She gave him a thoughtful look.“You should take the lead, obviously.Órlaith will expect and appreciate that honor.Wizard to wizard.House head to house head.She’ll be suspicious of me as Harahel has no love of Elal, particularly now that Alise is tangled up with Cillian.Órlaith might think we’ve come to cry insult for the way she sent Alise packing, so I think we can let her stew in that uncertainty for a bit.She might treat me as only a familiar, to be seen and not heard.”
Gabriel took her hand, seeking her touch rather than succumbing to the instant indignation aroused by her words.“You know how I dislike anyone treating you that way.You are the brains behind House Phel far more than I.”
She patted his cheek in teasing affection, then gave him a lush kiss.It had been more than good to renew their physical connection.He hadn’t minded waiting, but his excuse of the slow journey to spend intimate time together in order to keep her rested had turned out serendipitously well.The passion spiraled lazily between them, twining through their ever-strengthening bond.Bria was a part of them now, making them a solid triangle, but first they had been a pair and it would always come back to this for him.More than his other half, Nic had become his beating heart, his love for her almost painful in its intensity.
“Don’t worry, darling,” Nic said against his lips with a smile, emerald eyes sparkling with amused anticipation.“Órlaith won’t underestimate me, by any stretch.House Harahel is well known for disliking the use of familiars.Most in the Convocation joke that it’s because the business of books, libraries, and archives requires no great magic.”
“But then they needed to borrow Han and Iliana from us,” he mused.
“Yes.”She looked thoughtful.“Cillian needed them, anyway, for his project recovering the House Phel texts from that folded archive where they’d been hidden.They know we know they’re working on that.They asked us for help.Why wouldn’t they keep us apprised?Especially when we asked so politely.”
“And insistently,” he noted.
She made a face at him.“I should have beenmoreinsistent.I feel like my post-baby brain is starting to work again, finally.”
He smiled, amused with her.“Your mind is working just fine, sharp as your tongue.”
“Ha ha.Seriously, those archives were hidden for a reason.I didn’t really understand her explanation at the time, and I was a little distracted.”
“By giving birth,” he pointed out.
“Yes, that.But now that I’m giving it more and better thought, the whole business of all references to House Phel being hidden by diligent effort over time, with some kind of arcane magic Cillian had to unravel… This has huge implications.And now House Harahel knows more about our own house secrets than we do.Why didn’t we chase this before?”
“We were busy,” he answered.“And we’re here now, so no recriminations.We trusted Cillian to handle it and I assume he has been.Let’s go find out what he’s discovered.It will be very interesting to find out what about his work required so much extra magic that he called for familiars to assist.”
“If Órlaith Harahel doesn’t try to wall us out, like she did with Alise,” Nic replied, giving the haunted-looking manse a dark look.
“Alise is a delightful person with a powerful future ahead of her, but she is young yet and she is not you,” Gabriel said, opening the carriage door and stepping out, offering a hand back to his beautiful lady.“Órlaith has no idea what she’s up against.”
“Well, and I have you.Just… no striking her down with lightning or stabbing her through the eyes with moon-silver spikes, all right?”
“I have never once directed lightning at anyone,” he replied huffily, restraining a smile at her teasing.“My water magic makes rainclouds and rain.The lightning is incidental, part of the atmospheric disturbance.”He led her up the steps, the old, unpainted wood creaking rather alarmingly.
“Well, try not to disturb any atmospheres.”She cast a dubious glance around the wide porch, empty of chairs, the scars of old window boxes showing on the balustrades, a few leaves from the previous autumn scudding around in a crackling breeze.“This place has plenty of it already.”
“They’re certainly going to trouble to make it look forbidding to visitors.”
“Indeed, my lord wizard.Let’s find out why.”She lifted a hand to the doorknocker, an iron ring piercing and dangling from a gargoyle’s mouth, but before she touched it, the door sprang open inwards, startling Gabriel enough that his magic leapt to the tips of his fingers.Nic might enjoy teasing him, but her warnings about keeping control of his magic, which often seemed to have a mind of its own, were well-taken.
An ancient wizard stood in the doorway, wizened and with wild white hair, a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose, a massive book tucked under one arm.He peered over the tops of them with wizard-black eyes undimmed by age.A cat darted through the doorway, leaping down the steps, followed by several stubby-legged, uncoordinated kittens.One brindle kitten stumbled and rolled down the last two steps, recovered, and dashed off after the rest, apparently none the worse for wear.
“Someone out here?”the old wizard asked, looking straight at them and tempting Gabriel to look behind him to check.
Nic slid him a look, reminding him the burden of taking the lead rested on him.And also that he needed to be concentrating on behaving like an arrogant high-house head, rather than watching kittens.“Lord Gabriel Phel and familiar, Lady Veronica Phel,” he announced, making sure to sound a little irritated at not being immediately recognized, “to meet with Lady Órlaith Harahel.”
“Órlaith, huh?”the old wizard echoed, furrowing his brow and looking perplexed.“Órlaith.”He scratched his chin thoughtfully and said nothing more.
The silence stretched on.Nic shifted restlessly, clearly wanting to step in and restraining herself.Gabriel had no idea what etiquette demanded next.
“Lady Órlaith Harahel, yes,” he answered, the impatience real this time.Really, fuck Convocation etiquette.“Perhaps you should fetch someone higher up in your household,” he suggested, “who is familiar with the head of your high house and is capable of announcing visitors properly.”
Nic didn’t make a sound or move more than a subtle flexing of her fingers on his arm, but he sensed her satisfied amusement in the warming wine of her magic, flowing into him like the scent of roses on a summer afternoon.
The wizard pursed his lips, a hint of something in his black eyes that seemed to be approving.He transferred that gaze to Nic.“You’re an Elal.I recognize the smell of you.Related to that sweet little thing Cillian’s fond of, are ye?”
“My younger sister, Alise, Lord Harahel Emeritus,” Nic replied, inclining her head in respect.“We at House Phel are equally fond of Cillian.A fine Harahel wizard.”
“Saucy one, aren’t ye?”The wizard cackled, pinned Gabriel with his black gaze.“Got your hands full with this bottle of fire.”Before Gabriel could assemble a reply, the old wizard bowed to Nic from the waist, nearly dropping his book.“You would have made a good Lady Elal, young Veronica.Tis a pity the way the world turns at times.”He nodded sagely to himself.
