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“Nobody asks a familiar what they want,” she replied with considerable exasperation—and that bitter edge again.
“I’m asking.”
“All right, then. I want out,” she snapped. Her eyes roved the tower room, as if seeing beyond it, then settled on him. “I may be only a familiar, but I want my own life, my own house, to shape my own destiny.”
“Only a familiar?” he repeated with some surprise. “I’ve seen your MP scores, and you have more magic than almost anyone in the Convocation.”
“Yes, but I can’t use it myself, can I? I need a wizard for that.” She gestured at him needlessly.
“You could ally with a wizard without going through this.”
“No, Lord Phel. That is not an option.” She huffed out a dry laugh, shaking her head so those long, glossy ringlets swung. “So, if I have to be bonded, which I do, I want a first-tier house, and wizard,” she added, giving him an unreadable look.
“House Phel isn’t first tier,” he told her, unnecessarily, he felt sure.
She shrugged that off as a minor detail. “It was before. All indications are you intend to make it that way again. Or you wouldn’t have gambled so much of your meager fortune on me.” Her eyes sparkled with canny intelligence.
“Ah. Your research is, of course, excellent.” It still surprised him, even given House Elal’s reputation for spying, as he’d thought he was the only one to know exactly how meager House Phel’s fortune was, especially after paying the Convocation’s extortionate prices.
She gave him a wry smile. “That was something of a guess, actually. I’m not a fool either.”
Tipping his head, he acknowledged her point. “Regardless, I’m sure you know I won’t be able to house you like this.” He echoed her twirling finger gesture, expanding it to indicate all the rich lands of Elal and its many magical conveniences. “Not now. Maybe not ever.”
“I know,” she replied. “That’s not important to me.”
“What is?”
An answer moved behind her eyes, there and gone. He could maybe pull it out of her mind—though her training might be good enough to stop him, from what he understood—but that seemed like a bad way to start a partnership.
“I have ambitions,” she acknowledged cagily. “And they’re none of your business, especially not yet. Besides which, the Convocation matched us, so they must think you havesomemerit.” She made it sound like she seriously doubted their judgment, and he had to suppress a smile.
“Who else did they choose for you?”
“That’s not your business either,” she shot back, “as you should know.”
If House Phel were a fully operational house, he’d have spies of his own to ferret out that information. The Betrothal Trial suitors were confidential, but members of other Convocation houses could hardly come and go in secret, especially given Elal’s tightly guarded borders. But he didn’t have those resources, so that was a dead end. Not unless she confided in him. “If we are joined as husband and wife—and wizard and familiar,” he added when she frowned, “we won’t have secrets between us,” he pointed out.
She stared at him in patent astonishment, then burst out laughing, the keen edge of disdain slicing him. “Dear me—youarenaïve. You might be wise to simply engage in congenial conversation with me all night and keep your seed. I suspect I’m not at all what you’re looking for.”
He suspected she was right. When he’d signed up for the Betrothal Trial information packets, he’d imagined gaining a partner and helpmeet, a familiar to amplify his magic and a companion to cuddle at night. Someone to ease the loneliness of his new and bizarre existence. Lady Veronica Elal was far from cuddly.You picked her for her fire, too, he reminded himself, the miniature a weight in his pocket.
“Unfortunately I can’t afford to do that,” he replied, setting aside his empty plate. “You guessed very well: I’ve gambled my entire fortune on this chance.”
Her lips parted, only breath hissing out. “I take it back. Youarea fool.”
He grinned at her. “I prefer ‘confident risk-taker.’”
“You seem more like a lazy procrastinator to me,” she taunted. “All talk and no action.”
“Are you truly so averse to spending some time getting to know each other?”
“There’s no point. Either we’ll never have cause to see each other again or we’ll have a lifetime to learn each other with excruciating thoroughness.”
So much bitterness there. So many questions he wanted to ask her. Was she always this difficult, or was it the circumstances? “PerhapsIwant to learn what sort of person you are before I’m tied to you for life,” he bit out.
She smiled, not nicely. “Afraid to put the viper to your breast?”
Indeed he was. And yet, he’d spoken the truth when he’d said he’d gambled it all on her. It would take him years to accumulate enough to bid for a familiar again, and still he’d never be able to afford one of her power. No, he must take his chance with Lady Veronica. And he might as well proceed. The book had indicated the potency spell would work better with her receptive, but the longer they talked, the more he seemed to be repelling her rather than winning her trust.
