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“You don’t know how,” the proctor declared, face reddening.
“I’ll learn,” he replied coolly.
“She must be tested.”
“Then test her.” He gestured to the tabernacle and its gruesome occupant. “You have the tools. And, I would hope, the expertise.”
The proctor glowered, but—pride stung as he’d hoped—nodded minutely. “I can test the familiar, but not like this. The controlled environment of Convocation Center is required. Besides which, the other familiar has crimes to answer for. She is clearly still undisciplined, rebellious, and spiteful. It’s my professional opinion that Veronica Elal be remanded into my custody, as was intended from the beginning.”
Gabriel tightened his grip on Nic, aware that it steadied her, though she lowered her gaze to stare at his chest. “Nic is my familiar, duly won and bonded. I have the documentation of my ownership.” As distasteful as those words were, he wasn’t risking anything by discarding the correct Convocation-recognized terminology. “She is mine now, I have need of her, and the Convocation cannot take her from me.”
“The bonding has not been confirmed,” the proctor reminded him cagily. Her magic flickered over them with spidery invasiveness. “More concerning to me, it appears to be… odd.”
Nic glanced up at him through her lashes, a deep-green warning. Yes, she’d told him the reciprocal bonding might look wrong to an observer. “I can’t imagine why,” he replied carelessly. “It was duly accomplished, here in my arcanium.”
The proctor looked shocked, which was satisfying except that a murmur of surprise and speculation ran through the assembly. Oh well. They would never have kept the arcanium’s existence secret for long. And Nic said other wizards acknowledged their arcaniums and still kept them sacrosanct.
“Arcanium?” his father echoed. “What are you talking about, boy?”
“Wizard secrets,” he replied, aching at the look on his father’s face.You know what they say about a man trying to straddle two worlds. He gets split up the middle, starting with his balls.That would explain the sharp pain slicing through him.
The proctor pinched her mouth in sour disappointment. “Takes more than an arcanium to make a wizard, Lord Fell.” She managed to slip the insult into the wordplay every time. “And I say your familiar is improperly bonded.”
“Examine us, then,” he replied, making certain to sound more confident than belligerent. Nic made a slight sound, and he forced himself to relax his grip on her. “We are bonded, and we have nothing to hide.”
“Don’t you?” She made it sound as if she very much doubted that. “Fine, then. Let’s settle this question, in front of all your family, as you insist.” Setting the tabernacle on the porch rail, she made a show of waving her hands in a complex incantation.
Now that he’d learned more from Nic, Gabriel recognized the showmanship in the proctor’s elaborate gestures. “Mom, Dad,” he said, “you might not want to watch this.”
“We’re not leaving you, son,” GF replied staunchly, and Daisy nodded, though she turned so Selly faced away, still weeping softly in her mother’s arms.
The doors of the foot-high tabernacle opened, a gust of foul magic billowing out. Inside the ornate interior, the mummified head opened its lapis-inlaid eyelids, staring at him with soulless eyes. He was prepared for the ghoulish sight this time, knowing its rough leathery appearance for centuries-old skin. Despite the decorations, the eyebrows made of delicately etched gold, the ruby glitter of its lipless mouth, the magic that made its gold-leaf-outlined eyes appear to be living membranes, the oracle head was still utterly revolting. The blast of ancient, twisted magic hit him just as hard, but he was able to discern more, sensing the intertwining forces of Hanneil and El-Adrel skills, with a hint of Ariel mixed in.Humans do have animal bodies, Nic had said when he’d mentioned he thought House Ariel worked on animals. Horrifying.
“Oracle,” the proctor intoned, and Gabriel set his teeth against her irritatingly officious posture, “has this wizard bonded this familiar?”
The oracle head stared at him, the prickle of its magic making his skin crawl. Nic, who’d turned to face the oracle as well, leaning against him, trembled as if she hated it, too. Gabriel held his breath, willing the thing to confirm their bonded status and end this all now.
“Yes,” the oracle head said in its toneless, inhuman voice, and Gabriel let out a relieved breath. “And no,” it added.
Behind them, the other wizards and familiars began murmuring, the lilt of surprise and doubt in their voices. Nic went thrummingly tense against him, and the proctor glared at them in thin-lipped triumph.
“Then there is no bond,” the proctor prompted.
“Incorrect. There is a bond, of a nonstandard nature.”
Nic’s groan was inaudible, but he felt it through his connection to her. She’d been right. He should’ve just done the bonding the traditional way. Except…No, the fault wasn’t theirs; it was this Convocation and its draconian laws, forcing them out of shape.
“The bond is no doubt faulty, due perhaps to the wizard’s inexperience, compounded by the familiar’s undisciplined and rebellious nature,” the proctor theorized, barely containing her glee.
“Inconclusive,” the oracle head replied, and she frowned.
“Analyze the nature of the bond,” the proctor instructed.
The oracle did not respond for some time. Around them, people shifted restlessly, sharing muttered remarks. Gabriel’s parents stood steadfast, both of them shielding Selly, watching the scene with uncomprehending horror that made his heart twist that it might be partially for him. Beneath his hands, Nic held her breath, and he tried to emulate her.
“Inconclusive,” the oracle head finally said, sparking a fresh spate of conversation in their audience.
“Hmph.” The proctor nearly spat out the incoherent sound of disgust. “There’s nothing for it, then,” she declared. “The familiar will be remanded into my custody. They will discover the flaw at Convocation Center.”
