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Friday Snippet

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It’s Friday. How did that happen?

We haven’t had a snippet for a bit, so here is Augustine being impersonating an impressive business owner.

Augustine’s office lay on the seventeenth floor. He’d chosen that location precisely because it was just under the top two floors. The eighteenth floor held a private training space. The penthouse business suite above it belonged to his late father. From the moment Augustine officially took the reins of MII, he resolved to never enter it again, and he hadn’t set foot there for years.

The elevator doors whispered open, and he invited Diana forward with a sweep of his hand. They walked across the spotless dark floor through his kingdom of tall white walls and cobalt-tinted light streaming through the sheath of blue windows that wrapped the building.

He watched Diana’s expression covertly. Her face was relaxed and pleasant, her eyes calm. Prime Harrison moved with smooth grace, almost gliding across the floor, and the Doberman at her side matched her stride. The dog’s natural ears were down, her mouth half-open in a canine smile. He had seen enough Dobermans in his line of work. They were cautious dogs, alert and restrained in a new environment. This one was doing a fine impression of a golden retriever. There was an odd synergy between the woman and the dog – both sleek, assured, and pretending to be harmless.

 They reached his office, where Lina sat at a pristine desk, presenting the last line of defense to the visitors. The desk was crafted from polished metal with a single white orchid growing from a simple pot. His secretary chose to match the orchid today. A white dress hugged her body, perfectly tailored and form-fitting, yet elegant. Her deep emerald hair, wrapped in a trendy twist, shimmered with peridot highlights. Her eyebrows were black and shaped with laser precision, and she had selected green and black to accent her eyes and mauve to tint her lips. As always, the effect was stunning.

Unfortunately, his newest intern had referred to that precise shade of mauve as “hot dog lips,” and now he could not divorce himself from it. Mentoring the youngest Baylor child came with its own annoyances.

He nodded to Lina and led his visitor to the right, where a translucent wall of white glass hid his office space. A nearly seamless door swung open, and Augustine invited Diana in with a sweep of his hand. She entered and sat in a chair, smoothing the skirt of her elegant grey business suit with a practiced gesture. The Doberman dropped on the floor to her right. Not a concern in the world.

Augustine sat behind his desk. His office was located in the corner where two walls of blue glass met at an angle and from his vantage point, he had a wide view of Downtown Houston. Unlike most people, he loved heights.

Diana glanced at a sign on the right wall, a quote without attribution. Trust Not Too Much in Appearances.

“Virgil,” she said.

It appeared that House Harrison believed in classical education.

“It’s a reminder,” he said.

“To you or to the visitors?”

“To me. We do our best to convince our visitors that we are trustworthy.”

“Is that why you chose a modern aesthetic for the building?”

He nodded. “Most people who want to hire an illusion mage come to us unsure what they might find. Consciously or subconsciously, they expect to be deceived. Our business requires trust, so we keep the interior simple, almost austere. Long unbroken walls, concrete floors, and transparent glass leave little room for illusions. People find it reassuring.”

“I see.”

She wasn’t giving him very much to work with.

“Are you truly trustworthy, Prime Montgomery?”

“That depends on your definition of trust. Will I keep everything you tell me confidential, and will I do everything in my ability to help you if we reach an agreement? Yes.” Augustine leaned back in his chair. “So, how may I help you?”

“Are you familiar with Zeus?”

“The Greek god or your brother’s tiger?”

“The tiger.”

She took a slim tablet from her purse, flicked her fingers across it, and showed it to him. On the screen, a massive animal stretched, vaguely feline, a distant cousin of a tiger if tigers had blue fur splattered with darker and paler rosettes and a fringe of six-inch long tentacles around their necks.

All the magic talents in the world fit into three broad categories: elemental, mental, and arcane. Of the arcane discipline, summoning was one of the least understood. Summoners reached into the arcane realm, a place of magic outside of normal reality, called forth monstrous creatures, and hurled these biological weapons at their opponents. Nobody knew exactly how any of it worked and the summoners were not forthcoming with explanations.

Zeus had been summoned by someone attacking one of the Baylors’ clients, and Cornelius had tamed it against all odds. Augustine had looked into it after the incident. No animal mage on record had even been able to bond with a summoned beast. Cornelius was the only exception.

That bond somehow kept Zeus alive and thriving. Creatures summoned by weaker summoners vanished when they lost focus. The summons of the upper level Significants and Primes stayed in the world permanently, but most summoned creatures had short lifespans, even with the best of care. They withered, like repotted plants that failed to take root. Sometimes it took days, sometimes weeks, but eventually all arcane creatures perished. With the exception of the organisms that were planted into a human host.

