“But instead of using that to free familiars of the blocks preventing them from becoming full wizards—because obviously, no power-mad wizard family wants that—Hanneil has been employing Anciela’s techniques to amplify magical power full-stop,” Cillian filled in.“Many of those kids turned out to be familiars, I’m sure.I didn’t follow their trajectories at the time, because I was concentrating on finding the sleezeball calling himself Gordon, but it follows that Hanneil would want super-powerful familiars, too.”
“And they’ve been doing this for the last, what, three or four generations since Anciela?”Selly asked and continued when Cillian nodded.“So why don’t they have super-powerful wizards and familiars yet?”
“How do you know they don’t?”
Selly took a moment to absorb that.“Wouldn’t they have acted, if they did?”
Cillian considered.“First, they mayhavebeen acting, but subtly.Recall that House Hanneil is still prohibited, under pain of dissolution of their house and execution of every wizard beholden to the house, from using psychic magic except in extremely circumscribed ways.The interdictions that were the outcome of the last conflict laid out those severe consequences should House Hanneil break the terms.Many historians predicted at the time that these strictures would simply drive the Hanneil conspirators underground, that they would build strength in secret until they could deliver a decisive coup.”
Selly stared at him.“That’s not terrifying at all.”
He grimaced in wry agreement.“I can tell you that Gordon Hanneil was one of the most powerful and unprincipled psychic wizards I have ever encountered.And he was basically an errand boy for them.They planted him as a proctor at Convocation Academy and used him in an attempt to prevent Alise from recovering the Phel archives.It was an important task, but he was just following orders.”
“He failed in that task,” Selly pointed out in a try for optimism.
“Yes, but just barely and only because the right set of circumstances and people fell into place to stop him.And remember that he worked for the real leaders, which means they are much more powerful than he.”
Cillian lapsed into silence, his magic rustling, smelling of ink on parchment and wax melting at midnight.Selly thought he must be using his library magic to sort through his memories.
“I don’t know,” he abruptly said.“If Gordon was a lackey, an errand boy, and he had unstoppable ability to control minds, I don’t know how we can fight that.”
“But hewasn’tunstoppable,” Selly argued, unwilling to give in to despair.“Alise resisted his mental attacks.She was able to shield herself and expel him from her mind.”
Cillian contemplated Alise’s face, stroking her cheek tenderly.“Alise is a powerful wizard, it’s true.But she herself would tell you that she only succeeded and survived because she had help from three very important sources: Professor Morghana Seraphiel taught her to use the dark arts to combat the Hanneil psychic magic, the only defense we know of.Provost Uriel defeated and contained Gordon.And Convocation Academy Healer Jonathan Refoel was able to rid Alise’s mind of the loops and traps Gordon planted there.Without them…”
“And without you,” Alise said, stirring, and smiling warmly at him.She lifted a hand and caressed his cheek, much as he had hers, and Cillian clasped her wrist, turning his head to press a fervent kiss to her palm.
“How are you feeling?”He murmured the question.
Selly looked away, needing to give them privacy, faintly embarrassed by the intimate display.She wouldn’t trade Jadren for all the world, but his brand of affection was considerably less… sweet.And, he wasn’t waking any time soon, though the missing chunks looked slightly better.Less gaping, anyway.
Doing her best to ignore Alise and Cillian’s quiet conversation, the exchange of mutual reassurances and so forth, Selly considered Cillian’s revelations.Particularly what bearing this theory might have on Gabriel and her.They had popped up as powerfully magical—almost self-destructively so in her case—after generations of nothing.The same elapsed generations that Hanneil had been increasing magic in their progeny had seen the utter lack of it in the diaspora of House Phel, almost inverse mirrors of each other.
She doubted anything was going on as nefarious as them actually sucking magic from Phel to amplify Hanneil.Was that even possible?But if Anciela’s research had indeed been bent to the purpose of making children with magic potentials more powerful, then couldn’t it have been used to make Phel childrenlessmagical?If so, perhaps that technique had been reversed to cause her parents to birth Gabriel and her.
“Cillian?”she asked, hesitant to break into the little reunion.“I have a question, while it’s in my mind.”
“Sorry, Seliah,” Alise said, blushing as she sat up.“That was rude of us.”
“Not at all.”Selly smiled at them, both so adorable.“How are you feeling?”
“Amazing,” Alise answered, glowing with vitality indeed, though her expression clouded when her gaze fell on Jadren.“I’m deeply sorry that Jadren compromised himself healing me though.”
“Oh no,” Selly replied breezily.“He did this to himself playing meat shield.”
Alise looked the question at Cillian.
“We’ll catch you up in a moment,” he told her.“What’s your question, Seliah?”
“I’m not sure how to ask this without sounding vain, but I think it has bearing on what we’re dealing with.”
“Go ahead,” Cillian prompted.
“You’re the least vain person I’ve ever met,” Alise added.
Selly steeled herself.“Cillian, you were talking about the increase in MP scores of the House Hanneil children and how high they were going.I know that Gabriel and I supposedly have very high MP scores—how do they compare?”
“Not supposedly,” Cillian answered gravely, and with a glimmer of interest.“Top tier.The MP scoring system isn’t linear.It’s designed to have no upper limit and because the tests assess potential rather than a demonstrated result, the assessment qualifies the density of magic, for want of a better term, rather than quantity.So, while we put a number to it, a ‘score,’ truly we’re predicting on a logarithmic scale what the ultimate potential will be.After a certain point, the limit doesn’t exist.”
