“My Selly has never been neglected,” Daisy protested. “She’s headstrong is all, but she’s loved. She’s with people who care for her. She’s certainly not a familiar.”
“Will you compound your crimes with bald lies?” the proctor hissed in astonished glee. Gabriel imagined her totaling up the violations in her head.
He was about to answer that—with what, he didn’t know—when Nic thrust herself forward, inserting her body between the proctor and Selly. “They didn’t know,” she told the proctor, drawing herself up into her lady of manor regal poise. “Until I arrived, Lord Phel’s family and the denizens of Meresin lacked anyone with the ability to discern that what they thought was an illness or progressive disability in Seliah actually derived from her being a powerful familiar with untapped magic.”
Daisy looked past Nic to him. “What is she talking about, Gabriel?”
He hoped he’d never again see his mother look at him with such anguish, betrayal, and furious despair. “It’s true. Nic told me after she met Selly. She was able to immediately see what we didn’t have the wit to understand.” He didn’t much care to make his house and people look any more unschooled than they already did, but he recognized the advantage of playing up their ignorance in this scenario. “That’s why I asked Rat to find Selly for us, so we could have her tested.” He nodded at the proctor, hoping he looked coolly vindicated and righteous, not desperately spinning lies.
“When Nic met Selly?” Daisy frowned. “But that was—”
“Yes, just the day before yesterday,” he cut in smoothly. “When Selly climbed the balcony and invaded our rooms.”
“She told me I was a princess under a spell,” Selly wailed softly. “And that she would tell Gabriel how to hel-help me… but she didn’t. She lied to me, Mommy.”
Nic looked so distressed that Gabriel put a hand on the small of her back, heartened when she lifted her chin. “I apologize, Daisy,” she said calmly, though her magic boiled like shredded rose petals in the vortex of a flame. “We planned to tell you, but we knew the news would be difficult, and we wanted to find Selly first.”
“Difficult?” Daisy clutched her daughter tightly. “After losing our son to this…magic, and now Selly, too—and you call itdifficult?” Her voice rose perilously.
Nic stiffened under his hand. “Now, Mom…” he began.
“You told her fairy tales!” Daisy flung at Nic. “And then let her run away into the marshes.”
“I was trying to offer her a metaphor to understand herself,” Nic replied evenly, though her anguish increased.
“What’s to understand?” Daisy practically shrieked. “I don’t understand any of this!”
“Your daughter is clinically insane,” the proctor told her crisply, with not one iota of compassion. “As a familiar, she should have been identified, taught discipline, and been regularly tapped to relieve the magic building inside her. Since that has not occurred, the magic has rotted her mind. I doubt she will ever be sane.” She shook her head, tutting. “A shame, really, but that’s what comes of willful ignorance.” Her scornful gaze dusted over Gabriel and fixed on Nic. “In addition, her existence should have been reported to Convocation Center immediately upon identification. I am certain that you are familiar with Convocation law, familiar.”
Nic didn’t lower her head, but her magic quailed. “I wasn’t certain. That’s why we hoped to test her, to be sure—”
The proctor barked out a laugh. “Oh, don’t give me your lies. You are Elal to the bone with your sneaking and plotting and prevaricating. Also, you are clearly still in rebellion. Any doubt I’ve had has been thoroughly destroyed by this development.” She turned her scorn onto Gabriel. “I am taking both familiars with me to Convocation Center.”
“You and what army?” Gabriel snarled.
“I don’t need an army,” the proctor sneered. “I have the right of law and the might of the Convocation behind me.”
He looked behind her, then made a show of scanning the area. All of their new wizards and familiars, plus a generous share of House Phel workers had gathered around to watch the show. They all met his gaze with steadfast assurance. Bought loyalty, perhaps, but he was relieved Nic had insisted upon gathering these folks. They would back him.
“I don’t see any Convocation might,” he told the proctor coolly.
“When you do, it will be too late.” She said the words so matter-of-factly that the warning gave him a chill of dread. One he refused to reveal.
“This is my house,” he said, staring down the proctor, giving his mother a slight nod. “My family, my home. I do not recognize Convocation authority here.”
“Gabriel, don’t,” Nic said, turning to lay a hand on his arm. He might’ve taken her plea more seriously if she wasn’t trembling, fear chilling the green of her eyes. She talked a brave story about taking her lumps from the Convocation, carelessly assuring him that she could withstand any retraining, punishment, and discipline, but he knew her well now, and she couldn’t hide her terror from him. Not even to save him.
“Listen to your familiar, Lord Fell,” the proctor advised. “It might be your last opportunity.”
“Gabriel,” Nic said, turning so she could lay both palms flat on his chest. “She’s right. You can’t defy the Convocation and hope to keep your house status.”
“I don’t care about the house status.”
“Don’t you?” she asked urgently. “Because that status protects all of these people. Without it, everyone here will become an outlaw. And the Convocationwillcome in force, believe me.” When he hesitated, she continued. “Selly and I will be all right. They can help her at Convocation Center.”
“No one is taking my daughter,” Daisy declared.
“No, Mom,” Gabriel said, wrapping his hands around Nic’s wrists and holding her firmly. “No one is taking either Selly or Nic. Now that we’ve found Selly, Wizard Asa can treat her. And I’ll work to tap her magic.”