“We decided to call the species Tigrionex.”

Tigris, Latin for tiger and nex meaning violent death. “Tiger of slaughter?”

“Yes.” Diana slid her finger across the tablet. Another image appeared, still of Zeus. Wait, no. This blue tiger was slightly different. It looked a little smaller, and its blue fur had a slight purple tint.

Augustine glanced at Diana. “You obtained a second tiger?”

She nodded. “Cornelius and I had her summoned at great expense.”

The cost must’ve been astronomical.

“Her name is Celeste. I was able to form a pact.”

“Not Hera?”

“No. We didn’t want to jinx it.”

House Harrison had access to two summoned beasts and both of them had bonded to their tamers. Clearly, there was something special about that family.

“Zeus and Celeste were allowed to mate. Before you ask, it was voluntary on their part. We would never exercise our influence over our animals to force a breeding. It was a difficult pregnancy.”

“What about cloning or surrogacy?” he asked.

“That would have meant taking the choice away from them.”

So they would risk a massive investment for the sake of maintaining the animals’ autonomy. Interesting.

 “We almost lost the mother, but in the end a single cub was born.”

Another swipe of her fingers, and a new image. A shockingly adorable blue cub. He understood the need for secrecy now. If anyone found out about this, the Harrisons would be swarmed with requests.

“What’s the cub’s name?”

“Kitty.”

He blinked.

“It’s a placeholder name. We were hoping that when Kitty grew a little, Matilda would form a pact with her. My niece is very talented, and she sounds mature, but she is still a nine-year-old child. She makes reckless decisions. Cornelius and I will do everything in our power to protect her, but we cannot be everywhere at once.”

And Kitty would grow up to be a formidable protector.

“These animals are different. They are smarter, more aware, and the bond with them is deeper,” Diana said. “Because of the difficult pregnancy, we decided to wait to introduce Matilda and the cub. We want to make sure Kitty survives. If Matilda bonds with her and the cub dies, the trauma to my niece would be catastrophic. That’s why the Baylors can’t be involved in this matter. In the two months since they moved into their new compound, Matilda made friends with every mouse and bird on their property. She spies on them constantly. Nothing happens in that house that my niece doesn’t know about.”

“Can she hear through mouse ears?” he asked.

Diana looked at him for a second. “Vikilinta recording devices are one inch long, have the width of a pencil graphite, and weigh 19 grams. They’re voice-activated and record up to 400 hours of audio. A healthy adult mouse weighs between 40 and 45 grams, can carry twice her body weight, and can be convinced to wear a harness.”

And now he felt like a fool. What in the world was he thinking? The child was a budding Prime, not a mythical Beastmaster. Something about the connection between the tech and animals always short-circuited his brain.

“Of course. However, I can’t imagine the Baylors would look favorably on that kind of security breach.”

“I’ve stressed the need for privacy to her multiple times,” Diana said. “I do not believe her obsessive recording is malicious.”

“Then why?”

Diana sighed. Her face took on a slightly worn expression. “It is my understanding that a child subjected to early trauma, such as losing a parent in a horrific way, often seeks to establish control over her environment.”

“Matilda is afraid that she will miss something vital and the people she cares about will die.”

“Yes. You see now why we hid the cub.”

He understood perfectly.

“Matilda keeps the information she overhears confidential, unless something alarms her. For example, I know that Arabella visits this office twice a week, and she hasn’t told her mother or Catalina about it.”

Diana’s gaze turned direct and unblinking. The Baylors treated Matilda and Cornelius as family. She likely felt protective toward them. He wasn’t obligated to explain, but good business relationships relied on trust.

Augustine reached into his desk, took out a folder, and offered it to her.

Diana glanced at the contents. “Internship agreement signed by Nevada Rogan?”

“My sister attends Donovan High.” Normally he had a knee-jerk reaction to speaking about his family but for some reason it didn’t trigger in her presence.

Diana’s eyebrows rose. “Donovan? Not Heritage?”

Of the two high schools catering to the magically gifted, Heritage was far more prestigious. If you were a scion of a House, you went to Heritage, while Donovan took the rest.

“Yes. She attends under an assumed name.”

And an assumed persona. If Verena’s classmates ever met her off school grounds, they wouldn’t recognize her. Except for Arabella, none of them had any idea what his sister truly looked like.

