As one, they all stood up when Bridget entered the room, and she giggled nervously. She didn’t think people in real life did that shit.
Cosimo pulled out a chair for her at the head of the table. “So happy you could join us, Bridget. This table needs a feminine influence more often.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being a feminine influence before,” she babbled and quickly sat.
“Wine?” Bas asked from his place in the kitchen. Bridget nodded, and Cosimo poured her a glass.
“This is from my favorite estate in Veneto. I have to hide bottles so the boys don’t drink all of it on me,” he said, shooting her a wink.
“You say that like you don’t go to Italy every month,” Apollo said, holding his glass out. “Make it a big one, Dad. I’ve had a day.”
“What’s in Italy to keep you going back there?” Bridget asked. She could totally do small talk. Or at least try to. She was curious about these generational magicians. They weren’t like regular boring people she had nothing in common with.
“I hunt magical manuscripts mostly,” Cosimo replied. “My grandmother was a Florentine, so I ended up with the name Cosimo. It’s a family tradition to be named after magicians, mystics, and alchemists, so I was named after...”
“Cosimo Medici?” Bridget guessed.
His face lit up, and all the brothers groaned.
“You know of him?” he asked.
“Of course. The whole of Western civilization and culture was altered because of Cosimo. If he hadn’t funded Marsilio Ficino and the Florentine Academy, we would still be in the dark ages,” Bridget replied before she could stop. She quickly shut her mouth before she started to ramble. People didn’t always like that about her.
Cosimo put a hand on his chest. “A woman after my own heart. Finally, a youth I don’t need to educate.”
“You got him started now,” Valentine said, his lips lifting into a wry smile. “Quick, Bas, feed us so we avoid a lecture.”
“Philistines. I’d love a lecture on Cosimo Medici. Do you know that apparently Ficino was worried that he would never have the resources to translate all the manuscripts he had, so he went outside and sang the Orphic Hymn to the Cosmos, and then like the next day, he got patronage from Cosimo? Actually, it makes sense that Cosimo was a magician now that I think about...and I’m rambling. Sorry,” Bridget said and quickly drank her wine.
The Greatdrakes men were all smiling at her, Bas with a hand resting over his heart.
“That’s it. We are keeping you,” Cosimo declared, smacking his hand on the table. “Well done, Bas. Very well done indeed.”
Bridget blushed from the tips of her toes to the tips of her ears. “I don’t know what just happened, but thanks. I read a lot, and I don’t get to talk much about stuff with people because I can’t have normal conversations.” She really, really needed to stop verbally spewing everywhere.
“You don’t ever have to worry about that with us, Bridget,” Apollo said and offered her the basket of bread. “We are magicians. The more random the facts, the more we enjoy it.”
“What’s your last name? Are you sure you don’t have magicians in the family?” Cosimo asked her.
Bridget quickly drank more wine. She felt a light brush behind her eyes, and Bas said into her mind,If you aren’t comfortable talking about it, I’ll get them to stop.
Thanks, Bas, but I’m okay. We will still have the torte and rum conversation, but I can handle this.
Bas nodded, and the tingle of his presence left her. Bridget was touched that he would ask at all, knowing that talk of family made her nervous.
Bridget said, “My surname is Hawkyns, but I picked that myself. My mother was a narcissistic gold digger, and I never knew who my father was. Depending on how much she had drunk, he would be an F1 driver from Monaco or a sheik from Dubai, but he could have been a waiter at a party for all I know. She was white, so I know he must have been brown. I always hung out with the Desi and Somali kids at school, and I just told them my dad was dead. No one really asked further questions.”
“Bas mentioned you turned into a hawk, is that the reason for the name?” Valentine asked. None of them looked like they cared about her fucked up parentage at all.
Bridget nodded. “Yeah. I have always loved hawks. They are always so free and fierce. When I got to choose a name, I went with that. I wanted to feel as free and fierce as they looked.” Again, she felt like she had said too much.
Valentine only said, “Do you know hawks mate for life? Dragons do the same.” Bas shot his brother a glare, and Bridget grinned.
“And we are back to dragons. Bas refuses to tell me about this place’s dragon fetish.”
As one, the Greatdrakes men all turned to glare at Bas. “What? I needed there to be some mystery to get her to come and stay here.”
“Oh, I’m definitely here so I can have a crack at your library.” Bridget sipped her wine and asked innocently, “Would any ofyoulike to tell me about dragons? Because I have questions.”
