“I planned to give Piers fucking Elal a piece of my mind is what,” Jadren corrected with contained vehemence.“I rank him now and as Lord El-Adrel, with access to my dear maman’s papers, I discovered a few interesting tidbits to use by way of convincing Elal to quit being such a flaming asshole.”He sighed wistfully.“I’m almost sorry I didn’t get to.It would’ve been so fun.”
“Having fun wasn’t the point,” Seliah reminded him with exasperation.“Doing the right thing was—and it would’ve been dangerous.”
“There’s no reason doing the right thing can’t also be fun,” Jadren argued.
“Did you hear the part where I said it was dangerous?”she nearly hissed.
“I could take him.”Jadren curled a lip.“Piers Elal wouldn’t know what—”
The scent of bitter wine-soaked roses hit Cillian like a blast.Like Alise’s magic and not.Elal magic.“Looks like you’ll get your chance,” he said grimly.“He’s here.”
~9~
Nic glared atthe landscape passing ever so slowly outside the carriage windows.What had felt like a luxuriously slow and restorative journey on the way to House Harahel had turned into an excruciating exercise in being patient.Not something she excelled at.
And, not only had Gabriel remained obstinate about not allowing her to change into alternate form and fly, so they had to travel to Convocation Center overland, but they’d crowded in three more people—Han, Iliana, and Bertie—all of whom chattered with excitement about the adventure and seemed oblivious to her grinding impatience.Plus, the enchantment Healer Asa had given her to reduce her breast milk production while away from Bria seemed to be wearing off and her breasts ached with fullness, more so with every jounce of the carriage, and reminding her with each physical and emotional pang that she wasn’t with her precious baby.
She missed Bria with a rending misery she’d never have predicted.All she wanted was to go home and hold her infant and nurse her.So much for all of her fine declarations of being more than a mother and wanting to do her part in the revolution.Her body, her heart, didn’t care about such abstract thoughts.Every fiber of her being only cried out to get back to her baby.Folding her arms under her bursting breasts to attempt to subtly support them, Nic suppressed a groan of discomfort combined with frustration.
Gabriel, beside her, put his arm around her, encouraging her to lean against him, then brushed his lips against her temple.“What’s wrong?”he whispered quietly into her ear.
“Nothing.”She kept her reply equally quiet, but it came out belligerent anyway.
“Nic.”He didn’t have to say anything more.Gabriel sank a world of warning and command into the single syllable of her name, a kind of wizardry all its own.A magic with no name.In the arcanium, and nowhere else, he called her “Familiar,” which made her want to melt at his feet every time.Somehow he’d managed to find his way into threading that same exact tone into her name.Gabriel was not a naturally dominant person, especially not in a sexual sense.But they’d forged this connection together, finding a way for him to give her what she so desperately craved from him.
She couldn’t fault him for using that intimate connection to reach her when she began to spin out emotionally, annoyed as she might be at him holding her feet to the fire when he ran up against her own brand of stubbornness.Still, she set her teeth against the ingrained desire—even need—to obey him and spill everything.She could be stronger than this.“I don’t want to discuss it,” she said under her breath.
“Too bad.”He subtly tipped his head at the three on the other bench avidly discussing some book they’d all read and seemed to have three entirely different opinions on.The sound cut off as Gabriel created a silencing shield.“They’re not paying attention, I’ve given us a cone of silence, and you’ve been groaning under your breath for at least half an hour.”
“Oh, I have not.”
“You have.Tell me what’s going on or I’m pulling over the carriage so we can discuss in even more privacy.”
She leaned her head back to glare at him.He gazed back at her with an implacable black gaze.It was just her bad luck that him looking at her like that filled her with will-sapping desire.Instead of firming her resolve, she only wanted to snuggle into him and ask him to make it all better.
He put a finger under her chin, part caress, part implicit expectation.“Don’t be stubborn, Familiar,” he murmured.“Let me help you.”
“The milk,” she confessed unhappily.“I need to express it.”
Gabriel winced in sympathy.“Asa said the enchantment might wear off.”
“‘Physiology can overpower magic, especially the maternal forces,’” she said, mimicking him.“I shouldn’t have left home.Bria will—”
He slipped the finger up over her lips to stop the words.“Bria is fine.House Phel does have couriers and an in-house Ratsiel wizard to craft new ones and send at any level of privacy and priority, which you know because you insisted on that expense and hired them.They absolutely know to contact us if there’s any kind of problem, in which case Ipromiseyou, I’ll agree to fly back with you.All right?Agreed?”
She nodded reluctantly, chagrined that she’d already agreed on this topic.“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she confessed.
“Nothing that isn’t perfectly understandable.”He bent over her, replacing his fingers with his lips, giving her a warm and stirring kiss.“We need to do something for your problem.It sounds excruciating.”
“It’s not great,” she admitted, the carriage bumping over a rock, jostling her sore breasts, and making a little milk leak out.Pretty soon she’d soak through even her water-resistant Ophiel gown and then everyone would witness her embarrassment.
“All right then,” Gabriel said decisively.“The first step is to find an inn and give you the opportunity to express the milk in private—”
“It’s going to take forever,” she said mournfully.Sometimes it took a while for her milk to let down even with Bria giving her all.
“No it won’t.Especially if you are able to rest and relax.”
“I don’t need to rest,” she protested.
