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“All right, then.”His mother tucked her arm in his.“Let’s have some cake.”
Unfortunately, arcanium sexwas not to be.By the time Daisy finished regaling them with tales she’d heard as a child about House Phel’s former glory, it had grown quite late.Also, Nic was no fool, and she could easily fill in the blanks in Daisy’s stories, just as Gabriel half feared, half hoped she would.At least the time of reckoning had come.
Nic was quiet on the ride home, and Gabriel waited tensely for her inevitable questions.She was too poised, too well trained to have revealed anything to his parents, but he’d watched her put the puzzle pieces together, seen the occasional accusing glint in her gaze as she glanced at him speculatively, before hiding her eyes behind the lush fringe of her dark lashes.
“You suspect House Elal was behind the fall of House Phel,” she said finally, her tone neutral.
He’d lit their path with some moonlight, but it wasn’t enough to show her expression.Relieved that the topic was at last out in the open, he let out a breath.“Yes.”
“And you’ve thought so for a long time,” she clarified.
“I’d heard the stories people passed around, about the old days,” he said, by way of explanation.“When I began reading the books on magic in the library, trying to learn all I could, I began to see a pattern, details from those tall tales aligning with the information about the magic specialties of various houses.Elal matched perfectly.”
“Ghosts, demons, and goblins plaguing the countryside.It does fit,” Nic murmured.“Is that why you wanted me to hear it for myself?”
He should’ve known her agile mind would put that together, too.“In part,” he admitted.He didn’t add that the other part was that he’d been too much of a coward to come out and tell her.“You know these things better than I do.I knew that I could’ve come to the wrong conclusion, so I wanted to discover if you’d see the same pattern without me leading you in that direction.”That sounded good, even if it wasn’t all of it.
“Is that why you risked everything to try for me in the Betrothal Trials?”she asked with deadly neutrality.“You wanted revenge against House Elal.”
He wanted to tell her she was wrong.He also wouldn’t lie to her.“In the beginning, yes.There was a symmetry to it I couldn’t resist.”
“Understandable.”She said nothing more.
Cursing under his breath, he stopped Vale, swung down, then caught Salve’s bridle.“Will you come down and talk to me?”
She regarded him, eyes shadowed.He thought she might refuse, might point out in her acerbic way that they were already talking, but she finally nodded, holding out her hands for him to lift her down.Once he set her on her feet, he held her by the waist for a long moment, then brushed a hand over her cheek, tangling his fingers in the curls at her temple.She’d looked so right, so perfect at his parents’ old kitchen table, eating cake and teasing his dad about his secret recipe.He knew she’d repeatedly told him she wouldn’t—couldn’t—leave him, but he couldn’t escape the sinking fear that he’d destroyed everything.She might be compelled to stay with him, but nothing could make her love him if she didn’t.
“Remember the miniature?”he asked her.
She nodded.“You carried it with you when you came to House Elal to claim me, and after, when you chased me.”
“I carried it all the time,” he corrected.“Yes, you caught my attention because you were an Elal, and I suspected Elal of being my house’s enemy.I knew very little about the Convocation then.I needed a familiar, I’d been told, if I wanted to accomplish anything.You were available, powerful, beautiful…”
“And an Elal,” she finished for him, unmoved.“I understand.”
“I don’t know that you do.It was more than that.I used to study your miniature, convinced that I saw something in your image that spoke of a connection between us.I wanted that more than I wanted the rest of it.Even more so when I finally met you.”
She regarded him gravely.“You don’t have to justify any of it, Gabriel.Ours was never a romance.We both knew the terms of engagement from the beginning.”
“I never thought of you as the enemy.”He wasn’t sure what to say to make things right.
With a soft laugh, she cupped his cheek, scratching lightly with her nails.“Conversely, I was convinced youweremy enemy.I fled from the prospect of marrying you for that very reason.Do you hold that against me?”
“No.I never did,” he answered softly.“I only ever wanted to understand.What you said about House Sammael?It’s important to remember.You cannot dismiss an entire house based only on the behavior of a few individuals.Especially the actions of those long dead.”
Her eyes gleamed in the shadows, moonlight silvering her dark hair.“Or even those still living.”
He caught his breath.“Do you think Elal still conspires against House Phel?”
She breathed a laugh.“Darling, Elal conspires against everyone all the time.Wizard Jadren isn’t wrong about Elal guile.”Chewing her full bottom lip, she considered.“But against House Phel specifically, still, after all this time?I don’t know.”She rubbed her temple.“I really don’t know.I’ll have to think about it.”
“Not tonight,” he suggested, brushing her fingers from her temple and placing a kiss there.“You need to rest.”
“I am tired,” she admitted, and he knew that she must be exhausted, that she didn’t protest at all.
Still, he paused before lifting her onto Salve’s back again.“Am I forgiven?”
“Gabriel.”She lifted onto her toes, leaning into him and brushing his lips with hers, roses and wine twining through his senses.“No forgiveness is necessary.You are far from the first wizard to acquire a familiar from a rival house in order to score against them.It’s standard Convocation cold warfare.”
