8.When Magic Fails, There’s Always Alcohol

8. When Magic Fails, There’s Always Alcohol

Liam clinks the rim of his mimosa glass with mine. “Cheers.”

“What are we cheering to?” I wonder.

He shrugs. “Complicated families?”

“That doesn’t feel like something to toast.”

“Yeah. What if we’re toasting the fact that alcohol is available to help us deal with screwed up family stuff?”

“To alcohol.” I raise my glass and clink it with his. “And to having people to confide in?”

Liam smiles at my friendly offer, yet I still worry I said the wrong thing. Hopefully, it doesn’t seem like I’m trying to pry. Not everyone likes discussing their personal issues; I can certainly relate.

“Uh, if you want,” I add awkwardly. “You don’t have to share. I’m just here listening in case you do.”

“Really? It seems like you’re there worrying.”

Busted. “Nope, not at all. I’m just sitting here and, uh, drinking.” I take a sip. “Just sitting here drinking.”

Liam sips his own drink and then exhales a deep sigh. “Well, let’s just cut to the chase. My family knows about me and how I use my powers.”

“What, are you serious?” I cough out the words, nearly choking on mimosa that went down the wrong pipe.

“Mhmm.” He gives me a bitter smile and nods.

Oh dear. That sounds mortifying. I might actually die if that happened, but seeing as it's his reality, I try not to look so horrified.

“I’ve always been a bit different for a nightbrand,” he explains. “Aside from some unique abilities, our primary form of casting involves moon magic and ritual work. We do rituals for ourselves just as often as for family and friends or even as a business. Rituals for fertility, financial success, confidence, there’s a million things we can enhance or alter for a moon cycle.”

“You do the same.” That’s what we’re doing now, our arrangement .

“Yes, though my ritual work is limited exclusively to the kinds of things you’ve already seen.”

“Really?”

“Getting control of someone else’s powers or having power over their bodies and desires, that’s a big responsibility and privilege. Having the same ritual freedoms as other nightbrands seemed like too much.” He smiles faintly, a faraway look in his eyes. “To get my abilities, it only seemed fair to give up some magical freedom in return.”

“To get control,” I fill in.

“Exactly. I gave up some of my magical freedom to gain more control through my specialized ritual work. My family must have noticed eventually that I never seemed to do rituals for others. I practiced privately and kept my gifts to myself. It probably seemed odd.”

I rub my shirt over my forearm where some aluminum fused to my skin. “We aren’t really shy about our magic.”

“I’m not either, or ashamed. But us nightbrands don’t mind a little mystery. Some things are best suited for the shadows, even though those things aren’t wrong. Night is just a natural part of every day.”

It takes a great deal of introspection and discipline to set thoughtful limits for one’s own powers and adhere to them. He’s even stronger than I realized. Every day we spend together, I admire him more and more .

“How did your family find out?” I wonder.

“One of my past partners knows some of my cousins,” he says. “She was open about her experiences with kink, which is totally fine. She never even used my name, but she didn’t know some of her friends were related to me, didn’t know they’d be able to put it together. There aren’t too many dom nightbrand professors out there. When my cousins confronted me about it, the cat was already out of the bag. I tried to explain in broad details.”

I think back to what he told me after I saw him and Argyle. “That it’s consensual and temporary?”

He manages a faint smile. “Exactly.” Then it turns into a grimace. “They weren’t really interested in listening.”

I reach out and place my hand over his on the table. “I’m sorry.”

“Most of my family doesn’t approve. In the past couple years since they found out, I’ve seen a lot less of them. My mother is the only one I still talk to regularly. Her and Toby are the only ones who still treat me the same, though his parents do everything they can to keep him away from me.”

“That’s why he’s taking one of your classes,” I realize.

“Yes, though it's not related to his major and my TA handles his grade, so there’s no favoritism. That’s why I allowed it.”

“You miss him.”

“Okay,” he sighs. “That’s why I allowed it. ”

Even though he misses his nephew and would like to see him more, Liam still made sure Toby taking his class would be fair to the other students. How could anyone question his integrity?

“Look on the bright side.” Liam raises his empty glass to a server. “I’m about to get my mimosa refilled.

“It’s not fair for them to treat you like that.”

"I don’t know my father, and on my mom’s side, virtually everyone is either branded or training to become branded. My family knows how much time and effort goes into magic. They don’t like the idea of me imposing my whims on magic that doesn’t belong to me."

"You wouldn’t.” He’d never touch someone’s magic on a whim. He’d never even try, not without permission. “You can’t even do whatever you want, your rituals have rules.”

"I know that, you know that. Hell, all my former partners and the moon know that. My family doesn’t care to know more."

Wow. I clutch the stem of my mimosa glass tighter as I absorb everything. His family is insane. He’s the kind of man anyone would be lucky to have, basically the perfect man. I mean, he’s a good man.

The only thing I can think to say is, “That really sucks.”

"Yes,” he agrees. “It does."

We get another round of mimosas, not feeling the need to say more. Until guilt grows in me as I nurse my drink. Oh god. I drain the rest of the glass and turn to him urgently.

“Liam, I’m so sorry for calling you evil. You aren’t evil. At all. Or bad or wrong for what you like.”

“Oliver, it’s alright.”

“No, you need to know you haven’t done anything wrong. You haven’t done anything I didn’t, you know, ask for.”

“Hey, it’s really alright,” His palm covers mine and he squeezes my hand. “I know exactly what you mean and don’t want you to quit insulting me.”

I blink. “Uh, that really isn’t what I’d expect from a d-d-uh, from someone like you.”

Liam's smile turns a bit filthy. “I take it as a compliment. I enjoy pushing you enough that you lose all that waspy politeness and stiff upper lip. You only hurl insults when you’re really riled up.”

On second thought, it makes a twisted kind of sense Liam wants me to yell and get angry with him. It’s the exact opposite of my usual self, and it isn’t like my protests or insults carry any weight when he’s in charge. And he’s the only person who makes me lose my composure like that.

“O-oh. O-okay then. Just as long as we’re clear.” I force my eyes up from my lap and whisper, “You’re a bad, terrible, evil dom. You aren’t a bad man.”

An important distinction. I may hate him and curse him while he teases me, but I also know the dom will take a backseat and the good man will take over if I need to use my safe spelling bee word.

“You say the sweetest things.” He drags me closer for a sweet, mimosa flavored kiss. “Wanna come back to my place?”

“Uh… I’m really not in the mood for… anything.”

“I wasn’t offering anything. My plan for this morning was to send you away loose limbed and completely relaxed, not tipsy and temporarily distracted. So why don’t you come back to my place and we can get your car towed? And then we’ll spend the rest of the weekend watching movies and doing absolutely nothing.”

Well, when he puts it like that, it’s an offer I have absolutely no interest in refusing.