“Asa?Alise?”Gabriel asked.
Asa sighed in resignation.“I don’t have better advice.”
“It’s as good a plan as any,” Alise agreed, “given the lack of an army.And if House Elal is involved, my presence will confuse the issue.”Her gaze drifted to Han, his head bowed over Iliana’s hand as she slept.“Will you ask Han to come along?”
He should.Nic would chide him for being soft-hearted and taunt him into being arrogant Lord of House Phel, conscripting everyone to do as he pleased.But he wasn’t that.Couldn’t be that and didn’t want to be.He’d recovered Nic on his own before.He would do it again.“No,” he informed them.“Nor am I asking either of you.In fact, I’m going alone.”
That set them all off.Alise, Jadren, Asa all began exclaiming with versions of how he couldn’t do that.Finally, he cut them off, apparently retaining enough intimidation factor that they immediately clamped their mouths shut.Nic would be proud, he reflected ruefully.“I’ve decided.I’m putting no one else at risk.One person can do what an army cannot.I can knock on a door by myself.”
“Do you even know the etiquette involved, or what a High House is like?”Jadren demanded.“Let me answer for you: No.I’m betting the only Convocation house you’ve ever been to is House Elal for the Betrothal Trials, and they are famous for restricting visitors to particular areas and warding them from the rest.”
“It’s true,” Alise allowed.
“Wrong,” Gabriel shot back.“I’ve been to House Elal twice.”
It had sounded better in his head.And, he had to admit, at least to himself, that he had been scrupulously shepherded in and out on both occasions, kept to blandly uninteresting spaces.Even Lord Elal’s study where Gabriel had been received had held little evidence of the wizard’s work.Gabriel had been in a fury over Nic’s absence, but now that he looked back with clearer and calmer hindsight, it seemed clear that the space had been carefully staged, more like a set for a play than an actual working space.
Jadren watched him sardonically, waiting for the inevitable admission.
“Regardless,” Gabriel told him, “I’m no fool.I can figure it out on my own.I’m certainly not taking a spy and enemy of House Phel along.”
Far from offended, Jadren only grinned.“El-Adrel and Sammael have been at each other’s metaphorical throats for nearly a century.Why do you think my esteemed lady mother was so eager to place me next door to Sammael lands?Alise can confirm.”
“Confirmed,” Alise said drily.“But the argument that the enemy of my enemy is my friend doesn’t hold much water.”
Jadren chucked her under the chin before she could bat his hand away.“Not long term, it’s true,” he conceded, “but situationally?My mother would be most displeased if I missed the opportunity to spit in Sammael’s face.I’m going with you, even if I have to follow behind, all spy-like.”He wiggled his fingers in what was probably supposed to be a spooky look, and failed.
Alise snorted, but Gabriel saw she suppressed a smile.“I’m coming, too.Nic is my sister, and I won’t be stopped from helping her this time.”
“Great.”Gabriel, aware of Asa’s astute gaze on him, rubbed his throbbing temples.“So we have three wizards and zero familiars.This will go swimmingly.”One part of him wryly observed how quickly he’d gone from refusing to use a familiar to being certain of failure without one.
“I’m going with you,” Selly said, coming into the room.She’d changed into the tough, close-fitting clothing she preferred during her tenures in the wild.In addition, she sported several silver blades Gabriel recognized as the newly enchanted ones, plus a bow and the quiver of Iliana’s arrows.She had her black hair braided back and, though her face looked far too thin and pale still, her brown eyes sparkled with determination, and her magic gleamed silvery sharp with a touch of steam.
To Gabriel’s surprise, it was Jadren who protested first.“Youare not going anywhere,” he informed Selly.“I didn’t risk my life and sanity to pull you out of that muck you made of your magic to have you run off and get yourself killed, injured, or captured by Sammael.”
“Is that in order of importance?”she retorted coolly.Gabriel hadn’t at all expected such ready wit from her, and stared at her in some shock.
Jadren, however, took it in stride.“Believe me,” he said, thrusting a finger at her, “you’d rather be dead than Sammael’s captive.”
“That’s why I’m going,” she returned without hesitation.“Nic has been nothing but kind to me.I would be a poor sister to her if I were to sit here with my thumb up my ass when I could help her.”
An awkward silence settled, Alise actually muffling a laugh and Jadren looking infuriated.Asa regarded Selly with academic interest.“Seliah’s mind has been healing rapidly,” he said to Gabriel.“She’s making excellent progress.”
Gabriel hastily revised his mental image of his little sister.She truly wasn’t the skinny-legged gamine of his memories and the vision in the mist.Selly had seemed childlike for so long that he’d missed that she truly had grown up into a woman, older than Nic, even.“Excellent enough progress for her to come along?”he asked Asa without taking his eyes off Selly.She rewarded him with a brilliant smile.
“Yes,” Asa agreed grudgingly.“There’s nothing wrong with Selly’s health at this point.At least, nothing that diligent attention on her part won’t cure in time.”He gave Selly a stern glare, and she simpered at him.“And it will be good for her to spend her magic.”
“I think it’s a bad idea,” Jadren grumbled.
Alise, black eyes alight with speculation, looked back and forth between Jadren and Selly.
“Good for me that you’re not in charge, then,” Selly taunted, then looked to Gabriel.“I’m ready to go.”
“So am I,” Han said, joining them.He surveyed the small circle.“Why so shocked?This was the deal.Iliana can’t go, but I’m fine.”He patted his new enchanted sword.“I’m eager to see how this beauty works on something besides hunters.”His striking blue eyes chilled.“And I have a score to settle with a certain spoilt teenage wizard.”
“I’m not asking you to leave Iliana,” Gabriel said, shaking his head.
Han shrugged.“Then I’m volunteering.Iliana would be disappointed in me if I let you down.Besides, she’s in good hands here, yes?”
“Yes,” Asa answered firmly, clapping the blond man on the shoulder.“By the time you come home, I’ll have her back on her feet and running to greet you.”
Han smiled wistfully.“Coming home.That sounds very good to me.”