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Nic wagged a finger at him.“Good question, and no, it wouldn’t.Not typically anyway.The naming and training of heirs isn’t a standardized process across the Convocation.Each house—indeed, each house head—handles it as they prefer, frequently changing their minds according to whim.Very often presumptive heirs and secondary candidates will be sent to other houses on limited contracts, so the wizards can learn various kinds of expertise, along with a variety of ways of doing business and in order to gain a certain intimacy with the other houses.”
“Ah.”That’s what he’d suspected.“More spying.”
Nic held up her hands.“The Convocation runs on spying.”
“I thought that was gossip.”
“Same thing, really.”
She had a point.
“In this case, however,” Nic continued, expression somber, “we have to face two grim possibilities.Either Alise is, as she claims, operating without our father’s knowledge and permission, which is never a good thing, even if we weren’t already at cross-purposes with House Elal.If we aren’t at war with Elal already, this will seal it.Gabriel, we have to make plans for what happens when they, or the Convocation, or House Sammael—or all at once—come after us.”
“I do have a plan,” he replied.“I’ll handle whatever they throw at us.”
She groaned in frustration.“That doesnotcount as a plan!”
He considered whether to tell her that he, in fact, hoped they’d come to him.That he welcomed the opportunity to do more than piss on Elal lands and steal Elal’s favored daughter.Never in his wildest dreams of vengeance had he imagined winning two of Elal’s heirs to his own house.He’d never quite found the words to explain his vendetta against Elal to Nic, and the reasons for it.He’d hoped time would bring her to his side, which indeed it seemed to be doing.“I’m not afraid of House Elal, or House Sammael, or the Convocation,” he told her instead.“I refuse to cower before their blustering.”
“You should be,” Nic replied without venom.“It’s far more than blustering.”
“You keep telling me that I’m powerful and unpredictable, that the Convocation has no idea what they’re dealing with in me,” he argued.“You also urge me to have confidence in my wizardry and what I can accomplish.Therefore, I think you should trust me to protect you and everyone in House Phel.”
She gazed at him with a long, contemplative stare.“You never do anything by halves, do you, Gabriel?I wanted you confident, yes, not overcome with hubris.”
“You’re only just now realizing the level of my hubris?”he teased, but she didn’t smile.“Nic,” he said more seriously, “I knew when I set out to reestablish House Phel that I would be fighting an uphill battle.I’ve reached higher than I imagined possible in the beginning.This is yet another ledge, and I’m stronger than I ever was because I have you and everything you’ve helped me build.”
“It could be an illusion,” she warned.“They may have let you climb this high so that, when you fall, it will destroy you completely.”
“Or it could be that I’m stronger and more persistent than they imagined, and I cannot be stopped.”He grinned at her, and she sighed, throwing up her hands.
“I can’t seem to knock sense into your thick head, so I’ve stopped trying.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Ha to that.”She stopped pacing, standing by the windows and gazing out, the bright spring sunlight gilding her lovingly.“Back to our most immediate problem: Alise.The other possibility we must consider is that Alise’s entire tale is a lie.She could be deceiving us, luring us in with her ‘rogue’ familiars.”She spun, using her fingers to bracket the word “rogue” with strong doubt.“It’s the perfect trap.The Convocation knows you’re sentimental about the rights of familiars.Alise is my sister, Iliana my friend.What better way to slide inside our defenses?”
“To accomplish what?”
“Destroy us from within,” Nic answered, doom in her voice that was only partially in humor.Very real fear haunted her eyes.“Knock you off that mountain and send you and House Phel back into the abyss.”
He went to her, lifting her to sit on the window ledge, wide and now cushioned with bright pillows that complemented the other upholstery in the library.Standing before her, he smoothed his hands over the narrow curve of her waist, the seductive flare of her hips.“And here I thought I’d plumbed the depths of your cynicism.”
She looped her hands loosely around his neck, caressing the nape so he shivered.Essaying a smile, she purred seductively, “You’re welcome to plumb my depths anytime.”
“Are you serious about this?”he asked.Then hastily added, lest she interpret his words the wrong way, “Do you truly believe Alise being here could be an elaborate trap?”
“It would be an exceedingly clever and effective one,” she pointed out.“Elals are known for their guile, after all.”
“Or you’re being excessively paranoid.”
“Or rightfully suspicious,” she retorted darkly.“And if you’d spent the time in the Convocation that I have, you’d know it was well-earned.”
“I have no doubt that’s true,” he allowed.He studied her brilliant green eyes, sifting through her magic and the core-deep sense of her.“But if you believe that, why did you agree to accept Alise into our household?”
Her lush mouth twisted ruefully.“I was hoping you’d tell me.Am I being an idealistic fool?”
“You’ve come to the right person to ask about that,” he murmured, easing closer to her.Welcoming him in, she parted her thighs to bring him near, looping her ankles around his hips, much as she’d done with her hands about his neck.He couldn’t help reaching down to trail his fingers along the smooth skin her raised skirts revealed.“I am an expert in idealistic foolishness.”
