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“That’s why I have to escape,” Nic replied firmly. “There has to be a way.”
“Even if there is, escape is only the first step. You can’t live without a wizard to bleed off your magic. Not and be sane.”
“I know, but I don’thaveto be bonded for that. If I can make it to a place beyond the reach of the Convocation, then I can figure out the rest, put my education into practice. We did it at school for practice, and for-hire familiars work that way with the Convocation. I can find a low-level rogue wizard without the wit or knowledge to bond me who can bleed off my magic. I just need to be gone before Lord Phel arrives. That’s the urgent part.”
“You make it sound easy, and it’s not,” Maman warned.
“But you are Lady Elal. Can’t you doanythingto help me?”
Maman chewed her lip, then nodded. “I can, but—only so far. Much of the burden will be on you, on your ingenuity.”
Nic breathed an internal sigh of relief. This could happen. She would never have to see him again. She could be free. “You always said I could do anything I set my mind to.”Except be a wizard. Except escape this Fascination for Lord Phel.“I can do this,” she said firmly, drowning out the doubts in her mind.
“If anyone can do this, it’s you,” Maman agreed, though she didn’t sound happy. “I figure we have three days, two and a half on the inside, before Lord Phel arrives to claim you. Maybe more, with the storm, but we can’t count on that.”
“Exactly what I calculated,” Nic replied, beyond relieved that Maman would help. “But where can I go—and how?”
“That will take some planning. We’ll have to time it carefully, because they watch for familiars to bolt immediately following the news of a successful match. We’ll have to devote ourselves to planning your wedding. Be consumed by that and nothing else. You will be allowed out of the tower now—that’s something—and you will be joyful, telling everyone how pleased you are.”
“Will they believe me joyful about a match with Lord Phel, though?” Nic pondered the possibilities. Given the proctor’s disdainful assessment, she rather doubted it.
“Well, you can be justifiably proud of conceiving on your fourth suitor,” Maman allowed. “Not many are so fertile and receptive, and they will envy you that at least. As for the rest…” She eyed Nic speculatively. “You are in love with him.”
“In love?” she echoed. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. The wizard had affected Nic, but that was the Fascination at work, surely. That was what made her thoughts dwell on him and on the way he’d touched her, the depthless sense of his magic and how it crept under her skin with such dizzying effect.
“Infatuated, then,” Maman revised crisply, waving a hand at the impossibility of it. “No one expects love. That can’t happen in a single night, but everyone cherishes the romance of the Fascination stories. You’ll have to pretend that you are infatuated—and not horrified—even to Tasha. She saw you overcome with emotion is all. I think I’ve taught you well enough to carry off a suitable performance. Yes?”
“Yes?” Infatuated with Gabriel. Possessed by an overpowering Fascination. Dreaming of him at night, daydreaming of the silver silk of his hair and his scent like…
“Nic—pay attention. I know this is all going very fast, but time is not on our side. Can you pretend to everyone, including your father, that you are dizzyingly attracted to Lord Phel?”
“I can.” That would be easy enough. The trick would be remembering how very dangerous for her that attraction was.
“And you must seem to be delighted by your pregnancy and impending marriage,” Maman coached. “You will be a familiar who believes utterly that her wizard master will rebuild his house, returning it to its former glory.”
“I can pretend to all that.” Nic wasn’t at all sure about the future of House Phel—though if anyone could pull off the impossible, Lord Phel could. “Though won’t I seem stupid not to observe how unlikely that is?”
Maman shook her head. “Not if you convince everyone you’re besotted. Wizards can have that effect, Fascination at work or not.”
“All right, then what?”
“I will make arrangements.” Maman twisted her hands around her wineglass, brows lowered in intense thought. “I’ll call on favors owed me. It will be tricky. I must ensure that your papa knows nothing.”
“Papa… He can’t know?”
“No, Nic.Think.If he knows of our plans, he’ll stop you.”
“But… I won’t be able to tell him goodbye.” Papa would take this as a personal betrayal. He’d never forgive her.
Setting down her wineglass, Maman took Nic’s hand in both of hers. “Oh, daughter of mine. I know this is a hard awakening, but you have to look with open eyes. Your papa loves you, yes, but as his baby girl. His first child. He’s loved to pet and spoil you, and even when you were tiny, you preferred him. I never minded because your relationship has always been a beautiful one. But you are a woman grown now, a valuable asset to House Elal and the Convocation.”
“I could return here eventually,” Nic argued, “and serve as a familiar to the house.”
“That was never really an option, and now it never can be. You are pregnant with a wizard’s child, which makes you Lord Phel’s familiar already under Convocation law. That will change you in your father’s eyes. He’s a Convocation loyalist.” Maman leveled a stern look on her. “The lord of a tier-one High House, the most powerful in the Convocation. I know you two have always enjoyed a special bond—but your papa has never gone against Convocation law in his life.”
“Maybe he hasn’t had good reason to,” Nic protested, knowing that she might as well be arguing against the snowfall.
“This won’t be reason enough. I don’t wish to be cruel to you, but you must make this decision with a clear head. No fanciful tales. This is reality.”
