(A Charm of Magpies 1)The Magpie Lord (23 page)

Bewildered, unnerved, Crane looked down too and saw…

“The hell. What the
hell
?”

His tattoos were moving. The birds hopped and turned and stretched, fluttering over his skin, two-dimensional but alive.

Stephen laughed out loud, a stunningly joyous sound. He pressed his hand against Crane’s chest and gave a whoop of glee as a magpie flurried along his fingers, up his arm, and began to explore his own chest with its inky beak.

“It took me years to get those done,” said Crane, more or less at random. “I’ll want it back. Oh my God, look at the woodwork!”

Stephen tipped his head back. The magpies carved on a line of decorative panelling were moving, pecking and shifting. One took off along the length of the frieze in a flurry of wooden wings.

“I bet the entire house is doing this,” Stephen said, face alight. “I want to see your Great-Aunt Lucie’s china set. And the tapestry!”

At that Crane started to laugh too, watching incredulously as the magpies fluttered around them. Two of his tattoos were now hopping across Stephen’s narrow chest, pecking at an old burn scar. “What’s going on? Why is this happening?”

“I think we’re the Magpie Lord,” Stephen said. “Me and you. You in me. Your blood and my power and the ring, together. This is how Piper wants to be, can’t you feel it? It’s warm again. It’s alive.” He looked alive too, and much younger without the constant air of nervous tension that had dogged him for so long. He was happy and vivid, and glowing with pleasure, and Crane stared at him, unable to imagine how he had ever seen this man as drab and unmemorable.

“You amaze me,” he said. “Continually and wonderfully. Is this going to happen every time we fuck?”

“Only when it’s as good as that.” Stephen’s lopsided grin was particularly foxy. “Honestly, I’ve no idea. We could find out empirically.”

“Which means…?”

“Do it a lot more and see what happens.”

Crane pulled him upwards, wrapping the small lithe body with his arms. He felt Stephen nestle in to him with a satisfied purr, and kissed the top of his cropped head.

“Ready when you are,” he said.

About the Author

KJ Charles is an editor by day and a writer by night, living and working in London.

KJ blogs about writing, editing and life on both sides of the publishing fence at
kjcharleswriter.wordpress.com
, and tweets as kj_charles.

Look for these titles by KJ Charles

Coming Soon:

A Case of Possession

Magic in the blood. Danger in the streets.

A Case of Possession

© 2014 KJ Charles

A Charm of Magpies, Book 2

Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. True, Stephen’s job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician’s disappearing act bothers Crane more than it should. When a blackmailer threatens to expose their illicit relationship, Crane knows a smart man would hop the first ship bound for China. But something unexpectedly stops him. His heart.

Stephen has problems of his own. As he investigates a plague of giant rats sweeping London, his sudden increase in power, boosted by his blood-and-sex bond with Crane, is rousing suspicion that he’s turned warlock. With all eyes watching him, the threat of exposure grows. Stephen could lose his friends, his job and his liberty over his relationship with Crane. He’s not sure if he can take that risk much longer. And Crane isn’t sure if he can ask him to.

The rats are closing in, and something has to give…

Warning: Contains m/m sex (on desks), blackmail, dark pasts, a domineering earl, a magician on the edge, vampire ghosts (possibly), and the giant rats of Sumatra.

Trust is the only light that will guide them home.

Heir of Starlight

© 2013 Nicole Kimberling

Sea of Stars, Book 2

It’s been seven years since Karl Alton sublet his human body and let his soul be transferred to an orangutan. Now that the contract is up, Karl is ready to live a less hairy existence. Except his body has been stolen.

Devastated, Karl turns to his boss, Lord Adam Wexley, for legal advice. But instead of using his noble connections, Adam realizes they need to fight magic with
better
magic. And there’s only one man for the job: Adam’s ex-lover, Grand Magician Zachary Drake.

Once, Drake sacrificed his prized independence to save Adam’s soul. Now under the thumb of the West Court, he’s been forced to create a terrible weapon and bound to a vow of silence. Yet when Adam comes to him for help, no amount of bitterness over his lot will let him refuse.

Soon they discover that Karl’s missing body is only one thread connected to a plot to destroy the kingdom. And now the desperate race is on to find who—or what—has a finger on the trigger.

Warning: Contains vengeful bankers, noble lawyers, waxed divers who don’t wear wetsuits, and one trip to the vice principal’s office.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Heir of Starlight:

Drake reached for his cigarettes and busied himself with lighting one while he waited for the door to close behind his departing guests.

He took a long drag and regarded Adam evenly through his exhaled plume of smoke.

With an air of great deliberation, Adam stood. “Let’s go inside.”

“No.” Drake resisted out of principle. He didn’t like being ordered around, especially not in his own house.

“I’m going to talk to you now, and if you don’t want every single spying bird, bat and insect to hear what I’m going to say, then you should go inside. I’m offering this merely as a courtesy to you. Though we can speak out here if you like and give everyone in the Courts of Four Directions something to gossip about.”

Drake thought that if he had been holding some sort of weapon, like a brick or a hammer or even a large rock, he would have hurled it at Adam. So he mangled his cigarette against the ashtray, drained the rest of the cocktail in his glass and threw that at Adam instead.

Adam sidestepped, and the unlucky stemware shattered harmlessly against the wall. Drake stalked inside the apartment, pulled closed the drapes and whirled on Adam.

“Well, then how is it that you intend to privately humiliate me this evening?”

