Theo crosses the garden quickly, though not as fast as he would like. His initial thought of a thief is growing into something closer to genuine concern, because the light is not disappearing. It is still there.

And then, just as Theo reaches the main house’s garden, it goes out.

Where did it go? Why did it go out?

He picks up his pace, eyes scanning continuously, half expecting someone to come running out of the house.

No one appears.

Theo keeps moving. When he reaches the back patio, he tries the door.

It is open.

He slips inside and moves carefully, suddenly aware of a fact he had not considered before. He has never been inside the main house. He is, in the most literal sense, completely blind in here.

He stops and lets his eyes adjust as best they can.

A vast kitchen, equipped with every piece of cookware he recognizes and several he does not.

Theo moves around the perimeter of the kitchen, looking for a way through to the next room. He never gets there.

The hair on the back of his neck stands up.

He ducks.

He knows immediately that he made the right call when he feels something whoosh through the air directly where his head had been a half second earlier.

Someone is attacking him.

He moves away from the assailant and tries to create distance, but the assailant keeps swinging. Every time Theo moves, another swing follows.

It becomes clear very quickly that whoever this is knows the kitchen far better than Theo does. The assailant never bumps into anything. Theo keeps hitting things.

One of those things is, unfortunately, the leg of a solid wooden table. Theo stubs his toe hard enough to make his eyes water, and yelps before he can stop himself.

"Ouch!"

"Thea?"

The lights come on all at once, blinding him. Theo blinks rapidly, trying to adjust, and finds his assailant standing there holding a golf club.

"Uncle Linus?"

"What are you doing here?" They say it at exactly the same time.

Linus recovers first. He sees Theo limping and immediately sets the golf club down.

"Did I hit you?" He crosses to Theo, concerned, and guides him onto one of the stools. "Are you alright? What are you doing here at midnight? Do you need something? Why were you sneaking around?"

Theo is still catching up with the situation and does not answer.

Linus does not push. He opens a cupboard and pulls out a first aid kit.

"Let me see that toe."

That snaps Theo back.

"No, Uncle Linus, that is really not necessary. It is just a stubbed toe. It is not bleeding. I will be fine." Theo refuses, firmly. He cannot quite picture Linus Monfort crouched on the floor examining his toe.

"Are you sure?" Linus does not look entirely convinced.

"Quite sure." Theo nods.

Linus takes a breath. "Alright." He puts the kit away.

"What are you doing here?" He asks again. His tone is unhurried, his posture easy. But his eyes are sharp. He is not going to be redirected or given a half answer.

So Theo tells him the truth.

"I could not sleep because I was hungry. I went to the guesthouse kitchen to get something to eat, and while I was sitting there I saw a light moving in this house. Like a flashlight. I thought there might be a thief."

Linus lets out a short laugh of disbelief. "And you decided to come and confront it yourself? Without your magic?"

He had already learned, during their conversation in his study, that Theo had lost access to his mana.

Theo laughs too, a little sheepishly. "I suppose it did not really register that I had no magic. I just went."

Linus shakes his head, still smiling, and moves to the large fridge. He begins pulling things out and setting them on the kitchen island.

"Uncle Linus?" Theo watches him, confused.

"You said you were hungry. I am making you something to eat. I cannot have a guest going hungry in the middle of the night and lying awake about it. It would not reflect well on me." He answers without looking up.

He moves quickly and efficiently around the kitchen. He clearly does this often.

"Uncle Linus, it is really not necessary, I did eat earlier at the guesthouse..."

"And yet you are still hungry." Linus moves to the stove and sets something going. "It is fine. I was in the mood for a midnight snack anyway. Now I have company."

Something begins sizzling on the stove and a delicious aroma fills the kitchen almost immediately, drifting straight to Theo’s nose and doing nothing to help his composure.

"That smells wonderful, Uncle Linus." He is barely concealing the fact that he is salivating.

Linus chuckles without turning around.

Not five minutes later, two plates of perfectly cooked pasta are set on the kitchen island. Linus opens the fridge again and produces a large blue cheese soufflé, placing it between them. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"For dessert."

