Law of Shadows

“Polar opposites are often the best partners.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

We are alone in the living room. The repairs on the mansion and the apartment are almost done. Magnus hired a horde of gnolls for the apartment, while Oilell dealt with the entrance hall on her own. Sadly, Magnus is still a problem. He doesn't like the idea of having a human in his home. Not at all. It took Eva and me some time in order to convince him to at least consider the idea.

“I still don't think that this is a good idea,” Magnus complains yet again about inviting the reporter into our reality marble.

I sigh. He really needs to chill a little. First it's not okay that I do the interview at the news station. Then we can't allow the reporter to visit our reality marble. “Then make up your mind. Where can I do the interview? If I can't do it here, where it's perfectly safe, and I can't do it at the news station, then where can I give the interview?”

He mulls over that thought for several long moments, certainly weighing my personal security against the security of the reality marble. In the end, he comes to a decision. “You could give the interview in our restored apartment.”

I tilt my head. “And what would be the point in doing so? The apartment, shiny as it is now, doesn't exactly convey an aura of overwhelming superiority. We want the humans to believe in our ability to handle things. We have to give them a show. They need to know that they aren't just dealing with yet another overconfident politician. We have to back up our claims. The easiest way would be to show them the reality marble. And while we are at it, we do a little magic to impress them.”

He licks over his lips, but doesn't consent.

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So I push a little further. “I am sure that you have a way to make sure that they aren't a risk?”

“Of course they aren't a risk! They are just some humans without any weapons. What I am worried about is that they'll carry important information to the outside.” Magnus crosses his arms in front of his chest and stares defiantly at me.

I nod. “Okay, fine. Then how about this. The interview won't be live like the last one. We can request to edit or blur important information. I heard that human media are doing that all the time. They must be very good at it. We just have to give them a reason. Like security issues. We can walk them to areas where they are allowed to record.”

He grunts, but it looks like he can live with the idea. “Fine. Just make sure that they don't record the runes on the inside of our new doorway. I've changed out the whole security enchantment to ensure that the fae won't have it so easy a second time. I would hate it if I have to do it all over again. And I still don't know for sure how they managed to open the doorway.”

I nod. “It certainly won't be a problem to make such a request. Thanks.” I kiss his cheek and hug him.

“Are you sure that we don't want to know its gender?” he asks with a hopeful voice.

If he asks like that, I feel horrible to deny him, but I really want it to be a surprise. I take his hand and place it on my belly. “Fine. Cast a divination spell. But if you tell me the result, I'll behead you.”

He presses his lips into a thin line. “You know perfectly well that I wouldn't be able keep my mouth shut! I am so happy about the child that I would brag about it to everyone.”

I furrow my forehead. “That's something I wanted to clarify since a while ago. Why are you so happy about the child? When we first met, you nearly had a stroke when I mentioned the possibility. You even asked if I had taken preventive measures. I was perfectly happy about the opportunity from the start. But you practically changed your mind overnight.”

He huffs and takes his hand away, not casting the divination spell. “That was before I fell for you. You were a stranger. For all I knew, you could've been a person whom I absolutely hate. Yet, it would've been my responsibility to take care of you and the child. I had a bad relationship with Fiacre and Oilell. You changed all of that. I didn't realize it, but being completely alone was really depressing. I did well enough, but now that I have you, I don't want to go back to my old ways.”

I smile and hug him. “I also don't want to go back.”

Magnus leans back on the sofa and pulls me on top of him. We spend the next ten minutes making out by kissing each other. After the fiasco with walking in on Hatlix and Cecilia I am inclined to conduct any further activities in our private quarters.

“Are you trying to eat him?”

My sister's voice destroys the moment, proving to me that this house isn't the same place which it was when we first arrived. I end the kiss, but I refuse to leave my place on top of such a nice body pillow. “You'll understand once you find a guy for yourself.”

