~22~
He’d lived hisentire life up until just recently without the arcanium, Gabriel told himself as they finally reached the land he’d grown up on, so it didn’t matter what Elal had done to it.Whatdidmatter was the people at House Phel.Much as it twisted his gut to think of Elal violating the place that had become sacred to him, because of and for Nic, he’d give up the arcanium to have everyone safe from harm.
Including Selly… But Nic was correct.He had to trust in her, and Jadren, that they’d survive.Grimly, he reflected on the irony of trusting the El-Adrel spy to keep his sister safe, but everything had turned upside down, it seemed.Telling his parents that he’d lost Selly yet again would be unpleasant.Even worse would be if his parents weren’t alive to be told.
Nic rode beside him, low over Salve’s neck as they raced the final distance to the manse, wearing the riding clothes Alise had wisely brought with her and stowed on the barge.She caught his eye, her smile grave, her eyes full of understanding and regret.She blamed herself for giving up their secrets, even though she also admitted that no one could stand up to Hanneil thought-seeking.It tormented her, too, knowing how her mother had been reduced, and she also blamed herself for that.Guilt wasn’t a rational thing, and Gabriel knew he couldn’t talk her out of it.
What he could do was hand her the tools and opportunity to make it right.Or take revenge.
The answering glitter in her dark emerald gaze told him she understood, and agreed.
This new mental and emotional intimacy between them wasn’t something Nic had precedent for.They’d spent the trip upriver talking, comparing notes, and sharing stories.According to Convocation teaching, what they’d done hadn’t been possible.He should not have been able to access her magic from that distance, nor should he have been able to push her into alternate form without touching her.Even more dramatically, she insisted that there was no way she’d sent her magic into him, as he was sure he’d experienced—and as he felt still.He no longer needed to touch her to consciously sip from her magic.It flowed into him with a steady warmth, curling around him with love he couldn’t doubt.Her father may have induced the Fascination with an Aratron potion, but Nic loved him, just as he loved her.
They might not need to touch to transfer magic, but they couldn’t seem to bear to have much distance between them.Nic thought it was the bond at work, reestablishing and strengthening their connection, rebuilding what had been strained to breaking.He was sure he’d been able to do the supposedly impossible because of their reciprocal bond.Nic, true to her nature, doubted that—but she also had no better explanation.
The fields and orchards were empty as they passed through, which was all wrong for the middle of a balmy spring day.He feared the worst.
House Phel still stood, seeming intact, white and graceful against the lush green lawn and blossoming orchards.Like the arcanium, the manse—at least in its current glory—hadn’t been part of his life for long, but it was more than simply a very large house.It was the historical home of his family, of the wizards who’d come before him.As the metaphorical house had fallen, eradicated from the Convocation, so had the literal manifestation of House Phel, sinking into the surrounding marshes, rotting away uncared for, largely forgotten except by children like himself who’d played in its bones.Now the manse was something he and Nic had created together, as much a triumph of their combined energies as the child she’d bear.
He wouldn’t cede any of it to the rapacious greed of their enemies.
Alise pulled her horse to a halt on the far side of the lake, just inside the bordering trees, holding up a hand.She was pale and drawn, her dusky skin, usually the same shade as Nic’s, had lost all its glow, more ashen than anything.Han galloped up from his rearguard position, holding out a hand to her.She waved him off, not because she didn’t need the magic, Gabriel knew, but because Han was nearly tapped out, too.Once they were closely grouped, Gabriel pulled reflective moon magic around them, hiding their presence.“Our father is here,” she told Nic, who nodded without surprise.
“Where is he?”she asked.
“I can’t tell, but he’s sent sentry spirits.”
“Can you get around them?”Gabriel asked.“It would be good to find out where everyone is.”
“Maybe,” she said, her voice weary.“I don’t have much magic left in me.”
“You can have mine,” Han insisted.
“If I take more from you, it could cause you harm,” she replied with regret.
“I don’t care,” he retorted with heat.“Iliana is in there somewhere.I’ll give anything to see that she survives.”
“Have some of my magic,” Nic said, nudging Salve forward and holding a hand out to Alise.
But Alise refused it.“You two have a battle ahead and will need everything you have if you’re going to win.Let me try this on my own.”
They waited while she concentrated, the silence only broken by the sound of the horses grabbing mouthfuls of the lush grass, taking advantage of the short opportunity to eat.Gabriel, needing the contact, held out a hand to Nic, and she sidled Salve closer, giving him a smile that had a tinge of sadness to it.“Can you feel the arcanium?”she asked quietly.
He could.And there was something wrong with it.The taint of other magic like a bitter taste in the back of his throat.“I hadn’t realized I was that connected to it.”
“We both are,” she returned softly, the green of her eyes sharpening with determination.“It’s a part of us now, and we’re getting it back.”
Finally, Alise blew out a frustrated breath.“My control is no good.I can’t get anything past them.”
“Gabriel and I will need to get past the sentry spirits in person, regardless,” Nic said with asperity, tugging her hand from Gabriel’s and nudging Salve back toward Alise.“I have a lot of magic.Take what you need.We’ll be counting on you to handle those sentries or there won’t be any fight at all.”
Alise frowned, clearly warring with herself.“But what point of that if—”
An eruption of lake water interrupted her, the horses rearing and whinnying their distress, except for Vale, who’d seen far worse than… whatever was rising from the water.Gabriel gathered his magic, preparing to defend them, but held off for a long, astonished moment, staring in disbelief at the candy-pink head, delicate spines traveling the arch of its horselike head then down its curving neck.A lavender eye with absurdly long lashes gazed at them with apparent curiosity, set in a narrow head with a tapering snout.It looked like—
“Is that a seahorse?”Han demanded, expertly wrangling his horse back under control.
“If seahorses are pink and grow big as a house,” Nic answered, bringing Salve around.