“No truce necessary,” she told him sincerely, stopping and tugging him close, giving him a soft kiss.“I’m aggravated with you.That doesn’t mean we’re at war.”
Some tension bled out of him with a long breath and he leaned his forehead against hers, twining their fingers together.“Good.I didn’t mean to be an ass.”
“It’s just comes naturally to you, I know.”
He pulled back a little, just enough to search her face with his sharp, wizard-black eyes.“Do you mind very much?”
She laid her free hand on his cheek, overwhelmed with love for him, knowing that’s what he was asking.“I love you, Jadren.I don’t plan on stopping.But I have to be able to tell you when you piss me off.”
He nodded in resignation.“I know.I know.No more leaving you out of the loop on house-governance, even if it seems like a fun surprise.”
“Thank you.”She kissed him again, sweetly, lingeringly.
He kissed her back, sliding his free hand around her waist to snug her against him, fingers wandering familiarly over her bottom.“Now, about those panties,” he murmured.
Laughing, she shoved him away.“The hallway is getting narrower.The house won’t be patient much longer.And I have questions about your banishment of Wizard Anita.”
“Not Bogdan?”
She shuddered, deliberately pushing aside the image of that marble hand and what it might have done to Jadren’s brother.Good thing the house was on their side.More or less.And she aimed to keep it that way.“Let’s go where the house wants to take us, then talk about it.”
They turned and walked down the hall, still hand in hand, the direction the house had selected for them very clear.Behind them, the walls had narrowed to a pinch-point while ahead the way opened with encouraging light and breezes.There seemed to be an open-air courtyard at the end, one Selly didn’t recall, which usually meant the house had either dug it up from some past iteration of itself or recently created one for some arcane purpose.Understanding the house and what she wanted wasn’t always a simple undertaking.She might be sentient, with a mind, emotions, and opinions of her own, but she also wasn’t human.For lack of a better description, the house thought differently than they did and coexisting with her took a lot of mental flexibility.
The courtyard was at least pretty, which boded well.“Not Bogdan,” she answered firmly.“That’s between Bogdan and the house.”
“Why are you worried about Wizard Anita?”Jadren asked, switching topics easily.“You think she’ll cause trouble?That is,” he amended at her sidelong look, “do you think that the trouble she’ll inevitably attempt to stir up is anything for us to be concerned about?”
Selly tried to shrug off the question, along with the uneasy sense of impending doom.“I think we have enemies,” she finally said.“As much as you and I didn’t love Katica, she had powerful friends and allies who are not happy about her death and your role in it, especially since you apparently benefitted by acquiring El-Adrel in the process.”
“I neverwantedto be Lord El-Adrel,” he replied woefully.
“Of course you didn’t.Anyone with sense knows that, but to the power-hungry, that’s incomprehensible.That you wanted it and plan to exploit it is their default assumption.Even if they weren’t worried about what you’ll do with this power—and now you’ve given them even more cause for concern by announcing this development with contracts, not to mention eliminating your two greatest rivals in-house—there are those who’d want to avenge Katica out of sentiment.”
“You’re thinking of Inigo Sammael.”
“I’m thinking of Inigo Sammael.”
“He’s been quiet since his son got his ass so thoroughly spanked at the siege of Phel,” Jadren said thoughtfully, though not as an argument.
“There’s been no sign of his daughter, Samantha, since Nic sent her home, either.Quiet can be a bad sign.”
“With toddlers and sadists, yes.”
He’d have reason to know, at least about the sadists.She squeezed his hand in sympathy.“I’m worried that this has been a period of mustering for our enemies.”She hadn’t said this before, wanting Jadren to have a bit of breathing room, taking on the monumental task of shouldering responsibility for El-Adrel.“They’re not going to go away and they have to be planning to come after everyone with overwhelming force, to quash House Phel and their allies once and for all.”
“We should never have let Alise go off with Piers Elal like that,” Jadren agreed on a growl.“We know he’s up to no good—and planning to use Alise to do it.”
“We didn’t exactlyletit happen,” Selly reminded him, a bit tersely, feeling her own guilt in the matter.Should they have pushed harder to stop Alise?Should they have gone after her?Also, was the hallway getting even longer?At least she knew the answer to the third question, which was a decided yes.Wherever the house had created this courtyard—which still hovered like an oasis on the horizon—she’d placed it a distance away.“Gabriel and Nic were emphatic that we stay out of it.”
“Yes, but we didn’t have to agree,” Jadren argued.“Lord Phel might think highly of his double-power wizardry and—”
“And he’s a more powerful wizard than you are.”
“That’s debatable.Besides El-Adrelisa high house whereas Phel is still only probationary.We outrank them and don’t have to do what they tell us,” Jadren continued, warming with his righteous indignation.“We shouldn’t have meekly knuckled under.”
Selly briefly raised her eyes to the heavens at the unlikely concept of Jadren knuckling under to anyone, ever.Or being meek about anything.Across the ceiling, a long, arched dome the house had decided to make look like a sky on a blue summer day, a few clouds scudded by and formed a smile.Selly smiled back, glad to be in solidarity with the house on this.They shared a deep affection for Jadren, but Selly often got the impression that the house understood his faults as well as—or better than—she did, and probably also shared the same warring desires to protect him and also kick him in the shins.
Or shunt him down some stairs abruptly folded into a slide, the house’s version of such venting.