“The principal and the senior staff are aware of who she is,” he continued. “My sister wanted it this way, and I acquiesced. Let’s just say that I understand what drives Matilda better than most people.”

An understatement of the year.

“Arabella also attends Donovan,” Diana said.

“Yes. They are friends.” The strangest friendship that sprouted from a bizarre crisis. “They’re both taking an AP course in House Business Administration, which requires 160 hours of internship with a business owned by a House other than your family.”

“You swapped,” Diana said. “The Rogans took your sister, and you took Arabella.”

He nodded. “It’s an arrangement that works for both children. I know that Connor and Nevada will not put my sister in harm’s way, and they understand that I will do the same for Arabella. Feel free to reassure Matilda. Shall we return to the matter at hand?”

Diana studied him for another moment and turned the tablet toward him. On it, a fat fluffy tiger cub took shaky steps on stubby legs. She stumbled over to her frightening mother and batted at the otherworldly beast with her small paw. Celeste lowered her head. The cub tried to pounce, fell, and let out a frustrated noise, a tiny baby growl.

“You understand that the recovery may require significant investment even with the discount,” he said. “Do you wish to see an estimate?”

“No. Whatever it takes. We will pay it.”

“Are you sure?” The Harrisons were a House, but their talents didn’t have many lucrative applications.

“Absolutely. This isn’t property, Prime Montgomery. This is a life.” Diana brushed her fingers over the recording. “We welcomed Kitty into this world, we assumed responsibility for her, and now she is scared and alone. Celeste knows that her daughter is gone. She relies on me to bring her home. Whatever it takes.”

A digital timer appeared in the corner of the screen, counting off seconds. Thirty-two hours, seventeen minutes, and twenty-three seconds.

“The time until Kitty needs the next shot of her medicine,” Diana said. “Will you help me?”

He looked into her green and gold eyes, and the words came out before he realized he had spoken. “Of course, I will.”

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Oops, this didn’t get hooked to anyone.

      (So looking forward to the whole story. Nice explanation why Baylor investigation cannot take the case.)

  10. Oh, Zeus and Celeste have a baby! Adorable! 😍

    So…Matilda is a spy watching over House Baylor. Interesting times ahead.

    **Announcer voice: “Will Diana and Augustine find the baby Kitty in time? Tune in next time!**

    Thank you for the snippet!

  11. Whoever took Kitty, I hope they feel great regret for a what will likey be a short amount of time before their unfortunate demise. Just sayin’.

  19. I have no words, cute fluffy blue murder tiger cub. Bad ass woman in Diana and the shenanigans of Arabella. Also has the spider been found yet?

    • The Andrews know how to create bad-ass cats! A cute fluffy blue murder tiger cub, a, tigrionix, the cat from the Inheritance, and the beast Lord. What a line-up!!

  21. OMG a kitty 🐱. Thank you so much. Zeus is a daddy ! Squeeeee!

    I know ir’s bring greedy, but more please.

  29. Awww, Zeus is a papa. I’m curious if parenting among their kind is different from Earth tigers. Hopefully Zeus spends time with Kitty.

  33. So good!! Totally woke me up on this sleepy Friday morning. Thank you, HA!

    I’m going to have lots of fun images running around in my head today. Blue kittens, assumed personas, looking harmless. Wheeeee!

  34. Wowza.
    Thank you for more glimpses into this world. While the BDH is never satiated, every tidbit and morsel keeps us —- chalant?

    I just did a reread so it really hit today.

  42. Oh my gosh this is EXACTLY what we need right now!! Desperately trying to be p*tient and chalant. Taking comfort in the established size trajectory of HA short stories 😆

  43. Ahhh, I’m in love. I have been so tired of 19 year old romances and lives. I want substance! I am salivating over every crumb of this story.

  44. o.m.g. Kitty is missing??? if taken, someone, ones, are incredibly incredibly stupid.

    Cornelius is absolutely a Prime (no surprise) , but his attempts at a quiet life…smh.

  46. So we know Kitty will be okay but …I do trust HA, but … and Augustine is badass. I’m sure we haven’t seen the full of what he can do..but count me officially emotionally invested in this story lol.

    “Power of the Snippet” 😂

  47. Oh. This snippet is absolutely perfect. I’m in.

    I’m absolutely satisfied and want more all at the same time.

    So good. SO GOOD!

