CHAPTER ONE
“Maritza, put that dish down. You’re making me nervous.”
My younger brother, Malvyn, the cultured and confident Enforcer for the Magical Conclave, was reduced to a nervous pup whenever our parents visited from Mexico. The stack of redware bowls responsible for giving him the vapors was produced in ever-dwindling numbers in a village in Michoacan. Each piece, with its crimped edges, unglazed exterior, and hand-painted motif, had made the trek from central Mexico to the Gulf Islands wrapped in newspaper and embroidered squares. Our mother stashed pieces of her beloved redware in her carry-on luggage, bringing one suitcase-full whenever she visited.
“These are the newer bowls,” I reminded Malvyn. “Mama will take her vintage pieces with her to the grave, just like our ancestors.”
“As long as she doesn’t ask me to entomb her under our kitchen, she can be buried with whatever she wants.” Malvyn drew an apron out of a drawer, flicked it open, and tied it around his waist.
“What? You afraid her spirit will haunt you?” I asked.
“No, this house was built on a rock. If Mama wants the tomb treatment, we’re going to have to lift a section of the house and I doubt James will agree to that.”
“She’ll haunt you anyways. You know she’ll never forgive you for changing our last name.” After her death, Margarita Bordador would continue to opine and I would be her dutiful conduit.
***
MAGIC RESTRAINED stars Maritza Brodeur and Alabastair Nekrosine, both of whom are introduced in Magic Reclaimed, book 2 of the Magic-verse. The novelette should be released in May. If Mari and Bas behave themselves and don’t ask for their own full-length novel.
