~20~
They returned tothe overlook where Gabriel had first seen House Sammael.Everyone but Selly watched Gabriel askance as they unsaddled the horses and made themselves comfortable, staying within the cover of the ancient forest as he’d ordered.No one was outright questioning him, but they clearly found his behavior odd.For his part, it took no effort to sink into the role of brooding and arrogant Lord Phel.The need to get to Nic clawed like a wild beast inside him, his magic resisting that they’d gone away from her.He wouldn’t be able to fake calm.
That resistance in his magic at least confirmed the hunter’s information and his own instincts: Nicwasin House Sammael.Now to extract her.
“I know you don’t want to hear my advice, but—” Jadren began.
“But nothing,” Gabriel interrupted, removing Vale’s saddle.“Idon’twant to hear it.”
Jadren palpably fumed, his indefinable magic curling in frustration.“You can’tdoanything from here, Gabriel,” he nearly shouted, obviously determined to be heard.“Delaying like this only gives them more time to prepare and more time to hurt her.”
“What do you care?”Gabriel snarled.
“I care, all right?”Jadren threw up his hands in the air.“I know you don’t trust me, and I have no good argument for why you should, but you and Lady Phel are about the only decent people I’ve ever met—though you can be a real asshole—and I don’t want to see you suffer.”
Gabriel wanted to believe him—his too-soft heart at play, no doubt.“What about your mother?”
“What about her?”Jadren retorted.“I don’t see Nic and Alise giving first loyalty to their father.My mother isn’t like yours.You’re fortunate to have the charming Daisy as your mother.Be happy, but maybe leave some room to believe that not everyone’s family is like yours.”
Gabriel finished brushing the sweaty hide under Vale’s saddle pad, the gelding blowing out contented whuffles.“Make your point,” he finally conceded.
Jadren paused, clearly taken aback by Gabriel’s capitulation when he’d been ready to gon another round.“I don’t understand what you think you can do from this distance.You’re powerful, no doubt of that, but even with Han and Selly feeding you magic, you’re no Sylus destroying his enemies like a raging storm.You can’t stand here and raze House Sammael.”
“I don’t plan to.”
“Never mind that it’s illegal, since Sammael had a legitimate warrant and likely dispensation to take Lady Phel there instead of Convocation Center,” Jadren continued, undaunted, “there’s no way to destroy the house and the people in it without harming her.”
“I don’t plan to,” Gabriel repeated, more slowly, moving to groom Salve.
“And nobody, not even you, can perform a feat like that from this distance!”Jadren finished.“If anyone could, wizards would’ve been long-distance attacking each other’s houses for centuries, and there would be no Convocation.Why do you think the houses are so far apart?”
“Good thing I don’t plan to do that, then,” Gabriel replied, amused, despite everything.Jadren was only confirming that his plan was a good one.No one would expect it.
This time Jadren seemed to hear him, muttering something unintelligible to himself.“Then whatdoyou plan to do?”
Gabriel allowed himself a wicked smile.“Just watch.”
Nic paced theround tower room, which was crazy-making, but better than sitting still and repeatedly poking at herself mentally in a futile effort to determine if her sanity was eroding yet.She’d gone longer than this before without having her magic tapped, so there really shouldn’t be any corrosive effect yet.Maybe she was feeling the pressure of her magic so much because she’d been using it with Gabriel more than ever before in her life.More likely, she only thought it was building to boiling due to the galling combination of utter boredom and low-level terror.
She had way too much time to think about it.Days, though she wasn’t sure how many.And way too little to do with her energy.
Except pace and fret.
On the upside, smarmy Sergio hadn’t been back to pester her.Neither had her father.The downside of them leaving her alone was that she worried about what they were up to.Were they laying a trap for Gabriel, if he was even awake?Had they gone to House Phel in force and even now everyone there was dead?Had her father used the information she’d given him to take over the arcanium?
Pausing in her pacing, she slammed the meat of her fists against the stone wall, growling her frustration.Never had she felt so impotent to affect her fate, to save the people who meant everything to her.Though she knew she only harmed herself, she beat on the wall, venting her despair in incoherent half screams, stopping short of banging her head against it because that would really hurt.
Giving up on her tantrum, she slid down the wall, giving in to tears.She’d been good about not letting herself cry—mostly because if her father or Sergio did suddenly turn up, she didn’t want them to see the evidence that they were making progress on breaking her.If the untapped magic didn’t make her crazy, the boredom, isolation, and despair would.
But for the regularly delivered, bland-beyond-description meals, she’d worry that they’d left her there to die.“They won’t do that, though, will they?”she muttered to the baby, the silent life inside her.At least then she could pretend she wasn’t talking to herself.“Oh nooo.We’re much too valuable.We’ve always been kept in a cage by them.This one is just far more tangible.”Giving in, she banged her head back against the wall.“Ow.”
Bashing her head against stone walls was as futile, and painful, as she’d known without trying.Gabriel was the one who tried anyway.
Scrubbing the tears away, she tried to think—for the millionth time—of a way out of this predicament.Maybe it wasn’t too late to save Gabriel and everyone in House Phel.If she could just warn them, then maybe… This was getting her nowhere.Instead, she let herself dwell in some memories of Gabriel.He’d been the first person in her life who hadn’t wanted to cage her, intangibly or otherwise.He was the best thing that ever happened to her, and keeping their child alive was the only reason she wasn’t considering suicide to escape the terrible fate that awaited her.Maybe after the baby was born… If she could keep a small corner of her will, she could find a way to finally escape her cage.
Firmly setting aside the invidious temptation of that last resort, sitting crumpled and listless against the unyielding wall, she let herself sink into happy memories.Gabriel’s black eyes, filled with humor and warm affection.His hair, like moonlight, save for the single streak that matched his dark eyes.His magic curling around her, silvery cool, moon bright, a balm for all the aching empty pits inside her.She imagined she could sense him, his loving presence, the sensual caress of his hands, the firm embrace, his voice promising to protect her always.Her own magic leapt to him eagerly, flowing in a rush like an undammed river, churning when it met the wall of her channels.
I love you, Nic,he whispered in her mind.