“She did, though,” Nic said quietly, reflexively looking around for listeners, though she knew they were alone.“You say I can trust you.If I share a secret, will you keep it?”
“Yes,” Alise replied immediately, surprising Nic again that she didn’t ask to know the nature of the secret first.“I’ll swear by whatever you ask me to.”
“Not necessary,” Nic replied with a smile, realizing that she could have asked Alise to sign the NDA, and that now she didn’t need to.Her sister.“Maman is the one who helped me escape.”
Alise stared, mouth working silently.Then she sighed and dropped her face into her hands.“Now I understand why you were so firm about not giving that information to Iliana and Han.”She lifted her face again, expression bleak.“Does Papa know?”
“Maybe?”Nic took a breath.“Alise, have you heard from Maman at all lately?”
Mutely, Alise shook her head.“I thought it was odd Maman didn’t include a note in Papa’s missives about you.”
“When Gabriel came to collect me at House Elal, he witnessed Papa forcing Maman into alternate form.I’m terribly afraid she’s been a cat since then.”
Alise blanched, evincing the same horror Nic felt at the prospect of being trapped in animal form—and animal thinking—for so long.“If you think that’s the case, why haven’t you done anything about it?”she demanded.“This is Maman you’re talking about!”
“Iknowthat!”Nic fired back.“And what, exactly, do you think I could do?I’m not going to ride up to House Elal and force Papa to return Maman to human form.I couldn’t do that before I was persona non grata to him.Or hasn’t it occurred to you that I betrayed him and shamed our house?Papa will never forgive me, much less listen to my pleadings.”
Alise had paled, her magic thin and transparent.“And now I’ve done the same.Oh, Nic—what have we done to Maman?”
Nic shook her head, then laughed without humor.“Perhaps Nander can do something, then.”
“He’d have to drag his head out of his ass first,” Alise replied with a snicker, and they shared a smile, a real one.Despite the gravity of the conversation, Nic savored the harmony with her sister.
“Well, one predictable result of you coming to House Phel is that Papa will send someone to retrieve you.When they’re repulsed, he’ll eventually have to come himself.”
Alise caught her breath, a queer look of hope and trepidation combined on her face.“Will Lord Phel do that for me?”
Nic nearly rolled her eyes, deciding against explaining how eager Gabriel would be to defend Alise from their father.“He would.More, he can.He’s the most powerful wizard I’ve ever been privileged to know, and no fan of our father.”
“Interesting.”Alise nodded to herself.“I’ve already been hearing tales of his displays of magic.He’s not your typical Convocation wizard by any stretch, is he?”
“Not even close,” Nic answered with emphasis.
“And you’re pregnant,” Alise said, dipping her chin toward Nic’s flat belly.
“Yes.”Nic laid a hand there, imagining the child she and Gabriel would have, the idea thrilling and effervescent.If they all survived for her to give birth.
“You’re happy,” Alise noted softly.“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
“Iamhappy,” Nic replied, allowing herself to embrace that truth.Despite everything, she was happier than she’d been in her entire life.Yes, everything was more difficult, but she felt loved and fulfilled in a way she’d never before attained—and might not have, had things not worked out the way they had.“At first I thought what I felt for Gabriel was Fascination, which terrified me and is part of why I tried to escape, but now I wonder if I didn’t start to fall in love with him from the beginning.Which, to be frank, was also terrifying.”
“I can understand that,” Alise said fervently and without irony.“Is he worth it, Nic?”
Nic understood what Alise was asking.“More than.I will be happier and able to do more as Lady Phel, even as a familiar, than I would have thought to do as Lady Elal.”
Alise nodded as if that decided her.“Then I’m staying with you.Nander can be Papa’s heir.”
“You—I—what?”Nic stammered, and Alise laughed.
“I was serious when I said I never wanted it.I donotwant to be the head of House Elal.Maybe that’s part of why I agreed to help Han and Iliana.”She chewed her lip pensively.“Maybe, in my own way, I was running away, too.”
Nic wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Besides,” Alise ventured, “I notice you don’t have an Elal wizard on your roster yet, and there is a serious dearth of house elementals and useful spirits.The lighting, forgive me for saying, is terrible.And how do you even dust this enormous place without earth elementals?”
Alise so perfectly echoed Nic’s own dismay that she laughed.“So far it’s the damp that’s the real problem.Did you know that most of the people of Meresin are low-level water wizards?Their MP scores are too low for Convocation standards, but they have enough magic to survive and flourish here.”
“That’s interesting,” Alise replied, sounding confused about Nic’s point, which was fair.Nic was indeed deflecting giving a definitive answer.