then again it was all pretty abstract for him. Plus, Camellia seemed like kind of a jerk, so he didn't wish the man on any woman here.