Theo nearly chokes on his first bite. "That is enormous, Uncle Linus." He wipes his mouth.

"Your mother made that for me. It is my favorite and she remembered." Linus sits down. "I am sharing my favorite dessert with you, but I want something in return. When my wife asks, you tell her you ate it."

Theo laughs.

They eat and talk easily about small things. Linus does not ask a single question about magic, and Theo does not bring up the light he saw earlier. Neither of them seems to want to break the comfortable quiet of midnight pasta and blue cheese soufflé.

After dessert, Theo gets up and begins stacking the dishes.

"No need. Leave them there." Linus waves a hand. "The maids will see to it when they wake up in a few hours."

Theo pauses. "Are you sure, Uncle? It is the least I can do, considering I broke into your house at midnight and still walked away with a full meal and dessert."

"I am very sure." Linus is already at the kettle, making tea.

He sets two steaming mugs on the island and places a small bottle of milk beside Theo’s.

"Best thing I know for getting back to sleep." He smiles.

Theo thanks him and wraps both hands around the mug, warming them.

"The light you saw." Linus begins, unprompted. "That was a man I hired to test this property’s security."

He holds up a hand when Theo opens his mouth. "It is alright. I want to tell you."

"He was, essentially, a thief. You were not wrong about that. What you did not know is that I was the one who hired him. I had a new security system installed and needed it stress-tested."

"When you came through that door," he gestures toward the back patio entrance, "you triggered a second alarm. The first was the one I ordered. But I only ordered one. When the second light came on, I assumed it was a real intruder."

He takes a sip of his tea. "I apologize for coming at you with a golf club."

"And I apologize for sneaking in like a thief." Theo replies.

"You helped test the security system." Linus smiles.

"Glad I could be of service." Theo grins.

They both laugh and take another sip.

"I know there has been a question nagging at you since our last conversation." Theo says quietly. "You were too polite to bring it up. I appreciate that, Uncle Linus."

"Unfortunately, I cannot determine whether you have any talent for magic. Not without my own magic to check with." He looks at Linus.

Linus goes still. Theo is right. He has been telling himself it does not matter, but that is not entirely true.

He sets his cup down slowly. "Thank you for saying that. I am curious. There are things that have happened to me over the years that I have never been able to explain. Eventually I accepted them as personal talents, since I could not find any other answer."

Theo tilts his head. "What kinds of things?"

Linus looks back at him. "I can read a room faster than anyone around me. I can tell when someone is lying before they have finished the sentence, and I am right about ninety-five percent of the time. I also get a strong sense of someone’s mood the moment I am near them. Very accurate."

He takes a breath. "I told myself it was experience. Skills I developed after years of dealing with people in high-stakes situations. But close to a hundred percent accuracy? Even before someone opens their mouth, I already know."

"From what you are describing, you are most likely Light." Theo says. "Light mages have extraordinary perception. Pair that with your experience and your position, Uncle Linus, and you would be a formidable negotiator. People would find it very difficult to deceive you."

Linus sighs. "I suspected as much. And that is exactly what frightens me. That kind of influence over people is not something I am sure I should have."

"That awareness is precisely why you will always use it responsibly." Theo smiles. "I can guarantee that."

"Thank you." Linus takes another sip.

A comfortable silence settles between them.

Theo looks around the kitchen, cradling the last of his tea. He likes it in here. Even at this size, it does not feel empty. It feels lived in, warm, used. The Monforts clearly spend real time in this kitchen and it shows.

He finishes his tea and something on the wall across the kitchen catches his eye. A decoration of some kind. He slides off his stool without thinking about it and drifts toward it, wanting to see it properly.

Behind him, Linus collects both cups, sets them with the dishes, and goes to return the milk to the fridge. He is bent over, head inside the refrigerator, when he hears Theo say something.

"Hm, what is it, Thea?" He does not look up.

"It says..." Theo’s voice is quiet, almost to himself. "Magnus. The Dark Archmage."

The milk slips from Linus’s hand and shatters on the floor.