She blinked at him, then coughed out a laugh.“Ever the scholar.We don’t know.There hasn’t been time to test everything yet and—”
“Nic!”Gabriel shouted, running down the hallway and up to seize her in a fierce embrace.Coming down the hall behind him, at a far more stately pace, was Tandiya Uriel, clearly roused from bed, but looking calm and dignified, her far more rumpled familiar a step behind her.Gabriel’s harsh gaze went to Piers Elal at their feet.“Is he…?”
“Dead,” Nic confirmed.“Alise weakened him immeasurably.She would have defeated him if he hadn’t summoned a demon.”
Cillian felt himself pale.“Where is it?”
“I sent it back,” Nic said, as if that were a foregone conclusion.“Provost Uriel,” she said in greeting.“Lord Phel and I formally request an inquiry into how Lord Elal illegally penetrated Convocation Academy, and we request that you convene the council of high houses.”
Provost Uriel surveyed the assembly with interest, taking note as Jadren, Seliah, and Asa joined them, Asa going to the unconscious Brinda Chur.With a stab of premonition, Cillian wondered if he’d remembered to reseal the data in the room, involuntarily glancing back that direction.Han caught his eye and nodded slightly, and Cillian sighed internally in relief.He knew Jadren would have locked and hidden everything else away.But he wondered why he suddenly felt so worried.
They’d won, hadn’t they?
The technique had worked.And Nic and Alise between them had killed Piers Elal, making Alise the new Lady Elal.And wouldn’tthattake some getting used to.His grandmother was recovering well, so they should be able to sway the council vote in their favor.So why didn’t he feel better?
A thought occurred to him.“Provost Uriel, what happened to Gordon Hanneil?”
Her composed black gaze fell on him.She smiled slightly.“I sent him home, of course.He’d served his purpose.”
Understanding dawned in him.“He didn’t sneak in without your knowledge,” he said.“You always say you know everything that goes on in Convocation Academy.You’re a powerful psychic wizard.He couldn’t have fooled you.”His gaze fell to the withered corpse at their feet.“And Lord Elal couldn’t have gotten in without you knowing.You let him in.”
“You always were a smart one, Cillian Harahel,” she said.The others looked on in confusion and suspicion, and she laughed a little.“You all served your purpose, so House Uriel and House Hanneil thank you.All this time, centuries, we’ve waited and maneuvered to locate and decode Anciela Phel’s data.”Her gaze strayed thoughtfully to Gabriel, then to Seliah.“Resurrecting House Phel was a high-risk gamble, but it paid off.”
“You’ve pulled the strings all along,” Cillian breathed, all the pieces falling into place.
Nic looked grim.“House Hanneil and House Uriel never had a schism, did you?You strategically divided to play both sides.”
Tandiya’s smile widened into satisfaction.“Trust an Elal to detect the strategy.Far too late.Your father—excuse me, late father—served nicely, his self-absorbed egotism blinding him to our game.But yes, with two votes on the council and considerable, shall we say, influence on the other high-house leaders, Uriel and Hanneil will at last rejoin, though we’ve always been united in purpose.”
“Let me guess,” Jadren said sardonically, holding Seliah’s hand as they joined the small group.“With the goal of ruling the Convocation, ultimate wealth and power, yadda yadda.”
Tandiya shrugged a little.“What else is there?You caused us a bit of trouble, taking Katica out of the picture like that, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.El-Adrel is but one high house, and you won’t be that for long.The Convocation is ours now.The rest just has to play out.Even now Hanneil and Uriel wizards are moving to activate the suggestions and compulsions we’ve been carefully embedding all this time.You’ve already lost.The question is, will you all go home meekly, or do we have to kill you?”
“I can answer that,” Morghana Seraphiel said, strolling down the hallway, a phalanx of dark arts wizards in her wake.Disconcertingly, Bertie walked by her side, carrying his big tome.He waved cheerfully at Cillian.Morghana smiled without mirth.“Hanneil and Uriel aren’t the only houses playing the long game, Tandiya.Even now, Seraphiel wizards are nullifying every one of your people and their nasty mind traps.”
At the provost’s shock, Morghana spread her hands.“You could downgrade the study of the dark arts, but you can’t stop us.We watched and waited.”She smiled approvingly at Cillian, then the others.“We wanted the data decoded, too.”
“So did House Harahel,” Bertie put in gleefully.“I was starting to wonder if I’d live long enough to see the end game.”
“Nothing could stop you, old man,” Morghana said with affection.“And nothing will stop us from liberating all familiars,” she added to Han and Iliana.
“Congratulations, Nic and Seliah.Welcome to the fold.Seraphiel celebrates a new era with and because of you.”
~Epilogue~
Alise studied thesilver-white disk with trepidation, her ankles weak, her legs wobbly.“Are you sure this will be fun?”she asked uncertainly.
Cillian threw back his head and laughed.“You faced down a demon, but you’re afraid of ice-skating?”
“It’s unnatural to stand on a narrow blade,” she grumbled, but she secretly savored his joy.
She and Cillian had gone first to House Elal after everything got settled at Convocation Center, which would take a while, but with House Seraphiel guiding the new government, Alise had faith that things would go well.The greatest challenges would be the entrenched wizards trying to keep their familiars from breaking the chains that had so long bound them.Houses Sammael and Tadkiel had withdrawn all their people to their lands and effectively barricaded themselves within.But they wouldn’t be able to withstand the turning tide for long.
Before leaving Convocation Center, Alise had been busy severing wizard-familiar bonds, until Morghana suggested teaching the technique to Professor Cixin, master of spirit magic and former Elal wizard.He’d been delighted to learn and offered the service to any familiar wishing to be released from the binding enchantment, before or after transformation.
House Ariel had undergone an unexpected turnover, with Courtney Ariel taking over as head.The previous Lord Ariel had tried to maintain the house’s grip on the binding enchantment taught to graduating wizards.But seeing the way the winds of fate blew, Courtney had gathered wiser heads and staged a coup.Alise still didn’t like the wizard, but having House Ariel as a cooperative ally in the new regime was a gift she wouldn’t reject.House Chur, too, had become a surprise ally, grateful that Alise had rescued Brinda from her terrible bondage—Alise didn’t mention that had been a side-effect of battling her father—and Brinda had been one of the first ten familiars to become wizards.
A number of familiars had refused the opportunity to become wizards, some because it was still unclear if the transition deprived them of alternate form forever.Jadren and Seliah were sponsoring ongoing research into finding out why familiars could take alternate form and wizards could not.So far, no wizard had been able to take alternate form, even those who’d been able to as familiars.It was too bad, but the familiars seemed to feel it was a small price to pay and Alise didn’t blame them a bit.
