“Something for us to explore further, I imagine,” Wyndham said with a smile over his shoulder at his husband.
“Oh, trust me, I’ve already been thinking about it,” Roger said, laughing.
“So, to get back to the main point, you and I have some amount of magical compatibility.We’ve cast together several times.Your magic gets along with mine well enough.”
“But not as intensely as when Sage and I cast together,” Conrad guessed.
“Definitely not,” Wyndham said.He glanced between them.“I’m not going to pretend I understand your relationship or know of your plans.But I would recommend that, if nothing else, you two might form a partnership for casting together.Your magics are impressively complementary.”
“I’d like that,” Conrad said, smiling up at Sage.Sage didn’t meet his eyes, but he nodded his agreement.
“Does that clear things up a little?”Wyndham asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Good.Now that you’re both aware of the situation, I imagine our experiments will be even more interesting.”
He wasn’t wrong.Their work began to turn into a combination of experimentation and lessons, as Wyndham taught Sage how to blend their magics together more seamlessly, and how to communicate what changes Conrad needed to do to the spells.In turn, Roger sat next to him and gave him advice on how to observe his fae companion, what to look for when he was reaching for magic or when he was struggling to control it.
Although Conrad couldn’t feel magic, he could tell when he and Sage began to take their instructions to heart.His spells seemed smoother, while still powerful.Sage seemed less tense as he carried out Wyndham’s directions.They spent hours churning out spell after spell.It was exhausting, but Conrad couldn’t deny it was also thrilling.To see Sage sensing a part of him that he could not, joining their magics together with progressively more ease, felt like a language Conrad hadn’t known existed.They didn’t stop until dinner was called.
“Goodness,” Roger said, organizing his pages of notes.“We really worked you two hard today.”
“We’ll have a good start for when we return to London,” Wyndham said, looking over Roger’s shoulder.
“My father is already pleased to know that you work well with everyone.He’ll be delighted when I tell him that you’re diligent when it comes to projects, as well.”
Conrad froze.“You’ve told him about me?”
Roger laughed.“Of course!I wrote to him shortly after you arrived and I’ve been sending him reports ever since.If you ask me, he already likes you.”
Conrad couldn’t stop the grin that took over.“That’s wonderful.”
Sage chuckled beside him.“You were worried about it, weren’t you?”
“I don’t like to take anything for granted.”
Sage leaned down and kissed him.Then he seemed to remember they had an audience for he pulled away and cleared his throat.“I’m quite sure everyone else here has known for weeks that you had the position secured.”
Wyndham laughed as he brushed past him.“He’s right.But I’m not sure why you’re embarrassed, Sage.We also all know that you two have been in each other’s pockets for a while now.”He opened the door and turned back to look at them with a smirk.“The wind on the dock confirmed it.”
