“No offense taken, Han,” Gabriel replied.He knew full well he thought differently from most wizards in the Convocation.Nic knew it, too, having said those exact words to him any number of times, and rubbed his thigh soothingly.
“You see, Han,” Nic said gently, “a year ago—even six months ago—I would have said the same thing.But I’ve changed my mind.The Convocation isn’t a monolith, as much as it may seem so, and this conversation proves a great deal of that.Yes, there are plenty of people who crave power and control above all else.My father is one of them.Those people, given the power of wizardry, gain political control.They’re the ones who want it, fight to get it, and scheme to keep it.But there are also wizards who don’t care about controlling other people’s lives, like Gabriel, like Jadren—like most of the Harahel wizards, I suspect—”
“Indeed,” Bertie put in decisively.
“—and those who regard familiars as people and not as useful tools.Because certain awful wizards formed an alliance ages ago, set repulsive policies, and then chose heirs to perpetuate those positions, we’ve ended up here, thinking all the Convocation is this way forever and always.I used to describe Convocation society as an impervious wall, but now I see the cracks—and it is those cracks we’re going to exploit.”
“To pull down the wall,” Iliana breathed reverently.
Nic nodded.“Yes.To change the world we live in.Who knows—maybe Anciela’s research contains methods to unlock magical ability in everyone, even mundanes.”
They all sat with the implications of that.Bertie opened his book again, humming happily.
Gabriel glanced out the carriage window, suppressed a sigh of impatience and said, “In the meanwhile, since this traffic is ridiculously slow.Let’s consider the evil six.Are there any of those we can talk over to the side of good?”
Nic gave him a wide-eyed look of astonishment.“Like who?”
“I think we should consider them all, since we’re contemplating turning the world upside-down.Let’s start with House Elal.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes.“My father would never, ever…”
Gabriel nodded at the dawning realization in her eyes.“But Alise would, if she is Lady Elal.”
“That would mean my father’s death.”She sounded odd, not exactly upset, but as if she couldn’t quite comprehend it.
“It might come to that,” he suggested softly.
“I know.”She took a deep breath.“I’m coming to terms with that.The question is who will kill him?Whocankill him?”
Gabriel knew he was capable, but there was a reason he hadn’t rid the world of Piers Elal the first time he had the opportunity: he couldn’t risk Nic looking at him and seeing her father’s murderer.“Maybe our potential allies will have ideas.Possibly we could bring him to trial and have him legally executed.”
Nobody said anything and Gabriel knew they were all politely declining to laugh at that preposterous idea or point out all the reasons that could never happen.Better to change the subject.“Let’s talk about other five—Sammael, Tadkiel, Hanneil, Ariel, and Chur—who is most likely to crack?”
They settled into the debate.
~12~
Selly attempted, asJadren had so often instructed, to keep her shit together.She should be good at this by now, bearing witness as a battered and apparently dead Jadren gradually recovered.She’d certainly gone through it enough.Still, she never quite got over the deep dread thatthistime he wouldn’t come back from the dead, thatthistime she’d lose him forever…
She stroked his bruised and blood-smeared face, his head in her lap as she sat in the carriage across from Cillian.He mirrored her, with the still-unconscious Alise asleep with her head in his lap.He’d helped her drag Jadren into the carriage and resumed this position, allowing the carriage to carry them smoothly along.They met each other’s eyes and shared rueful smiles.A camaraderie neither of them wanted or had asked for.
“So,” she said, “where are we going anyway?”
Cillian looked briefly startled.“Well, originally Alise and I were planning to go to Convocation Center, but then—after the hunters attacked, we lost our carriage, and got filthy—we were going to walk to this nearby hot springs to clean up.”
Hot springs?Selly perked up at that thought.Getting cleaned up and soaking in hot water while waiting for Jadren and Alise to recover sounded like perfection.“By all means, let’s go there.”
Cillian shook his head regretfully.“We were going to walk a goat trail to it.I don’t think it’s reachable by the road.”He paused thoughtfully.“Except…”
“Except?”Selly pounced with excitement.“Because, I’d rather not show up at Convocation Center looking like this.Or with him looking like that.”
Cillian frowned.“Will Jadren recover?That is… I mean, ah.”
Selly waved him not to worry.“He looks awful, I know, but this is not the worst I’ve seen him.”
“Truly?”Cillian sounded reluctantly fascinated.“Because, he does have literal chunks missing.”
“I know.I try not to look.But yes, once I found him shattered at the bottom of a cliff having made friends with the crows feasting on him.Not a solid bone in his body.That was worse.”
