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Cour.
    Angelique shook her head. “I don‟t share information about my customers.
    You know that. It‟s one of the reasons you always felt safe coming here before you met Raymond. I won‟t jeopardize my business without a legal order requiring I share those records. I will tell you that most of them left with the intention of making things work with their partners since they couldn‟t rid themselves of the need for them. And I don‟t have to tell you who doesn‟t feel that way.”
     
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    Ariel Tachna
     
    “Leighton.”
    “You‟ll want to do something about him, Jean. I don‟t know what the solution is, but he‟s a loose cannon, and that isn‟t good for the Cour, with or without l‟ANS,” Angelique warned.
    Jean nodded. “I just wish I had an idea. Maybe our research will help us find a solution. I know he made his own bed with the way he treated Adèle, but I can imagine how I would feel if Raymond suddenly pushed me out of his life.
    It doesn‟t excuse Jude‟s behavior, then or now, but I feel sorry for him.”
    “Well, stop,” Angelique ordered. “I worked with him and his partner, and I wanted to slap him more than once. Her restraint in not killing him was phenomenal.”
    “No, they just fucked each other over by fucking each other silly,” Jean said with a sigh. “I‟ll talk to Raymond. He wants Adèle to help with security for l‟Institut. Maybe something can be done as we move forward, some spell or potion or something to either help Leighton control himself or to help her find a way to tolerate him.”
     
    Perilous Partnership
     
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Chapter 3
    THE trip to le Morvan, the heavily wooded region southeast of Paris between the capital and Dijon, would have taken three hours by car if either of them had owned one and nearly that long by train, given the remoteness of the town nearest the abandoned monastery. Raymond had a simpler solution, transporting himself there and having Mathieu send Jean after him. With the disbanding of the Milice de Sorcellerie, the magical arm of the French military, after the war, most wizards had stopped carrying their repères, since they no longer needed a link to the locator map that had allowed Marcel to keep track of his operatives while they were on patrol, a map Raymond had insisted they move to l‟ANS headquarters in case of any future need. Raymond still carried his repère religiously, making it a matter of a quick spell for Mathieu to send Jean to join him. He thought again, as he had done countless times since the partnerships formed, how much easier it would be if a wizard‟s magic worked on his partner, but while he had no explanation for the limitation, neither could he deny its reality. The repère and the locator map assured a solution as long as another wizard was around, for himself or for any other paired wizard who needed it.
    “Monsieur Payet,” the real estate agent said, coming up and shaking Raymond‟s hand. “It‟s an honor to finally meet you face to face. I thought you said Monsieur Bellaiche would be—” She broke off when Jean appeared at Raymond‟s side. “Oh.”
    Raymond chuckled. “Magic is a wonderful thing, Madame Prost. Jean, this is Madame Prost, our real estate agent.”
    “Madame.” Jean offered his hand. The woman visibly steeled herself as she took it, giving Raymond another reason to chuckle, but Jean behaved himself, and the woman relaxed.
    “So you‟re interested in the monastery outside of Dommartin. You do realize it‟s been sitting empty for ten years.”
    “We‟re aware of the state it‟s probably in,” Raymond assured her. “We‟re more interested in the amount of space it would afford us than the condition it‟s currently in. We have the means to see to the necessary repairs.”
     
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    Ariel Tachna
     
    “If you‟re sure,” Madame Prost replied. “I have my car. It‟s about a thirty-minute drive unless you‟d rather….”
    Raymond smiled. “Taking your car is fine, madame.