Page 17 of Rogue Familiar

“You know—that upstart house. Used to be a High House, lost their magic. Trying to make a go of reestablishing.”

“Yeah, I heard the new lord kidnapped the Elal girl, the familiar they were so proud of.”

“A houseful of losers and miscreants is what I heard.”

“No wonder this one is such a poor excuse for a wizard, if he comes from that shoddy, quasi-Convocation lot. I heard the new lord never even went to Convocation Academy.”

“Probably taught this one all he knows.” They all laughed, relaxed now, and enjoying themselves.

“Probably kicked this one out as not even good enough for the losers.”

“You have no idea,” Jadren said, but no one heard him.

Mr. Machete winked at him as someone lifted it away. You didn’t even draw me from the sheath, Mr. Machete observed. Before this, it had always spoken in Gabriel Phel’s voice. Now it used Seliah’s. Tricksy weapon. I think that makes you zero for two in the self-defense department. Twice now that you’ve been killed without drawing a blade.

“Wrong.”

Oh right—it was three times, wasn’t it? Gabriel killed you empty-handed, too.

“Not fair,” he gasped. He hadn’t wanted to raise a weapon against Phel.

Dead is dead, though.

“I can’t die,” he retorted in a rasp.

“Oh, I think you’ll find otherwise,” one of the gray guards replied cheerfully. “But first, you get to fly! Byeeeee.”

Jadren wasn’t sure if that was his own scream or the wizard’s taunt that echoed as he fell. He was sure of hitting ground, the sickening thud reverberating through every bone in his body as they all shattered into crumbs.

His third-to-last thought was that his mother would be terribly disappointed not to be able to gather the data on whether he could heal from this level of physical destruction. It gave him grim satisfaction to deprive her of at least that much.

His second-to-last thought was: not again.

His final thought was only her name. Seliah.

Selly clutched her head and screamed bloody murder. Dimly aware of the concerned shouts around her, she fell to her knees in the midst of another of Nic’s grueling training sessions, feeling as if she needed to keep a tight grip on her skull to keep the pieces from flying apart, sending her brains to splatter the walls. When someone tried to pry her fingers away, she sobbed for them to stop.

Jadren.

She must have lost a little time, because the next she knew, strong arms were lifting her, carrying her with solid familiarity, a warm voice telling her all would be well. And it would be, now that Jadren had returned to her. Jadren still loved her, holding her close, promising to help her. “Jadren,” she murmured in relief and gratitude.

“Don’t you worry about him,” Gabriel replied in a tone that threatened violence. “He’ll pay for doing this to you. I should’ve insisted you have that bond severed.”

Feeling better every moment, Selly became aware that Gabriel was carrying her through the manse with ground-eating strides, Nic jogging beside him to keep up on her shorter legs, her keen green gaze fixed on Selly’s face with concern and discernment. “This isn’t about the bond attenuation,” she told Gabriel.

“No, it isn’t,” Selly agreed. “Put me down, Gabriel.”

“Not until you’re in the infirmary under Asa’s care. You have blood pouring out of your nose,” he added, giving her a baleful black glare as if she’d done it deliberately to upset him. “You have no ground to give orders at the moment.”

With considerable exasperation, Selly wiped her nose on her sleeve and frowned at the quantity of bright blood on it. What was happening? She groped for the bond with Jadren, not finding him there at all. The last time this had happened was when Gabriel had run him through and Jadren had… She began squirming, Gabriel’s arms tightening more to contain her. “Put me down!” she demanded, desperation making tears well up. “I need to get to Jadren.”

“Not a chance,” Gabriel growled, his magic condensing silver in the air.

“Gabriel, please, I—”

“If this is about something that’s happened to that reprobate and if there’s anything you can do about it and if you convince me you’re rational and healthy enough, then we can discuss you hurling yourself into danger to save a man who abandoned you without a backward glance and subjected you to this kind of damage.”

Selly started to protest, but caught Nic’s warning look and raised brows. Be rational, right. She needed to be calm and focused. Not a half-feral crazy girl. Instead, blowing out the breath she’d taken, she tried to calm herself, using the meditative techniques Nic had been teaching her. Control of magic depended on a clear mind and precise control. Even though familiars couldn’t wield magic externally, they could regulate the flow of it internally. Part of keeping her internal environment healthy was knowing when her magic needed to be tapped or replenished. Right now, it needed to be released, which would help her handle this situation with the sane and logical arguments that would sway her difficult brother.

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