The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans
Read The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans Online
Authors: Amy Crook
The Apprenticeship
of Julian St. Albans
AMY CROOK
Copyright © 2014 Amy Crook
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1500347825
ISBN-13:
978-1500347826
DEDICATION
To
everyone who wanted to see more of Julian,
but
especially my friends who’ve helped me get this done,
and the
readers who’ve been patient with my delays.
Table of Contents
Julian
St. Albans unlocked the nursery with his own set of magical keys, proud that
Mary Margaret trusted him to open up without her a few days a week now. The August
sunshine shone through the glass walls all around him, and he locked up behind
himself and did the morning walk-through the way he’d been taught, looking for
plants that seemed to need attention, his eyes sharp for signs of disease or
pests.
When
he rounded the hydrangeas, Julian expected to see a neat bed of lucky clover
seedlings, not a mangled corpse amidst trampled plants.
His
first thought was to call Alex, but he shoved that aside and pulled out his
phone with trembling fingers, dialling the emergency number instead. Once he
was assured someone was on their way, he called Murielle, wanting a friendly
face with some official power, and she promised to come right over. It wasn’t
until that call ended that he permitted himself the indulgence of a call to his
lover.
“Julian,
what’s up?” asked Alex, sounding just as cheerful as he had when Julian
had kissed him good-bye half an hour ago.
“I
already called Murielle,” blurted Julian, then he took a deep breath.
“There’s a body in the nursery. A dead one. I called the police first, and
then her, that was right, wasn’t it?”
“That
was perfect, love, do you have your amulet on you?” asked Alex, voice
steady and soothing and exactly what Julian needed to hear.
“Yes,
I always wear it, you made me promise,” said Julian, a small smile on his
face. Alex wasn’t his master-husband, or even wanting a consort, but he still
took good care of Julian. “Will you come?”
“Of
course,” said Alex. “I’ll head down and get a cab, do you want me to
stay on the line?”
There
was a banging at the door. “Oh! No, I have to let them in, but I’ll call
if I need you again.”
“Love
you,” said Alex.
“Love
you,” Julian replied, retracing his steps back to the front door and
hanging up, bolstered by the knowledge that he wouldn’t be alone in this.
“You’re fast,” he said as he let in the four emergency responders.
“I don’t think you’ll be much help, though,” he said to the two
paramedics, leading them to the body.
“You’re
right about that,” said the taller of the two police officers. “I’ll
call in the coroner, if you want to confirm?”
“I’ll
do it,” said the female paramedic, moving forward to check for a pulse in
the closest limb, an ankle. “Definitely dead, and cold. When did you find
the body?”
“Just
a few minutes ago, I come in early to check the plants before opening,”
said Julian, sighing. “We’ll have to do something else about lucky clover
this season.”
“Is
that what was planted here?” asked the shorter police officer, leading
Julian a little bit away from the scene.
Julian
nodded. “We try to keep most of the magical plants in the ground until
they’re potted for sale, they’re more potent that way.”
The
officer made a note in his book. “We’ll have to cordon everything off,
bring in the crime scene techs and take your statement,” he said apologetically.
Julian
smiled wryly. “I know, my boyfriend’s a consultant with the Agency.
Actually, I called one of my friends there after I called emergency, I hope
that’s okay.”
“Oh,
really, who?” asked the officer, interested.
“Me,”
said Murielle, coming up behind Julian and giving him a bit of a fright. She
held out a hand to the officer. “Agent Murielle Lapointe. Have you boys
cleared the scene yet?”
The
officer blanched, but he shook her hand. “Mike O’Malley, ma’am, and no,
ma’am, we haven’t been here long. Hey, Tiny! Let’s clear the scene, the Agent’s
here.”
“That
was fast,” said the tall officer, joining his partner. “Is there
anything that’s supposed to be locked?”
“The
offices there,” said Julian, “and a couple of greenhouses in back. I
haven’t opened them up yet, should I?”
“Wait
until we’re done,” said Tiny, and he and Mike headed off to do a circuit
of the big nursery with its many little paths and turnings.
“Thanks,”
said Julian, relaxing a little. “Let’s make tea, everyone will like that,
right?”