  52. If Lina is the last line of defense, she must have some serious chops. Will we get some insight into her skills? And I hope we get a little glimpse into the interactions of Arabella driving Augustine crazy – it’s probably super hilarious.

    • Also, please note that she is the last line of defense “TO” the visitors – not “FROM” the visitors. So that’s interesting phrasing. And HA are very very careful about their word choices.

      Really hoping this is a snippet from a complete Arabella book from a new trilogy. I really do enjoy this universe.

  54. And maybe some insight into why Arabella didn’t tell Catalina or Mom that she’s interning with Augustine?

    • A possible answer could be because of the way Augustine treated Nevada when she was the head of Baylor Investigations before they became a House. Arabella has a long memory of that time.

      I can really understand why Arabella didn’t mention it to her mom. Penelope had her sights, literally and figuratively, on Augustine. Catalina…that could be due to her Warden function (thanks Grandpa Linus).

    • If I remember rightly, this was explained in a Friday Chat with Dina, (which look like were renamed InnTerviews.) However! So far as I can search at 2 am when I am reading this instead of sleeping, both Arabella’s and Augustine’s chats are missing… Dun dun Duuuuunn!!

      I seem to remember that in that chat with Dina, Arabella had graduated and was working on (or had even finished) a double major in college, and had been accepted into a prestigious study at one of the ivy league schools with Augustine’s help and most of the class was online but she had to be at Uni once a month and used the excuse that she was going shopping in NY to fly there to go to class so no one in the family knew… *deep breath* Something like that. But, as her chat is missing, I am not going to divulge any dark secrets that may or may not have been revealed.

      >.>

      And this story is from while she is still in high school, so the timeline has changed.

      But I think the answer to the question may be the most simple. Arabella’s mom still dislikes Augustine for (blackmailing) putting Nevada in danger in Burn for Me, and Arabella does her own thing. Also, I am guessing there are very few people that know Arabella’s secret power, and Augustine or his sister put two and two together? Ugh, now I am thinking too much about this and can’t sleep.

  57. Yes to all of this! Augustine becomes just a tiny bit less mysterious, Diana seems so interesting, Arabella the intern, and there’s a missing baby kitty!

    Operation: Kitty Retrieval!

    Yes, yes, yes! *Fist pump*

  59. Woo hoo! Friday snippet!

    It never ceases to give me the warm fuzzies the way that the Baylors just glommed Cornelius and Matilda into the family.

    • I agree!! So sad about the loss of wife/mom, but with the Baylor’s they gained a whole village, not a replacement, just a village who understands the loss and is there to support and value them as they are.
      Love the return to this wonderful world and more insight into the others outside the Baylor bubble
      I know Kitty will survive the “adventure” (thank you HA) but I know I will be checking the blog religiously to get each snippet…

  60. OMG! There is a lot to absorb in this snippet!

    How exciting! Thank you for feeding us, but now I’m gonna need to know the rest, immediately. Kitty cliffhanger?! Unconscionable!

  63. now I need the merch featuring Zeus and family 😉 with Matilda’s spy mouse

    thanks for the snippet IA

    happy Friday

  64. Oh Augustine, you’re completely sunk and you don’t know it.

    Celeste! Lucky Zeus! Kitty! Oh no not little Kitty!

    Thank you so much, I hope you have a lovely relaxing weekend, and the same for Mod R and the whole Horde.

  65. I love how talented Cornelius is and how he’s deliberately suppressed his talents. But Augustine knows. I always appreciate the autonomy you give your characters, even the magical ones! Excited for this novella? Novel? Whatever and whenever it is!

    • And now I got the image in my head, a wave of BDH swarming all over the city screaming; “SAVE KITTY!!!”…. hehehe, hmmm, how the hell do I get that image out?

      • by adding the “next” image of the triumphant horde bearing the recovered kitty on a palanquin dressed in blue stripped curtains, of course!

  68. “Mentoring the youngest Baylor child came with its own annoyances.” No, really? Hehehe….

    And, awwwwwwwwwww… “Kitty!”

    Also, Augustine gazing into Diana’s eyes and committing himself before he even realizes it? Ship it! Not that I wasn’t doing so already….

    I’m certain the BDH joins me in wondering when we will get ALL of this looking to be marvelous tale!

    • HA works miracles because I thought there was nothing I wanted more than an Arabella book. I’ll be interested to see what they do with a short story (i am totally chalant see) with a POV fully outside of House Baylor and how that might inform and expand future Arabella tales.

    • So any ideas for ship names for Augustine and Diana?

