Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
“Of course they did,” Peter said, his lips twisting derisively. He didn’t have a high opinion of magic. He was a fan of law and order; magic was something that was hard to define and order. He utterly despised the way things became unpredictable in court if anything supernatural was involved. “How does it explain everyone acting like an idiot this morning?”
Justin plopped down in the chair across Peter’s desk and yawned. “Basically, as I understand it, it was a bastardized version of the Christmas Wish spell, tweaked to suit their purposes. But the witches didn’t take into account that last night was some kind of rare planetary alignment, which made their spell much larger in magnitude. Instead of being aimed at Hungary, the spell affected all of Europe and part of North America. Moreover, they apparently used an ambiguous combination of runes for ‘home,’ and the spell interpreted it as the person’s home. Their soulmate.”
Peter sneered. “Do people actually believe that bullshit?”
“You know they do,” Justin said with another yawn, rubbing his face like a sleepy kitten.
Peter narrowed his eyes, wondering if he really should go a little easier on the kid. It wouldn’t look good if his personal associate fell asleep during a meeting with a client—or in court.
“It’s actually pretty fascinating,” Justin said. “The spell apparently makes the person feel extremely antsy, urging them to reunite with their other half, and they can sense the general distance and direction their soulmate is. That’s why people are so excited. They want to go look for their soulmates before the spell wears off. It’s not every day you basically get a free soulmate spell cast on you. Granted, this spell doesn’t seem as precise as the tailor-made soulmate spells, but it still directs you to the general vicinity of your soulmate. And it’s free. Do you know how expensive those spells normally are?”
“Only idiots pay for them,” Peter said. The notion of soulmates had always seemed like juvenile nonsense to him. Witches insisted that they were real, that every person had their other half, someone who supposedly completed them. And never mind that millions of people lived perfectly happy lives without ever meeting their soulmates. But of course witches had an answer for that too: they claimed that the soulmate connection wasn’t necessarily romantic in nature, that it was possible to be happily married to someone else but the person would always be missing out on the connection that would make them “complete.” What utter nonsense. It was beyond belief that there were idiots who paid fortunes for those spells.
Justin shrugged with a wry smile. “Rich people have a lot of money to burn. Didn’t you spend half a million on a car last month?”
“Don’t compare my car to a parlor trick.” Peter hummed thoughtfully, drumming his fingers over the armrest. “The North American coven must be pissed that the Eastern European coven encroached into their territory and ruined a very profitable side of their business. Arrange a meeting with the coven. We might get some nice billables thanks to this mess if they want to sue.”
“Only you,” Justin said with a laugh. “Can you even practice international magical law?”
Of course he could. He wasn’t one of the best lawyers in the country for nothing. “As my associate, you should know the answer to that question.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Anyway, people are excited. HR probably isn’t though.” He smiled. “Some people actually tried to butter me up to convince you to let them take a leave of absence. Isn’t it amusing that people think I can make you do something?”
Peter wasn’t amused in the slightest. Leave was something unheard of in a high-profile law firm like theirs. He couldn’t even remember the last time he was on vacation. Possibly five years ago. “Leave? Have they lost their minds?”
Justin smiled again, blinking at him sleepily. “I told them you’d say that. But I think some of them were hoping you’d feel the urge to look for your soulmate too and would be more understanding.” Justin yawned again. “They don’t know you like I do. As if you’d ever allow some silly nonsense like that to control your actions.”
“Exactly. Now get back to work. Contact the North American coven and offer them legal counsel. Tell them that we can offer them the services of any lawyer except for me. I’m obviously too busy for them.”
“And what if they don’t fall for it and request another lawyer?”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “They won’t. A complex, international case like that would require the best. I’m the best.”
“The most arrogant for sure.”
“It’s not arrogance if it’s true. Don’t forget that we have a meeting with Sabatini in fifteen minutes.”
“Unless he went searching for his soulmate too.”
“I doubt it. Billionaires don’t have souls.”
Justin chuckled, getting to his feet. “Neither do millionaire lawyers, apparently.”