Annia pulls a face, showing me her tongue. “I am not even considered an adult and my body has barely matured. By looking at me, most people would assume that my age is sixteen! I've no interest in physical relationships at the moment. But that's not why I am here. I just wanted to inform you guys that dinner is ready.”

She studies Magnus with a quick glance. Then she smirks. “And who says that I have to search for a guy? It would mean that I have to go to another clan. Won't you share him?”

I gasp and point at the door. “Out!”

She raises her hands. “Okay. It was just a joke. Don't flash the evil eyes at me. That boy who came with our new additions seems way more interesting anyway. Not that much of an age difference,” She mumbles and leaves the room.

Magnus raises an eyebrow. “Aren't you overreacting? She's just a child. Her instincts haven't even awakened.”

I slide off of him and get to my feet. “Yeah! But better not to allow such thoughts to take root and blossom! I raised her. I held her in my hands when she was a baby. The thought of me and her and you is just... Ew!”

He nods. “I understand. Though I am glad that at least one of us knows how to deal with children.”

Is he for real? “I think that you aren't doing a bad job with Kath. You are stricter than I would ever be and your punishments are a little too harsh, but she is listening to you.”

Kath started to get her powers under control. Individually, we didn't have a lot of time for her, but between Fiacre, Cecilia, Magnus and me, we always found someone to supervise the child. Annia can also help out and now we have our new clan-members to jump in. No, Kath certainly doesn't lack adult attention. Together with Sergej, the boy whom Annia mentioned, we even have an unusual amount of adolescent ones in our clan.

Dinner turns into a pleasantly uneventful affair. Well, that's until Tina clears her throat and drops a bomb at the end of it. Since Freica helped her to create a direct connection between her own reality marble and ours, she spends a lot of time here. Tina puts down her fork and smiles at Magnus and me. “I hope you two are ready for the weekend?”

I smile back at her. “Weekend?” I quickly glance at Magnus, but he doesn't seem to know what's going on either.

“Yes. Did you two forget completely? I guess it can't be helped. A lot happened and one urgency followed the next. Make sure that nothing else comes up, because this weekend you are going to have your wedding ceremony. I already prepared everything back at my place. Everyone is invited.” Tina smiles from ear to ear.

I clear my throat. “I would love to have a real ceremony, but isn't it a little too late for that?”

Magnus stops me by taking my hand. “I am more worried about the wild magic on you. What will it do if we perform another ceremony on top of the existing one? I guess we could give our vows without magic like the humans do?”

I fall silent. In the recent months I completely forgot about my little curse. Having Magnus meant that it didn't matter any longer. Yes. A marriage between Old Ones is a magical ritual in which both partners are supposed to open their hearts to each other. At our core we are extremely egoistical creatures. Normally, a couple would want to confirm their feelings for each other.

This didn't happen between Magnus and me. He is so dedicated to this relationship that questioning his motives never occurred to me. If anything, he is overprotective. The last incident in which he restrained me with Tina's help is proof. Though I haven't forgiven him completely for doing that.

The magic on me shouldn't react to mere words. “If you are alright with doing it just with words? I am fairly certain that it won't affect the curse if we do just that. A real ceremony would most likely be interfered with by the magic which lies on me.”

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Magnus grunts. “I would never do something that has the potential to kill you. Wild magic should be left alone. I am still not comfortable that such a spell lies on you, even if it seems to be dormant.”

Tina raises both eyebrows. “So you really aren't opposed to the late party? I thought that at least Magnus would have something against it.”

The person in question lets out a deep sigh and bends over to claim the half empty bowl with salad for himself. “Tina had countless chances to pull a trick on us, so I guess it's fine to visit her reality marble for a party.”

Time passes and I manage to give the human reporter a fairly decent interview. We even showed off with a little magical light show and some other tricks. There was just a minor issue when Hatlix and Magnus explained about the reality marbles and Veils. We even reassured them that the Old Ones could help out with food production in a worst case scenario.

I am just glad that nobody mentioned black holes and exploding worlds. We wisely instructed our two geniuses to keep their mouths shut about such possibilities.