They barely had to check with each other.“We’re coming,” Iliana said, speaking for both of them.“I don’t think the key is here.Wedon’t, that is.”
“We’ve been discussing it as we searched.Why hide the key in the same place as the encrypted documents?”Han asked.“It must be somewhere else.”
“Like in Convocation Archives,” Iliana said with renewed enthusiasm.
“Only maybe misfiled in some way,” Han added.“More misdirection.”
“Anyway,” Iliana said, efficiently stacking documents.“All of this can wait here.It’s safer here, locked and warded, than anywhere else.We’re coming with you.”
“I’m coming, too,” said Lord Emeritus Harahel.
Everyone jumped out of their skin.The ancient wizard had simply appeared inside the room without a buzz of warning from the wards, and apparently having soundlessly opened a locked door that he shouldn’t have been able to even knock on.He laughed gleefully at their expressions.
“This was my house first,” he reminded them.
~6~
“Why,” Selly demandedof Jadren as they left the receiving hall, “did you pretend to not pay attention when you were all the time planning that move to banish those two?”
He slid her a foxy smile.“Were you surprised?”
“You mean, since you neglected to mention anything at all to me about those contracts being voided by your mother’s death, or that you’d been verified as a Convocation citizen and Lord El-Adrel—congratulations by the way—leaving me completely in the dark as to what was going on, even though I’m supposed to be Lady El-Adrel and your partner in running this house?Why yes, I was a little surprised.”And more than a little annoyed.
“Aww.” He snaked an arm around her waist, nuzzling her temple as they walked.
Selly pretended that didn’t light a shiver of desire in her.She was mad at him, wasn’t she?
“I was going to tell you,” he explained, “but then I only found out the final word this morning and I thought it would be fun to see your face when…” He trailed off when she pulled away and spun on him, fury rising.
All around in the hallway, the long mirrors lining it reflected her in her ire, fists on hips and long hair flying around her.Never mind that it was physically impossible for all those mirrors to reflect the same image, nor did she have actual halo of fire around her.The house was playing games—or expressing solidarity with her.Jadren cast a wary eye at the reflections and apparently came to the second conclusion because he raised his hands palms out in a peacemaking gesture.
“Alright, I’m sorry,” he said hastily.“It wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be.But you did a great job, Seliah.No one would’ve guessed that, ah…”
“That you sandbagged me in front of the rest of our house?”she asked sweetly, then spun on her heel and stormed down the hallway, Jadren jogging to catch up.
“It wasn’t like that,” he complained.“I was just having fun.Just like you were, telling me you weren’t wearing panties.”
She sniffed, not deigning to answer that.
“So, are you or aren’t you?”he asked.
“Too bad you’ll never know.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“I’m only having fun,” she echoed him, making it sound extra whiny, rewarded by his narrow-eyed glare.Then she narrowed her own eyes at the hallway, which should have ended by now, but seemed to be growing longer by the moment.“Where are we going?”
Jadren, who might be a snarky asshole, but not a dull knife, caught onto the reason for her question right away.“Ithoughtwe’d go to our chambers and have mutual fun investigating this question regarding your wardrobe or lack thereof, but…”
“But the house wants us to see something else.”
He sighed.“I suppose there’s no use fighting her.”
“There never is,” Selly agreed.
Jadren held out a hand to her.“Truce?”
Without hesitation, she took it.Being annoyed with him was one thing, and teasing him to an extent was another, but she had to remember not to take it too far.Jadren always worried that she’d stop loving him.He hadn’t been loved much in his life and he still wrestled with it—both that anyone could love him and how very much he needed it.