“Right,”
agreed Murielle, letting Julian lead her back to the front register and the
little tea station they kept back there. He filled the kettle to the top in the
old, rusty work sink, then set it to boil and got out the big teapot, finding comfort
in the familiar motions. He’d been a bit useless the first time Mary Margaret
asked him to do this; going from the St. Albans estate full of servants to
Alex’s house with its helpful brownies, he’d never had a chance to make his own
tea. Doing it now made him feel more independent, like he was finally learning
to be normal.
“You
called Alex?” asked Murielle, helping him set up cups and condiments on
the counter.
“I
did, I think he still had to get dressed, though,” said Julian fondly.
“You know how he is about his pyjamas.”
“I
do,” said Murielle with a laugh. “He’ll be useful for seeing if this
was ritual or random, anyway.”
“It
was awful,” said Julian softly, shivering. “I’ve never seen anything
like that.”
“I’m
sorry you had to.” Murielle looked sympathetic, patting his shoulder
awkwardly.
Julian
chuckled. “You suck at being comforting. Will you get the case, since
you’re here?”
“I
don’t know yet, I’ll call in while you let the officers take your statement the
usual way,” she said. They poured tea for themselves and offered cups to
the two paramedics, who were making their way out.
“Not
much for us to do this time,” said the woman, accepting a cup and drinking
it black. “Ta.”
“You’re
welcome,” said Julian. Her partner refused the cup with a smile and they
headed out, leaving behind their own filled-out paperwork for the officers.
“Efficient,”
said Julian, looking it over.
“The
coroner will do the hard parts there,” said Murielle. There was a knock at
the door. “Go let him in, I locked up when I came in,” she said,
nodding to where Alex was making puppy eyes through the glass.
Julian
laughed. “Yes, Mom,” he teased, making up a cup of tea and taking it
to the door. He traded it for a kiss, then waited long enough to let in the
coroner and his assistant before locking up behind them.
“Are
you okay?” asked Alex, once they’d directed the men over to tea, and then
back to the body.
Julian
took a deep breath and let it out, then nodded. “It helps that it’s no one
I know,” he said, snuggling up against Alex’s familiar tall frame.
“Still, I didn’t think apprenticing in a plant nursery would lead to dead
bodies.”
Alex
chuckled and kissed him, tasting of sweet, milky tea. “This one’s not even
my fault.”
“You’d
think it would be,” said Lapointe, shaking her head as she hung up her
phone. “It’s my case officially, by the way, and I’ve got leave to get you
to look things over before the coroner mucks it all up, come on.”
“Your
wish is my command,” said Alex. “You’ll be all right here
alone?”
The
two police officers rounded a corner. “Looks all clear.”
Julian
smiled. “I won’t be alone, I have to give my statement.” He stole
another kiss. “Go on, I’ll be fine.” He turned to the officers.
“Tea?”
They
accepted gratefully, and soon more officers arrived, and crime scene techs, and
Julian opened up the office to give his statement. Then Mary Margaret arrived,
and there was more chaos while they got their alibis sorted out. Lapointe kept
Alex busy with the crime scene, Mary Margaret took over making tea and giving
directions, and Julian felt more and more out of place as the day wore on.
Eventually,
he stationed himself at the door with poor Tiny, who’d been designated to turn
away customers and assure them they’d be back open as soon as they could.
Julian had been uncertain about working with people as well as plants, but he
turned out to be as good at customer service as Alex was bad at it. The officer
with him backed up his story, and everyone took the refusal with good grace,
though a few had to get referrals to another nursery for things they needed
right off.
“You’re
still here?” said Alex, pulling him into a warm kiss as he emerged from
the greenhouse. “I’m sorry, you know how I get caught up in work… I can
steal him away, can’t I?”
“You
can,” said Lapointe. “Feed him,” she added to Julian, “He
did a lot of poking around.”
“Yes,
Mom,” said Julian happily. “Mary Margaret’s still here, you’ll tell
her I went?”
“Yes,
and we won’t be done for a while yet, anyway,” said Lapointe with a sigh.
“This place is a maze.”
“Come
on, we’ll get curry at Padma’s, she loves to spoil you still,” said Alex,
and Julian let himself be ushered away and tucked into a cab, curled against
Alex’s side.
“It
doesn’t seem real,” he said, snuffling against his lover and getting a
whiff of familiar scents, from Alex’s soap to sun-warmed skin to growing things
from the greenhouse. “Do they even know who it was yet?”
