Charlotte handed them passes on lanyards. “Are you two ready? Bas, can you explain to me your warding sigil on the way? I have some patches with me that we might be able to use as applicators. My brain is kicking over what Bridget has told me about the creature, and I can work on ideas that you have.”
Bridget let go of his hand and left them to talk magic while she fell back into step with the boys.
“So she’s the brains, huh?” she asked.
“And the beauty,” Reeve said with a dreamy smile. “And the brawn when she gets fiery. It’s the Ironwood in her.”
Apollo snorted. “You sap.”
Reeve shrugged. “Guilty. Why are you here again?”
“Curiosity. I’m an alchemist, and I don’t get to look in research labs often. I want to see what cool shit they have,”Apollo said breezily. He looked at Lachlan. “And you? Why are you here?”
“Come to enjoy the view,” Lachlan replied with a dazzling smile. Apollo went pink, and Bridget and Reeve tried not to laugh. “Also, I thought if anyone burns themself out on magic or the creature makes any of its victims fight back, you all might need the extra muscle.”
“Val tells me that you’re an untrained magician?” Reeve said from beside Bridget.
“Very untrained. No idea about any of it, but everyone in your family keeps telling me I have magic,” she replied.
“We tend to recognize each other. Magicians, I mean. And neurodivergent people. We tend to be both.”
Bridget fiddled with the cuff of her jacket. “Yeah, I had a few therapists tell me I’m some mix of ADD and autism, but I didn’t really want to look into it further. I’m cool with how I am for the most part, and I work in a bookstore, so it didn’t seem important.”
“I think you have to be neurodivergent to be a magician. We see the world differently, and it helps with the magic. We will get you trained in no time,” Reeve said cheerily. He winked at her, big and obvious. “You’ve already cast a spell on our Bas.”
Bridget snorted to cover her embarrassment. “If anything, he’s cast one on me. He was the one that kept turning up in my mind library.”
“Either way. It’s nice to see him happy,” Reeve said.
“He looks happy because they were shagging in the library this morning,” Apollo piped up.
“We were not.” Bridget rolled her eyes. “Not technically, anyway.”
Apollo said, “I knew it. You two had post-coital glows when I came in.”
“Little Bas is a dark horse, huh? Who would have thought it,” Lachlan chuckled.
“Not me. Great surprise, though,” Bridget said, making them all laugh.
They followed a doctor through two security doors and were asked to wear masks before entering the ward.
Bridget hated the itchy, claustrophobic feeling of them against her skin. She wanted to see what Charlotte was going to do, and there was no way she was leaving Bas by himself, so she put hers on without complaint.
“Can you point me to your labs? I like to oversee what’s happening there,” Apollo asked one of the doctors in the most professional voice that Bridget had ever heard.
“I’ll be joining him as his assistant,” Lachlan added. “He tends to wander and get lost if left unattended.”
Apollo’s eyes narrowed over the top of his mask, but he didn’t argue. He couldn’t without exposing his own games. Lachlan wasn’t dumb.
“Of course, please follow us, Doctor Greatdrakes,” their helpful guide said.
“He’s a doctor? For real?” Bridget asked Bas as Apollo and Lachie disappeared through another set of doors.
“Apollo is many things,” Bas replied, and his eyes crinkled, which showed he was smiling. “Right now, I think he’s in trouble.”
25
Lachlan Ironwood never thought he would find tweed pants sexy, but once again, Apollo Greatdrakes was proving to be the exception to the rule.
