Glamours and Gunshots by E.L. Bates

Author:E.L. Bates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: StarDance Press
Published: 2020-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Maia Uses Her Head

“Your aunt has contacted the household, miss, and wishes to speak with you this evening,” Lorde informed Maia as soon as she entered through the door.

Maia pulled off her wrap, hat, and gloves and handed them to the footman with a smile and a “Thank you, Ben,” at which he blushed to the edges of his outsize ears. Only then did she turn to the butler. “Excellent,” she said brightly. “I look forward to hearing all about France.”

He stayed stiffly still, eyes focused somewhere above Maia’s head. “She had hoped to speak with you along with the rest of the household, miss, and was much surprised to hear you have been here so little the last few days.”

What business was it of Lorde’s how Maia spent her days? Even if Aunt Amelia had told him to keep an eye on her, that didn’t give him the right to criticize Maia’s actions to her face.

She allowed her displeasure to wash across her features and adopted her most imperious tone, the one which had always worked so well on recalcitrant patients in the wards (the Yankees especially were impressed by it). “I am sure my aunt will inform me herself of any matters she wishes to discuss or any surprise she might feel, as I shall inform her of any information she should require from me. For now, I am going to my workroom. Have Elsie bring me a tray later; I shall be far too busy to eat in the dining room. Thank you, Mr. Lorde,” she said as he opened his mouth to reply. “That will be all.”

She brushed past him while his mouth was still open, whisked up the stairs and into her workroom, and closed the door gently behind her, resisting the childish urge to slam it. Of all the nonsense to have to endure right now!

In general, well-off magicians like Aunt Amelia employed staff of a magical persuasion without enough power or ambition to become full-fledged magicians themselves. Theoretically, Maia thought this an excellent practice. In reality, servants tended to resent more powerful magicians and took out that resentment on apprentices and those without the standing to command them.

She suspected Lorde would have been insufferable with or without magic. He was that type of man.

Over the next couple of hours, Maia worked her way steadily through the pile of practice spells and potions Aunt Amelia had left for her. She was pleasantly surprised to find how much easier it was to work through all of them without Aunt Amelia hovering nearby, snapping instructions and tossing out power-dampening spells every time she thought Maia might lose control. She found herself almost enjoying them, even the simple spells that usually irritated her no end due to their basic nature.

Now that she was able to look at them slowly and steadily, she saw they were similar to any other kind of exercise—scales for music or copywork for handwriting or tongue-twisters in elocution, any repetitive practice for any other accomplishment.

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