“That makes sense,” he told her sincerely.“Maybe I could learn, too.”
“You could,” she replied with enthusiasm and a pleased smile.“I could teach you the basics, though I’m just an amateur.”
Órlaith released a sigh and seemed to subside into a natural sleep.“There,” Alise said.“She’s free of them.Better summon Healer Jonathan.”
Cillian got up to do that.Hesitated, looking at the precious data.“Dare we let him come in?”
Alise tipped her head a little, giving him a sardonic look.“Well, we could drag her into the hallway…”
“Right.Good point.”He unsealed the door and summoned one of the interoffice Ratsiel couriers floating around the academy for staff and faculty use.It still responded to him, confirming he hadn’t ever been officially fired, which was nice to know.He stood by the door, as a kind of guard, in case anyone happened by.Unlikely in the dead hours of the morning, but… “How many others?”he asked Alise bleakly, watching the still, waxy face of his grandmother.
Alise stood and came to him, putting her arms around him and leaning her face against his chest.He held her close, breathing in her scent, physical and magical, roses and the silky sweetness of her hair.He felt stronger with her in his arms, though it made no sense.Maybe it didn’t need to make sense.He just needed her and that was the beginning and end of it.
“We won’t know until we look,” Alise murmured against him, answering the question he’d almost forgotten he asked.“And it might take deep scanning via the dark arts to discover everyone who might be carrying the influence of some Hanneil compulsion.”She tipped her head back to look at him.“You couldn’t have known, Cillian.”
“Do you think…” He hated to consider this.“Is it likely that she separated us because of that compulsion?”
Alise smiled ruefully and lifted a hand to run her fingers through his curls.He leaned into the caress.“I think it’s very likely.But it wasn’t her fault.That’s the good news.She wasn’t doing those things for any reason other than because Hanneil was pulling her strings.”
He kissed her, savoring the sweet yielding of her mouth, the softness of her perfectly bowed lips.“Thank you for helping her anyway.”
“Of course.”Alise shook her head a little.“I, of all people, know what it’s like to not be in control of your own mind.”
He shuddered, feeling the truth of that.The short time he’d spent under Gordon’s absolute mental control had been a grueling, gutting experience he’d never forget.Alise had resumed her favorite embrace, leaning her cheek against his chest, so he brushed a kiss over her sleek hair.
He knew.Worse, he worried that, before this was done, more people would experience that nightmare.If Lady Harahel had been compromised a long time before today, then… A terrible thought occurred to him.
“Shit!”When Alise looked up in alarm, he shook his head at his idiocy.“The Phel archives at House Harahel—my grandmother set up the seals to protect them.If Hanneil was manipulating her even then…”
“Then they could have gone and taken everything by now,” Alise finished grimly.“That just means we have to work faster on the decoding.”
“And on testing the methods,” he agreed.
“We need proof to take to the council, to convince everyone to stand against House Hanneil or we’ll find they’ve already won and control us all.”
They couldn’t let it happen.
~25~
Things moved fasterthan Selly had imagined they could.Granted, she was no scholar or scientist, but it still amazed her at the way her companions could decipher the documents and so rapidly reconstruct years of Anciela’s experiments.
Jadren, in particular, displayed a gift for understanding the methods and results Anciela had so carefully preserved for them.Oh, she’d always known Jadren concealed a brilliant mind under that fuckboy attitude, but he’d clearly inherited more of his mother’s scientific genius than perhaps even he’d realized.Selly didn’t say anything about that, of course, unwilling to invoke the sadistic spirit of Katica El-Adrel for either of them.Besides, the thought had no doubt already occurred to Jadren and he’d valiantly set it aside, focusing his considerable attention on solving the problem at hand.Watching him work so intently, Selly marveled at how sexy she found him.
Asa had arrived and, discovering that Healer Jonathan Refoel had necessarily been admitted to the inner circle of secrecy regarding the project after the incident with Lady Harahel, had immediately recruited his fellow Refoel wizard to assist him and Jadren with recreating the lab equipment and other necessary tools to begin trials of the Deana Method.They’d decided to call it that for Anciela’s beloved familiar who didn’t live to benefit from it.The three of them were inspiring to watch, all such handsome men and so clever, so committed to making this technique work.
She could watch them all day.And Selly kind of regretted that she didn’t have a brain that would make her a useful contributor.But even before she’d gone crazy from magic poisoning she hadn’t loved that kind of thing.She liked nature and growing things and being out in the bogs and marshes, in tune with the other wildlife.Part of her would always be that wild girl Jadren still liked to call her from time to time.She really loved taking her alternate form and giving herself over to the marsh cat.
Which was a major reason this decision had been so difficult for her.
But she wasn’t one of the brainy scientists, nor was she a powerful wizard like Alise and Gabriel, nor was she critically needed for the ongoing deciphering like Cillian, nor was she the mother of an infant like Nic.They needed someone to volunteer to be the first test subject and she was the best choice.She was very clear on that decision.The only real obstacle was that Jadren wouldn’t like it.Not one bit.
“Are youinsane?”Jadren demanded, nearly levitating from his chair at the table in the lab workspace where they’d all gathered for their strategy meeting.“I’ve been tapping your magic regularly, so I know you can’t be reverting to crazy girl status, but you’re clearly out of your mind, Seliah.”
“It has to be me,” she replied simply, gazing around at the circle of surprised, sympathetic, and rueful faces.Of them all, Nic seemed to be the least surprised and most sympathetic.Selly didn’t doubt that Nic had been wrestling the same internal debate.“We need a familiar for the first test subject.Someone in our inner circle.I’m volunteering.”
“It could be me,” Iliana put in.
“Or me,” Han said.“We fit that exact same criteria.”
