Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(32)

“Sorry,” I whispered, really trying to get myself under control. “Sorry.” I straightened up and cleared my throat. “Okay, I think I have it all out now. Hopefully they are in the other part of the house and couldn’t hear me.”

Of course, I wasn’t that lucky—we’d just walked into a cavernous area that held a family room, an open kitchen, and a glass dining table across from huge picture windows. The floors were all

beautifully polished wood, with echoing rooms and an abundance of open space, nothing to really catch sound.

“Oh no,” I whispered as Austin walked us toward the kitchen, crowded with people looking our way. I cleared my throat again, the fit of humor now a distant memory.

“Hello!” A woman about my height walked forward without a smile. She had deeply bronzed skin with high, rounded cheekbones and lush red lips. Straight black hair fell to her lower back, and a sleek red dress was cinched around her waist. Her deep brown eyes held a hint of wariness, and her posture tensed up a bit when she zeroed in on Austin, but she was no less stunning because of it.

“Welcome! It’s been so long.”

She stopped about three feet away, usually the distance a person would put out their arms for a hug.

“Earnessa, hello. Thank you for having us,” Austin said formally.

Neither of them moved toward each other, and I remembered Kingsley asking Austin’s permission to hug me once.

“Oh.” I pointed my finger between them. “You guys can hug if you want. Or high-five, or whatever you want to do. I don’t mind.” They didn’t move any closer. “Or just stare awkwardly, I don’t know.

Whatever you think is best.”

All movement stopped. Eyes came my way, and the silence rang in my ears.

My mouth fell open at what I’d just nervously babbled. I didn’t know how to backtrack, though.

This time I didn’t have Mr. Tom’s weirdness, or Niamh’s crass outbursts, or Edgar’s creepiness to break my fall. I was the odd one out in this room.

“Never mind,” I mumbled. Earnessa now studied me quietly.

“Earnessa, everyone,” Austin said, “may I introduce my mate, Jessie Ironheart, co-creator and co-leader of the Dusky Ridge Convocation, mistress of Ivy House, and the only female gargoyle in existence. Jess, meet Earnessa, mate of the Gossamer Falls pack alpha of the Barazza line.”

“Hello,” I said warmly despite the cool way she continued to study me. I gingerly lifted my hand, seeing if she’d go for the handshake.

“Jessie, welcome.” She didn’t reach forward, so I dropped my hand immediately. “It’s good to have you. Please, let me introduce you around.”

She gestured. I expected Austin to release me so that I could walk wherever she wanted to stick me. Instead, he stepped forward with me, his hold around me tight, keeping me firmly pressed to his side.

We stopped in front of an older woman who had Kingsley’s look about her, with a square face and somewhat rounded nose. What once might’ve been sandy-blonde hair was now light gray, cut just below her chin. Her bearing was regal and her style of dress was similar to Mimi, elegant with flowing silks in pastels.

“Please meet Denise, the former alpha of the Gossamer Falls pack and mother to the current alpha.”

I smiled even though no one else in this house did. It was supposed to be allowed among family.

“It’s really great to meet you,” I said, bowing stupidly without meaning to. I clasped my hands tightly in front of me to prevent myself from forcing a hug or trying to initiate that high five I’d mentioned earlier.

“Hello, Jessie,” Denise said, her voice warm even though it didn’t reach her eyes. “You were a past Jane, is that correct?”

Austin just barely tensed.

“Yes,” I said without reservation. It wasn’t something I considered embarrassing, even if her intention had been to shame me. It was who I was. “A magical house chose me to be its heir, a mage manipulated me into taking the house’s magic, and I learned to fly by being tossed off cliffs. It’s been a really wild year. I’ve forgotten what normal looks like, hence…you know.” I gestured at myself.

“The way I began this dinner party.”

“That’s not how you found your wings, though,” Austin said, his fingers digging into my hip and the bonds all kinds of emotionally turbulent. “You had to learn to fly when we were trapped in a cage above a cave full of spikes.”

“Oh yeah.” I nodded and hooked a thumb toward Austin’s chest. “He jumped onto the cage through a searing magical spell, somehow didn’t black out from the pain, and basically told me that if I didn’t figure out how to fly and consequently save him, we’d both die there together. This all had to be done before the basajaun, who was guarding me at the time, finished pretending to have a sprained ankle.” I leaned into him a little harder. “It’s probably hard to believe any of that really happened, but there you go. That’s my life now.”

Denise studied me for a moment. “It is hard to believe, yes, but you are clearly telling the truth.”

She meant that I was advertising my every thought with my body. It wasn’t something I could help.

“Being a past Jane, you are a hugger?” Denise asked, her hard stare a little off-putting.