“Not
yet, but they’re working on it. We’ve got a theory about why, anyway,”
said Alex. “And I even got permission to talk to you about it, in case you
remember anyone asking relevant questions.”
“Ooh,
permission. That’s new,” teased Julian. “After lunch, though? I want
to not think about it for a little bit.”
“After
lunch, and we’ll get takeaway sweets and curl up with tea and spoil ourselves
rotten,” Alex agreed, giving Julian sweet kisses and holding him
comfortingly close until they got to the restaurant.
Alex
did all the little things at lunch that made Julian feel safe and loved,
pulling out his chair and serving his portions, then stealing bites off his
plate and sharing from his own. Julian was glad not to be locked into a
position as Alex’s consort, but at the same time he still enjoyed the parts of
that role that came naturally between them. Alex was teaching him to be more
independent, from encouraging his apprenticeship to making sure he had his own
stipend from the St. Albans estate, but he never seemed to resent Julian’s need
to be taken care of both in bed and out.
By
the time they got home, Julian was feeling both shakier and less shocked, as
the reality of it all set in. He dragged Alex to their favourite spot, a giant,
squashy armchair with room enough for two so long as they cuddled. It had been
a favourite reading spot when he was a boy, and Emmy had let him take it from
the study at the estate. They had a cup of chai each, and a little dish of
sweets to share; their house-brownies, Nat and Alys, insisted they use proper
dishes rather than eat out of the takeaway containers.
“Are
you all right, love?” asked Alex.
Julian
smiled softly, glad of his consideration — he knew that with nearly anyone
else, Alex would have skipped straight to the work and ignored any delicate
feelings. “It’s very strange, it’s not like shock, really, but it’s
sinking in that some poor soul was killed in our nursery. We’ll have to redo
all the blessings!”
Alex
kissed him, a gentle, undemanding comfort. “I’ll help, and I won’t even
charge her since she lets me use your employee discount,” said Alex,
kissing the tip of his nose.
Julian
giggled. “She’ll appreciate that, we’ll lose some business until it’s all
taken care of,” he said. He knew that the nursery was in fine financial
shape, but no small business could weather too big of a hit.
“We’ll
get Master Stephen to come out, and offer to plant that luck garden he’s always
asking you for in exchange,” said Alex with a grin. Ever since Julian had
been tested by the Temple for his talent and found to have a magical affinity
for plants, Stephen had been trying to lure him over to plant a luck garden in
one of the Temples.
Julian
laughed a little sadly. “We’ll have to wait, we haven’t any clover left,
except my window box here.”
Alex’s
Courting-gift had been installed outside the kitchen window, where it attracted
the occasional fairy to chat through the wards with their own pet butterfly.
Alex occasionally offered to take her somewhere else, but she adamantly
refused. Julian couldn’t blame her, here she got to see interesting people,
there were brownies and visiting fae to talk to, and they fed her fresh treats
on a daily basis.
“Well,
that’s about ready to burst, so maybe we can take a few seedlings?” Alex
kissed him softly. “One for the Temple and one for Mary Margaret.”
Julian
sighed, relaxing into Alex’s sure embrace. “You always know what to
do,” he said, sipping his tea.
“Not
always, remember our first dinner out? I thought I was going to mess everything
up, between the timing and the tailoring.” Alex offered Julian a ball of
sticky-sweet gulab jamun, which Julian ate with extra finger-licking.
“Mmm,
I seem to remember it being a very good date, though not as good as our last
one.” Julian offered another treat, and then sighed. “I’m just
avoiding it now, so tell me about the case?”
“If
you’re ready, love.” At Julian’s nod, Alex began. “Well, it was
probably a nature sacrifice of some kind, that’s why they picked your
greenhouse. Mary Margaret’s got a really prime spot for growing things, in the
heart of the city on land that gets regularly blessed, and now with you working
there all the magic has built up quite nicely.”
“Oh,”
said Julian, curling up a little smaller.
“It’s
not your fault, stop that,” said Alex, stealing a kiss. “Anyway, it
looks like they broke in through that old back door she uses for deliveries,
which we all know had a terrible lock that didn’t catch very well, and the
victim was likely drugged with something plant-based to make him pliable. If
they’re raising power for something, I’m guessing this will be the first of
multiple rites.”