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“Not if you’re fainting on your feet,” Asa insisted.“You can’t fool me, Lord Phel.I can feel how weak you are.”
Weak.And worthless.He’d promised to protect Nic, and he’d failed.“How long ago?”he asked Alise, who was apparently the only person willing to tell him the truth.
She grimaced.“Six days ago.”
So long.She’d be at Convocation Center by now.Dark arts only knew what they were doing to her.“And you’ve heard nothing from her?”
“No more questions until you at least drink some broth,” Asa declared.He pointed sternly at Alise.“Youwill cooperate, as I am lord of the infirmary.My word is law.”Asa turned a fierce look on Gabriel.“I’ll allow you to sit up, but you will drink this bone broth and, if I clear you, you can interrogate Wizard Alise further.Give me trouble, and I’ll put you out.You’ve seen me do it.”
Torn, Gabriel was tempted to test the healer.But his magic felt as tremulous as the rest of him.So he acceded, if ungracefully, scooting on the bed to lean against the wall, legs stretched out before him.He seemed to be wearing light, thin pants and a shirt, both in off white.They fit him perfectly, so he knew they must be Dahlia’s work.Asa gestured to someone, another unfamiliar helper, who brought a bowl of steaming broth.
Gabriel took it and obediently sipped, the rich flavor seeming to go straight to his bones.He scanned the room.Noted Asa’s tired mien.“Where is Laryn?”
Asa shook his head, expression deeply unhappy.“No more answers until the broth is gone.”
Containing his impatience, Gabriel drank, slowing when Asa chided him that if he puked it up it would only take longer to get his answers.Alise pulled up a chair, waiting with considerably more patience, though her worry was clear in her face, deep shadows under her eyes.Finally, he finished, holding up the empty bowl for Asa, who’d gone to check on Selly.Grimly, Asa nodded permission to Alise.
She told him of House Sammael’s arrival and how the confrontation had gone, culminating with Nic being collared and taken away.“She wouldn’t let us fight for her,” Alise explained, knotting her fingers in her lap.“She forbade us from it, saying that it was a battle we couldn’t win and the end result would be the same.”
But it wouldn’t have been that way if Gabriel had been awake.He could’ve successfully fought for her.“The Sammael representatives,” he said slowly, choosing his questions in case Asa cut him off again, “who were they?”
Alise hesitated before answering.“Sabrina and Sergio Sammael.”
Sergio Sammael.Heir apparent to House Sammael.Just to be clear, he verified, “Sergio was one of Nic’s suitors?”
“Yes.A real piece of work, that one.He was far too happy to see Nic collared.It was so unnecessary, as she went peacefully.”
Gabriel wrestled back the blood rage at the thought of Nic in that sadistic bastard’s hands.He wouldn’t just kill Sergio; he’d slowly dismember him, piece by piece.“Are you sure they took her to Convocation Center?”
“Of course they did,” Asa inserted, returning and putting a hand on Gabriel’s forehead.It took considerable effort for Gabriel not to growl and fend him off.The more compliant he was, the sooner he’d escape Asa’s tender care.“Why would they take her anywhere else?”
“I swear,” Jadren exclaimed in exasperation as he strode into the room on the heels of Asa’s words.“Is everyone in House Refoel an idealistic fool, or is it just you, Asa?”Jadren spared a glance for Gabriel.“You look like shit, Lord Phel, but at least you’re alive.”
“I am not a fool,” Asa bit out, “nor am I an idealist.I believe in the rule of law.”
Jadren snorted disdainfully.“Like that NDA your familiar violated?”
Asa stiffened.“That was Laryn’s choice, and I remanded her into your custody pending Lord Phel’s judgment.I don’t know what else you expected me to do.”
“I expected you to control your familiar,” Jadren snarled.“But apparently that was too much to ask.”
Before Asa could retort, Gabriel held up a hand to silence them, asking Alise.“What does Laryn have to do with this?”
Once again, Alise proved her worth by giving him a straight answer, no dancing around.“She sent a letter to the Convocation notifying them of Han and Iliana’s presence in House Phel, and calling into question whether Nic had been properly bonded.We believe she also somehow conveyed that you’d been incapacitated.They knew about Selly, too.”
Gabriel winced internally.All those times Nic had railed at him for wanting a reciprocal bonding, and she’d been right in the end.Hopefully she wasn’t even now cursing him for all the ways he’d failed her.“So they took Han and Iliana?”
“No.”Alise looked a bit surprised.“Sorry—I left out that bit.We did have some forewarning from the spirits I’d sent to watch the roads in, and Nic arranged with some fellow by the name of Rat to hide Han and Iliana in the marshes.Sammael left hunters to search for them, but I gave them a spirit to send to me if they were found.So far I haven’t heard from them.I haven’t summoned them back yet, because we weren’t sure yet if it was safe, since…” She trailed off, flushing.
“Since you weren’t sure if I’d wake up or if I’d be of any use if I did,” he finished for her.He pondered a moment.Nic had been clever to think of Rat, and Alise had been right to leave Han and Iliana where they were.“How many hunters?”
“A dozen,” Jadren supplied.
“I counted ten,” Alise corrected with a frown.
Jadren shrugged that off.“That enchanted dagger of yours—did it really work to kill them?”
“Sent them back to the piles of rotten goo they were born of,” Gabriel replied, noting the gleam in Jadren’s eye.Yes, they had hunters to fight.“Interested in making some enchanted artifacts, Wizard El-Adrel?”