Adam moved forward and with no warning whatsoever pulled Drake into his arms. Drake found his cheek crushed against the same broad chest that he’d nestled into every night for two years. Horribly, he found he could not muster the motivation to struggle even a little. Because in his heart he had wanted this. Adam’s embrace was the only sure source of comfort that Drake could imagine today. After the execution, Tom’s premonition. Even the anxiety of Adam himself returning to Drake’s life could be made better by being held in these arms.

Drake had expected to face a mechanical tirade—a litany of all his basic failures as a human.

But this was much worse. After two deep breaths, he pulled himself together and shrugged free. “Well, I can see why you wouldn’t want to do that on the patio. I doubt your current boyfriend would view that with his famous benevolence.”

“I’m not hiding from my boyfriend,” Adam said. “And Lord Hamilton and I are no longer together, if that’s who you mean.”

“You looked very together at the White Ball last week.” Drake tried not to sound jealous, but failed.

“We still appear together for social functions—for the sake of the Foundation. But that’s not what I want to talk about, don’t change the subject.”

“Right, you want to talk about Karl. All right, yes, I’ll help him. You knew I would. Why cheapen me by offering me money?”

“Why cheapen yourself by asking for compensation?” Adam countered. “You’ve never been reluctant to help a commoner before.”

“Maybe I’ve grown contrary and bitter. Maybe I’ve turned into the same loathsome creature that all grand magicians become.”

Adam drew close, laying his big hands on Drake’s shoulders. “What has happened to you? What are they doing to you in the West Court?”

Drake tried to blurt it out, tried with all his force to push the words out, but found himself choking. The oath he’d spoken constricted his throat. He shook. His vision tunneled and he slumped forward. Strange geometric patterns jumped across his field of vision. Were these the result of asphyxiation or magic?

He neither knew nor cared. At least if he was to die this way, he’d seen Adam one last time. Then he felt himself being caught and carried, laid down on his bed. Adam sat next to him, smoothing a hand across his chest.

“It’s all right. Don’t try to speak,” Adam said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

Drake relaxed, drew in a shuddering breath.

Adam went on lightly rubbing his chest. “Try not to think about it. These vows of silent obeisance can be deadly if you resist them too hard. That’s what’s happening, isn’t it? You’re trying to speak through your oath?”

“Yes,” Drake whispered, grateful to get a single word out.

Drake lay silent for a few moments, merely breathing and enjoying the sensation of being touched.

Adam said, “Why have you never asked the Foundation to litigate your case? I’ve looked over your contract. Your soul was signed to the West Court under circumstances that are now considered to be extortionate. But you’ve never asked us to file suit against Langdon. I would do it in a heartbeat, if you asked me.”

“It would be a waste of time and resources. I’m far too deeply involved now for them to ever let me go.”

Adam looked away. “I’m sorry. I know it’s my fault.”

“No it isn’t. I chose to sign that paper of my own free will.”

“They cheated you out of your freedom,” Adam stated.

“I’m not sorry for that. I just wish…”

“Wish what?”

Wish that you hadn’t left me.

Aloud he said, “I wish I had been as smart as I thought I was and found a way out of it before…” He felt his throat tighten as he approached speaking of the heinous weapon he had created.

“Don’t speak—really. I don’t want to have to take you to the hospital.”

Drake gulped in one deep breath, then another. Adam switched from rubbing Drake’s chest to smoothing his hair. It had been five years since Adam had last been in Drake’s bedroom. Then, with his slick, expensive haircut and dressed in designer clubwear, Adam had fit in with the decor. Now he looked too casual and humane to belong anywhere near Drake’s bed.

No doubt Adam’s haircut was still expensive—he’d become a lawyer, not some kind of renunciate ascetic—but it was no longer severely held in place by product. Rather, it was allowed to settle into its natural blond waves. His tan appeared to be completely natural. His jeans were off the rack. His T-shirt advertised the Inhabited Animal Defense League. Drake wondered, if he lifted that wholesome garment over Adam’s head, would the other man’s nipples still be pierced with gold rings.

Probably not.

Most likely, Adam was missing the overt sexual implications of the actions he was performing right this second. Not that he was naive. But in Drake’s experience, Adam always underestimated his own importance and impact on others.

Opposites attract…and drive each other crazy.

Half Blind

© 2012 Christine Price

Freelance Magic, Book 1

Eight years ago, wizard Ashley Brandon thought his mentor was above the temptation to misuse magic. He was wrong, and the aftermath left him scarred. And determined to never again let anyone close.

When he’s assigned to a task force protecting an ancient relic, he butts heads with the infuriating, charismatic Frederick “Charles” Greer. The man is completely unreasonable. And so is Ashley’s gut response to his outrageous flirting.

Greer was only supposed to temporarily consult on the task force, but his admittedly unorthodox views on team building put him at odds with Brandon, one of the most attractive, frustrating men he’s ever met. The mission’s success requires complete cooperation, so Greer makes the first move to ease the tension.

An apology leads to bickering, which unexpectedly leads them to the bedroom. But as that tension shifts into something more fierce, a brush with the relic’s power turns everything upside down. Leaving the mission—and Brandon’s heart—in even greater jeopardy.

Warning: Contents may contain sartorial choices both exceptional and asinine, deception, thievery, magic, naughty language, and one hell of a MacGuffin.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Half Blind:

Caught up in his plans, he didn’t notice the other man behind him until a hot breath whispered across his ear. “This looks promising.”

Brandon spun, his thumb pressed up against his ring. Greer loosely caught his wrist and lowered their arms, smiling. “You seem on edge, Agent Brandon.”

Brandon glowered at him. “Let me go, Mr. Greer. I’m trying to work.”