True Magics Read Free

wouldn’t have said that if you saw me before the debate. I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or pass out.”
    “Good thing you didn’t,” said Henry. “I had money riding on it.” He pushed her away. “Now let’s tell George. I want to be at the Quill before the food is gone!”
    The Street of Smiths was a fair distance from the Academy, down two major streets and across a market square filled with people, wagons and carriages. Eileen practically bounced the entire distance, with Thomas and Henry hard on her heels.
    George’s small house was at the end of the Street of Smiths. Henry’s brother John, who was now Duke of Frostmire, had rewarded them all generously for fighting in the north and George had used his money to rent a smithy. The small house had been run down when George took possession, but it had a forge on the main floor with a kitchen and sitting room directly above, and two bedrooms on the third floor, just below the roof. George had repaired the forge and opened it for business in less than a week. The rest of the house had taken most of a month for George to fix up, but now it was snug and cozy.
    The sign above the wide doors of the smithy read “Sir George Gobhann: Blacksmith and Bladesmith.” Henry had suggested adding George’s title, claiming a little nobility never hurt a business. It seemed to have worked. In two months George had built a steady clientele of carters, soldiers and housewives asking for horses shod, weapons sharpened or fixed, and pots repaired.
    The doors to the smithy were wide open and George was inside, working shirtless under his apron despite the cold. Where Eileen was the image of their mother, George was built tall and wide like their father, with Lionel’s brown hair and eyes.
    A tall young lady with pleasant curves and a length of blonde hair braided into a ponytail down her back was watching him repair a pot, though she seemed far more interested in George’s bare arms than the work he was doing. For his part, George was doing a remarkable job of simultaneously fixing the pot and flirting.
    “Who’s the girl?” asked Thomas.
    “Linda Gatron,” said Eileen. “She’s been coming over for about a month, now.”
    “She must have a lot of pots that need mending,” said Henry.
    “I doubt it,” said Eileen. “Her father is the head of the Smiths’ Guild.”
    “He is?” Henry sounded impressed. “George is moving up in the world.”
    “Why did I not know about this?” asked Thomas.
    “Because you haven’t sat down to talk to George once in the last five weeks,” said Eileen.
    “I have tried,” said Thomas. “He won’t go out. Says he’s too tired or too busy.”
    “And now we know who he was too busy with,” said Henry, watching George hand back the girl’s pot. Their fingers met on the rim and stayed there as they chatted. “He is smooth, isn’t he?”
    “Be nice, you,” warned Eileen. “George! We won the debate!”
    “You did?” George’s face lit up. He spoke a quick word to Linda and hurried out to the street. “Good for you!” He swept Eileen up in a huge hug, spun her around twice and dropped her solidly on her feet. “And what about you two? Are you still students?”
    “So far,” said Henry, shaking George’s hand. “After Festival we’ll find out if we’re all out on our ears.”
    George’s eyes narrowed. “You’re far too cheery about that, Henry.” He let go of Henry’s hand and shook Thomas’s. “What happens next?”
    “Petitions,” said Eileen. “Then the Council of Rules, if we get enough signatures.”
    “Which we will,” said Thomas. “We’re going to the Quill to celebrate—”
    “After I get changed,” said Eileen, heading for the door of the smithy. “If I go dressed like this they’ll think I’m the entertainment. Be right back.” She waved a greeting at Linda and dashed up the stairs. Linda smiled and waved back.
    “Come with us, George,” said Thomas. “It’ll be