      An irreverent part of my brain wants to call them Paw Patrol because the characters would hate it so much.

  72. Oooh, I just want to scoop Kitty up and bring back to mama while Zeus makes mincemeant of some kidnappers.

    Also…fascinating insights to rearing a Prime. Enough to turn a parent prematurely gray!!

  76. Augustine’s claim that summons always die isn’t correct, because the razorscales are surviving independently at the beginning of Emerald Blaze. But that’s not a continuity error, because the snippet internally dates to between Diamond Fire and Sapphire Flames — Arabella is in high school, Nevada has abdicated [“Catalina doesn’t know” is only relevant if Catalina is head of house]. Augustine simply doesn’t know of counterexamples yet.

    I love that Arabella is already concealing her educational activities as recounted for her college experience in her Friday Innterview.

    Obviously, I love this and can’t wait for the full story!

    • “The summons of the upper level Significants and Primes stayed in the world permanently, but most summoned creatures had short lifespans” – emphasis mine :). Also, the Razorscales were not independent- they were under the control of Abyss.

      The snippet does not take place between Diamond Fire and Sapphire Flames 🙂 . The Baylors are in the new compound.

      • This was absolute perfection! I cannot wa*t to purchase and devour the complete story! Thank you for sharing your talents with us once again. Squeee!

      • High school? In Ruby Fever Connor gave her a club for her eighteenth birthday and she deals with the budget?

        • Eighteen and even nineteen year olds can be finishing high school. Nevada was running the whole family business at 17, so Arabella can run the finances at 18 🙂

  77. OH HELL NO YOU DID NOT STEAL THAT TINY BLUE BABY

    (Ahem. Sorry. P*atience is a virtue and revenge is a dish best served cold…)

  79. oh man, I was invested even before the added stakes of Kitty needing medicine. Can we get illustrations, please? I would love to see Kitty!

  81. So so good!!!! Thank you.

    I just finished listening to the audiobook The Inheritance. Loved it! Of course! Audio always adds something great to the experience. Always gives me a different feel/flavor of a book that I’ve read. Or reread several times during the weekly sharing of this one. ☺️

    So here I am, waiting patiently for your next release. Seriously, I’m a patient person. Doesn’t stop me from thinking about all the new goodness coming our way. But I’m not going anywhere. You guys take care of yourselves. If y’all aren’t happy (and healthy), we aren’t happy.

  84. Wow! I am alllll in. **happy dance** I am aiming for nonchalant but I am overwhelmed by Chalant-ness. Just picture a baby making the “give me” hand gestures lol

  86. I am so glad you are going back to the world of Hidden Legacy, since Burn for Me was the first book I ever read by House Andrews, it holds a special place in my heart. Getting these occasional snippets makes life so much brighter! Work has been rough lately, and these always add a bit of sunshine into my day! Thank you!

  87. Yay!! And Eeeeeee!! Augustine and Diana!! She’s tamed him and he doesn’t even know it!! Also, Celeste and Zeus and baby Kitty!! Thank you for this wonderful snippet!! 📚

  88. OMG! A baby kitty cliffhanger. House Andrews, I hope you live a *really* long time and make gazillions of dollars. Y’all are fantastic. I want more… is it ready for pre-order yet??

  90. Awww, my gosh! Zeus has a lady and their love child has been taken? I know Augustine will recover Kitty in time, but I hope he and Diana make the kidnappers pay! (Maybe let Celeste take a nibble??) Love this, thank you so much!

  92. omg… KITTY! KittyKittyKittyKitty….

    I love the fact that Arabella and Montgomery’s sister are friends and are exchange interns. And the fact that Nevada approved it.

  97. State of the series says it is “finished for now,” so is this just a blog treat? Or will there be a book or novella at some point ? 🤞So much fun, and I’d love more!

  98. I know Zeus looks nothing like it, I really do know, and so Kitty won’t either, but my silly brain has superimposed the blue spirit tiger from KPop Demon Hunters over Kitty’s image and I can’t get my brain to undo that 🙈😂😂 I heard fluffy blue tiger and my brain just went there 🤷
    Am I the only one…? 😅

  99. Mod R – FYI, butterfly pea powder should turn the Kitty pancakes blue!
    Hmmm, if there’s an acid in the pancake it will be purple, I think…

      • What? There’s chili? Where? Did Steve make blue chili pancakes? (Regards imagined food dubiously.) Oh, ya, no, wasn’t chili. Ok, prob a good thing. Shudder.