~1~
“Are yousurewe can’t stay in the arcanium forever?”Lying on her back on the tiled floor, Nic gazed up at the curved struts of the dome still flickering with silver moon magic, the circular lens of the topmost window illuminated with a softer glow.Beyond the thick glass, the shifting water of the lake rippled with deep blues.
“Youwere the one who painted dire fate of starvation and desiccated bones if we locked ourselves in here and never emerged,” Gabriel observed lazily, stroking a hand down her naked flank and snuggling her more tightly against his side.
Explosive sex following taking her alternate form for the first time—a large silver bird that might be a phoenix, which was a strange development—had left her mind considerably muddled.“Maybe we’re just not thinking creatively enough.You’re a wizard.Can’t you magic us food?”
He chuckled and, to her great dismay, shifted to a sitting position, bringing her upright with him.“All the creative thinking in the world won’t save our people if we abandon them to hide away in here,” he pointed out.
“There is that,” she replied glumly, unwillingly contemplating the host of problems that awaited them outside this idyllic bubble.
“And,” he said, patting her back encouragingly, “recall that you wanted to practice taking your alternate form while clothed before we confront the Convocation proctor, which means you need to get dressed.”
“Since when areyouthe practical one in this relationship?”she grumbled, pushing to her feet and stretching.
“I’ve been learning from the best.”He muttered a curse, and she turned to see him wrestling with his leather pants, which had tangled around his knee-high boots when she’d yanked them down.Above them, he was naked, silvery hairs bright against his darker skin, his moon-pale hair wildly tousled from her fervid hands.Though she’d thought herself sated a moment ago, the sight of him so thoroughly ravaged had her blood heating.Gabriel caught her looking and cocked a brow, lifting his hips to yank his pants up the rest of the way, then firmly laced them.“No,” he told her, “or we will emerge to a barren landscape scoured clean by your Convocation and all our people taken prisoner.”
“It’s notmyConvocation,” she reminded him, tempted to try his resolve anyway.Not that she was dreading facing exactly the scenario he predicted or anything.
“Even so, we know what they’re capable of, and I’m not excited to stage a rescue at this point in time.”
“Wearegoing to have to retrieve Selly before facing the proctor,” she observed.Gabriel’s sister was a familiar—at least half mad from having untapped magic build up in her all her life with no release—but her family hadn’t had the knowledge to identify what corroded Selly’s physical and mental health.When Nic arrived at House Phel, she’d known immediately what the problem was, and that Selly couldn’t go on that way.Unfortunately, Selly had a propensity for running wild in the Meresin marshes, and she’d eluded their attempts to help her.Even worse, the tracker Gabriel sent after her, Rat, had brought Selly back just as the Convocation proctor arrived to challenge whether Gabriel had properly bonded Nic.The proctor had also seen what Selly was: a rogue, unbonded, untapped familiar.Before the proctor could take possession of Selly, intending to convey both Nic and Selly back to Convocation Center, Selly had escaped again.
Seizing the opportunity, Gabriel promised they’d retrieve Selly, but then dragged Nic off to the arcanium instead, hoping to provide conclusive proof of their bonding by demonstrating he could put her in her alternate form.
“We’re not risking bringing Selly around that proctor,” Gabriel countered.“I want that odious woman off Meresin land.We’ll just say Selly gave us the slip, which is the truth.”
“Because we didn’t actually go look for her.”
“Nevertheless true.Besides, Rat will have gone after Selly.He won’t like that he lost her again, and if anyone can find her, he can.Now, get dressed so we can finish this.”
“All right, all right.”She paused to mess with her hair in one of the reflective silver surfaces.Her short, dark hair curled wildly, in such disarray that only a grooming imp could fix it.
“Nic,” he said, a warning in his tone, “if I have to haul you out there naked to prove to that proctor that you’re properly bonded and can take your alternate form, I will.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” she retorted.
“Don’t test me on this, Nic,” he ground out.“I value your life over your dignity.”
“Fine.”She found her lingerie and gown in a heap by the arcanium door, where they’d fallen when he’d practically ripped them off of her.If not for the Ophiel magic that made the bindings loosen, he might have torn them.Good thing they’d survived intact, as she didn’t have many decent gowns.“You know,” she said as she dressed, “it’s overly dramatic to say that my life is at stake.I’m too valuable to be killed.The Convocation would only discipline and retrain me so that—” She ended on an undignified squeak, as Gabriel was on her in a flash of movement, seizing her in a ruthless grip and kissing the words from her lips.His mouth was hard and the fire in her leapt to his demand.
He ended the kiss as suddenly as he’d begun it, but without releasing her.He’d leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing ragged.“Nic,” he ground out, “if you love me at all, please don’t ever again speak so casually of those monsters punishing you and breaking your mind to make you obedient to me.”
Her soft-hearted wizard.Easing back enough to frame his face in her hands, she caught and held that wizard-black gaze with hers.“No one is taking me away from you, Gabriel.And I do love you, with everything in me.”
He let out a breath, softening under her hands.“I love you, too—and it makes me crazy.”
Laughing, she stepped back, triggering the magic toggles to seal her gown, the fabric tingling as it adjusted to fit her figure perfectly.She hopped a bit, tugging on one boot, then the other.“I refuse to take the blame for that.There’s considerable evidence that you were crazy long before you met me.Like the moment you decided to decimate House Phel’s coffers to pay the application fee for me.”
“I should’ve known you’d have made your way through all the house ledgers by now,” he said wryly.
“To be fair, there wasn’t all that much to get through.”
He winced.“Sorry about that.”
“No need to be.I intend to make your investment in me well worth it.But first things first.Let’s test the alternate form change.That proctor will find nothing to justify questioning our bond.”
“All right.”Gabriel’s magic braided around her.“Ready?”