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But Corvus just chuckled, “If you insist,” but when he went to tuck her hand once again, she pretended not to notice and walked ahead of him. She couldn’t go into a meeting with Simone Moreau while thinking about unbuttoning every button on Corvus' shirt and licking him from his belly button to his throat. He'd been so buttoned up and careful with her ever since she'd come back into his life, and she wanted to see him undone – wanted to see if all of this was real. If his feelings were roaring back after a decade of lying dormant. She could feel her cheeks heating at the mental picture she’d just created for herself, and Corvus stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and concern in his eyes. “Are you sure you’re ok?” Putting a gentle hand to her forehead, Corvus said, “You do seem a little warm.” Pearl closed her eyes and leaned into his touch before shaking herself and saying, “I’ll just take a quick trip to the restroom and put a little bit of cold water on my face. I think I just got a bit warm in the library.” And she scampered off before her body could betray her any more. She inwardly cursed her friends for putting thoughts of a fling with Corvus in her head.
After splashing cold water on her face and neck and giving herself a stern talking to in the mirror, Pearl exited the restroom and went to find Corvus once again. However, she stopped in her tracks when she heard a cold voice speaking in a prim, clipped tone. “So you’re taking her to Paris now?”
“That’s not any of your business, Mother.” Corvus’ voice was even colder. It highlighted the warmth it was infused with in her presence to hear it so dead and hard now.
“I know you think you can break it, but you can’t. There are any number of girls who would love to be with you. Why don’t you at least talk to one of them? Surely you could try?”
“I’m not going to have this conversation with you again. And anyway, I thought you weren’t speaking to me? If you try to chase her off again with any more passive aggressive book placements or whatever other schemes you are concocting, you know what the consequences will be.” The finality in Corvus’ voice was clear.
Pearl heard a deep, frustrated sigh and the sound of heels clicking away on the marble.
Well, this conversation certainly added weight to her theory. Waiting a few seconds so that her eavesdropping wasn’t immediately apparent, when Pearl rounded the corner, she saw Corvus’ face light up when he saw her. “Any better?”
“Yes - I think I just overheated a bit.”
He lifted his hand as though to take hers, but pulled it back, unsure. “I’m glad to hear you're alright. If you’ll follow me to the yellow drawing room, the transporter will be waiting for us there.”
Surprised, Pearl stopped in the hallway. “You mean you’re not taking us?”
Corvus was just as confused as she. “Why would I be taking us?”
“Well, because you’re so good at transportation.”
Realization dawned on Corvus’ face, and his eyebrows turned up ruefully. “I had really hoped I could avoid this conversation. I don’t have a transportation mastery, Pearl. I…” He stopped. “This is even more embarrassing than I imagined. When I was attempting to woo you, I may have bribed one of the university officials to share your work and housing information so I could impress you. I even scouted them out ahead of time.” It felt like a confessional now. “I” he cleared his throat. “I used it to impress women in the past.”
Mouth agape, Pearl started to laugh. “Are you serious? I’ve spent years trying to figure out how you transported to a place you’d never been before. Even people with a transportation mastery can’t do that. I can’t believe I never thought of male hubris as the explanation.”
With a relieved sigh, Corvus said, “I recognize now that it comes dangerously close to stalking, so please forgive me for one of the many transgressions of my youth.”
“Forgiven - honestly I’m just so glad to have the mystery solved. I was certain it must be some deeply guarded secret.”
They’d arrived at the drawing room as they talked, and opening the door, the transporter stood to greet them. Pearl was thrilled - traveling via magical transportation was expensive as it required the hiring of someone with a transportation mastery. Getting to places with which you were familiar in the nearby vicinity took time to learn, but most magic users were adept. Traveling long distances, however, took skill, a lot of practice, and a breathtaking amount of money to hire them. Most people only used transporters once or twice in their lifetimes if they were lucky - unless you were the Winterbournes. If Pearl had to guess, they had one on retainer. Like a private jet but better for the environment.
Corvus greeted the transporter warmly by name, giving further credence to the idea that this transporter was on retainer. Looking to be in her mid-50s, Mavis put out her hand to Pearl as Corvus introduced them. “Pleasure to meet you! Have you done any long distance magic travel before?”
Accepting the hand, Pearl hoped her novice status wouldn’t be used against her. “I haven’t, but I’m thrilled to try it out.”
“It’s one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever experience. It’s smooth and fast if you know what you’re doing, and luckily for you, I do.” Mavis said this with a wink. Turning to Corvus, she confirmed. “To Paris, boss?”
“Indeed, Mavis.”
With a nod, she turned to Pearl. “So for magical transportation, I’ll need you to hang on to this handle right here.” And she gestured to a belt tied around her waist with what were indeed canvas handles. “You don’t need to hold on tight, we just need to stay connected. So the only two rules are don’t let go, and don’t distract me. I’ve had a few first-timers hang on like they’re on a rollercoaster, and that’s actually more dangerous than just a light hold. If I have someone attached to me like a koala, it’s hard to focus on my role.”
Pearl said she understood and looked on eagerly as Mavis pulled out a map of Paris. But it was not like any map she had ever seen. It thrummed with magic, and there were a few spots that shone brightly throughout the city. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Mavis had caught her looking. “In the past we could only get folks to the general area, but as we’ve learned more and refined the techniques, we’ve infused magic in specific and popular destinations. Non-magical folks are repelled, magical folks who are traveling will know exactly where they are going to end up, and it’s a fantastic beacon for transporters. It’s taken a while to get the infrastructure up and running, but it’s worth it. In the past I would have had to memorize a map of Paris, but now as long as I have a general idea of it, I can reach out for those specific locations.”
This was what Pearl had been hoping for. She’d been dying to pick the brain of the transporter, but she figured it would be an ancient, stuffy man who had no interest in speaking to her. “So does this make it easier for the general magic user to transport longer distances?”
Mavis sighed. “If only. Maybe we’ll get there one day, but it still requires intense focus and a very extensive knowledge of both geography and topography. Think about it this way. Where is the easiest place for you to travel?”
“Home, of course!”
Nodding, Mavis continued. “Exactly because you are intimately familiar with it. However, how was your accuracy when you first moved into the place you live now?”
Contemplating Pearl answered. “I’m not sure. I think it was pretty good?”
Pointing, Mavis said, “And that’s where it gets difficult. You were probably transporting to slightly different spots every time, and now after considerable time, you can go exactly in your house where you want to go. When it’s short distances, you don’t really notice such slight variations. However, the farther you expand that, the easier it is to mess up. If, let’s say you tried to go to Kathmandu, a distance like that could mean your margin of error would put you on Mt. Everest. Being precise is more and more important the farther away you travel.”
Suddenly remembering Corvus was in the room, Pearl apologized. “I could probably ask her questions all day, but I know you have an appointment.”
