Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Show as little as possible. Make them think that illusion is all you have. Your life depends on it.
Augustine lives by this creed. He’s cold, rational, and calculating. He doesn’t get emotionally involved. Then one day Diana Harrison walks into his office and asks for his help. Diana is a Prime, an animal mage who bonds with animals through her magic and prefers their company to humans. Something precious has been stolen from House Harrison. Something Diana must recover at all costs.
The two Houses are allied through a friendship pact. Assisting Diana is simply good business. And yet, there is something about her that disturbs the careful balance of Augustine’s inner world.
Neither of them is who they appear to be. Both would die to keep their secrets. But the enemy they face is more powerful than either had imagined, and saving the life that hangs in the balance will demand the ultimate price neither Augustine nor Diana ever anticipated to pay – complete honesty
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The Lore
In 1863, in a world much like our own, European scientists tried to cure the flu and discovered the Osiris serum instead, a concoction which brought out one’s magic talents. These talents were many and varied. Some people gained the ability to command animals, some learned to sense water from miles away, and others suddenly realized they could kill their enemies by throwing lightning from their fingertips.
The serum spread through the planet. It was given to soldiers in hopes of making military forces more deadly. It was obtained by members of the fading aristocracy, desperate to hold on to power. It was bought by the rich, who desired to get richer. The magic users were evaluated and sorted into ranks starting with Minors, who had bare whispers of magic at their disposal, all the way to Primes, mages of incredible power.
Eventually the world realized the consequences of awakening godlike powers in ordinary people. The serum was locked away, but it was too late. The magic talents passed on from parents to their children had changed the course of human history forever. The future of entire nations shifted in the span of a few short decades. Those who previously married for status, money, and power now married for magic, because strong magic would give them everything.
Now, a century and a half later, families with strong hereditary magic have evolved into dynasties. These families—Houses, as they call themselves—own corporations, control their own territories within the cities, and influence politics. They employ private armies, they feud with each other, and their disputes are deadly. It is a world where the more magic you have, the more prominent and successful you are. Some magic talents are destructive. Some are subtle. Some Houses are powerful and wealthy. Others are much less so. But no magic user should be taken lightly.
Magic Ranks and Types
There are five magic ranks, from weakest to strongest: Minor – Average – Notable – Significant – Prime.
There are three main categories of magic: elemental, mental, and arcane.
Elemental mages control air, water, fire, and earth. They part seas, extract minerals, and alter the weather.
Mental mages possess the powers of the mind. They are deadly telekinetics, crafters of incredible weapons, and human lie detectors.
Arcane mages include those who do not fit into either of these categories. They are metamorphosis mages (shifters), summoners who pluck strange creatures from a magical dimension, and those who can enhance their bodies.
Houses
A House is a magic family that produces at least three Primes (highest rated magic users) in two generations. They are the elite of magical society.
This story is about three Houses bound together by a friendship pact:
House Montgomery, led by Augustine Montgomery, a Prime famous for his illusion magic, who controls Montgomery International Investigations (MII), the largest and most powerful PI firm in the Southwest;
House Baylor, a family whose talents are strange and varied and who runs Baylor Investigations, a much smaller and more boutique PI firm that specializes in complex cases requiring unusual care. One of their members is Arabella Baylor, the youngest of the Baylor siblings;
And House Harrison, led by Diana Harrison, a family whose power lies in bonding with animals, giving them unique perspectives and distancing them from other humans. Despite that distance, Diana Harrison views the Baylors as family and House Montgomery as steadfast allies.
Cast of Characters
People marked by * are mentioned but they do not appear in the story.
The Montgomerys:
Augustine Montgomery – Prime, head of House Montgomery and the CEO of Montgomery International Investigations (MII,) one of the larger PI firms in the country. Illusion mage.
*Verena Montgomery – Augustine’s younger sister, friends with Arabella Baylor. Illusion mage.
The Baylors:
Arabella Baylor – Prime, Magic sealed, the youngest member of House Baylor. Despite her age, Arabella has a lot of investigative experience, having worked for her family business since she was a teenager.
*Bern Baylor – Arabella’s older cousin, who was adopted into the family.
*Catalina Baylor – Arabella’s older sister and the Head of House Baylor
*Nevada Rogan (Baylor) – Arabella’s oldest sister who married Connor Rogan, Augustine’s best friend, and joined his House.
The Harrisons:
Diana Harrison – Prime, head of House Harrison. Animal mage.
*Cornelius Harrison – Diana’s youngest brother and a private investigator who works for Baylor Investigations. His wife, Nari, was murdered, and the Baylors helped him find the culprit and exact his revenge, after which he joined their firm.
Matilda Harrison – Cornelius’ nine-year-old daughter.
*Blake Harrison – Diana’s younger brother.
BEAST BUSINESS
[ 1 ]
“As you know, Maria, the current state of the economy requires our company to develop agility in an effort to meet the rapidly changing realities of the marketplace.”
The HR manager smiled, her hand resting on a black folder with FINERGY etched in gold on it. She was in her forties. Her makeup had been applied with technical precision. Her acrylic nails, translucent pink and of a professionally acceptable length, bore small white Easter eggs as a nod to the holiday season. A rose quartz necklace dripped from her neck, each bead polished, matching the nails and the nearly transparent pink frames of her eyeglasses.