Page 49 of Rogue Familiar

“But you need me here,” Alise argued, sounding young and uncertain.

Nic opened her mouth, but Gabriel squeezed her hip. Fine then.

“You’ve done incredible work for House Phel,” Gabriel agreed, “and this will always be your home. You are welcome here any time, Alise, but I’ve given this thought. You know I’m no lover of Convocation customs, but even I can recognize that a Convocation Academy education—and degree—is critical for a magical citizen of this world. Hear me out,” he said firmly when Alise opened her mouth. “I realize I’m an exception to that rule, as are Jadren and Seliah. But there’s an old saw that the exception proves the rule—and all three of us have experienced difficulties because we lack that training and degree.”

“Nic taught Seliah,” Alise replied with a stubborn tilt to her chin that Nic absolutely recognized from the mirror. “I can learn what I need to know from the other wizards of House Phel.”

“Not in your expertise,” Gabriel corrected before Nic could. “The more that Nic tutors me based on her general understanding of wizardry, and all that Asa graciously shows me given his more advanced understanding in a tangential field, and every time I attempt to train others in water and moon magic, the more I realize how great my disadvantage is.”

Alise snorted. “I was there at House Sammael when you ripped off the roof from across the valley, Lord Phel. You have power to spare and your lack of Convocation brainwashing is an advantage, not a—”

“It’s both,” Gabriel interrupted. “And the ways that my lack of education are a disadvantage are ones I bitterly regret. It’s too late for me to change that. It’s possibly too late for Jadren and Seliah to change that, if we’re to keep them safe from the Convocation, but three of us in one house is more than enough. If you want to do your best by yourself, this family, and this house, then you’ll go back to the academy—not incidentally taking one legal challenge off our plates—and you’ll get that degree.”

“Is this because I tired myself out?” Alise demanded, glaring at Nic. “I can’t believe you told him about that.”

“I didn’t,” Nic answered, and Alise flushed at her misstep. Gabriel said nothing, but the slide of his fingers down Nic’s spine promised this conversation would be continued later. “Still,” Nic added, “that incident only further supports the point that you would benefit from finishing your education.”

Alise firmed her lips, giving Nic one last beseeching glance. “Maman is here. You are here. All of my friends are here. I don’t want to go back to the academy.”

Nic sympathized, she truly did. To her surprise, Quinn jumped in. “Buck up,” she advised Alise briskly. “Every person here, with the exception of Lord Phel, survived Convocation Academy. If you don’t have friends there, make some. Think of it as a service to House Phel if you have to, because the more friends you make now, the more allies we’ll have in the future. If you don’t want to go to back House Elal, you can come here for school holidays and other breaks.”

“I’ve been disinherited,” Alise pointed out, brightening and finding the relevant document. “My father won’t pay my tuition so I can’t go back!”

“House Phel will pay your tuition,” Nic said, before Gabriel could. Dark arts knew where she’d find the money, but that was the least they could do for Alise. “And, when you see Nander at the academy—because I’m asking you to seek him out, make him give you the time of day, give him my love and good wishes whether he wants to hear it or not—and tell him that we’ll cover his education, too, should he wish to separate himself from Papa.”

“Diabolical,” Gabriel whispered in her ear, his admiration as erotic as the caress of hot breath.

“You’d just better come through on those water-wizards,” she whispered back.

“Have I ever failed you?”

“Fine,” Alise said, sounding more angry than glum. “I’ll go back to school. But I’m upping my course load and getting done as fast as possible. It’ll be more expensive.”

“In the short term,” Nic agreed, “but we’ll save long-term on your room and board.”

“All right,” Gabriel said, “that handles the Convocation Academy complaint.”

“Not the question of Sabrina Sammael,” Nic countered.

“The Sabrina Sammael summons is fishing,” Asa put in decisively. “She trespassed on House Phel grounds without invitation and we have dozens of witnesses to the effect that Sabrina aided her brother in a hostile attack on the house. They’re only guessing that we kept her captive, or killed her. Whatever reasons House Sammael has for keeping her home instead of sending her back to school, they have nothing to do with us. I suggest sending a reply to that effect.”

“I wish I knew that Sabrina is all right, though,” Nic commented unhappily. She didn’t like feeling as if she’d sent Sabrina home to be abused in some way. Yes, the little bitch was awful, but she was also young and had been molded to be yet another terrible Sammael.

“You can’t save everyone,” Gabriel commented.

“Surely that’s my line.” It helped that he patted her with affection.

“All right, I believe we have a strategy for dealing with Convocation Center,” Wolfgang said, reviewing his notes. “I’ll come up with some specifics and Asa and Quinn can review. That leaves the question of the complaints from the various houses. I suggest we handle House El-Adrel by counter-suing over them illegally bonding Seliah. And that we ask for considerable compensation.”

Nic easily sensed how much Gabriel didn’t like that, but he swallowed back his reflexive argument and nodded. “I can draft that,” she offered. “If nothing else, I know a great deal about the relative worth of a familiar like Seliah and how those negotiations ought to be handled.”

“Good,” Asa acknowledged. “I’ll prepare the paperwork to file for Seliah’s contract to Jadren, and review Jadren’s contract as a minion to House Phel. Those transactions are so commonplace we can have them notarized and accepted into the Convocation Center records before El-Adrel realizes we went around them. If we play that correctly, by the time Jadren and Seliah resurface, there will be no question that they both belong contractually to House Phel.”

“There are two complicating factors,” Gabriel said. “The first is more straightforward. Jadren has no MP scorecard and, naturally, neither does Seliah. Neither officially exists to the Convocation.”

Asa frowned. “You do have the Hanneil wizard, Ziv, on staff now. They weren’t asked to test Jadren and Seliah?”

Gabriel shook his head. “It frankly didn’t occur to me.”

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