Page 51 of Rogue Familiar

“When Gabriel applied to Convocation Center to restore Phel as a house,” Nic told them, “they somehow neglected to give him access to the old House Phel records.”

“They didn’t tell me such things existed,” Gabriel corrected.

Asa looked unsurprised. “The conspiracy runs deep. For this to have been so thoroughly covered over, we have to look to a house capable of altering memory.”

That hadn’t occurred to Nic and it should have. “You suspect Refoel of interfering?”

He looked briefly startled, then shook his head. “No. I could be idealizing the house of my birth, and Refoel has its faults certainly, but Refoel cleaves to its ethic of using magic only to heal and nurture, never to destroy. We do, however, share a border with a High House easily capable of such nefarious actions, an ancient enemy we keep a very close eye on.”

“You’re thinking of House Hanneil,” Alise said.

“Hanneil with the psychic magic to alter memory,” Nic said on a sigh of resignation. “Perhaps even to suppress magical ability in a family?”

Gabriel sat still beneath her, absorbing that information. “Then why was I different?”

She rolled her eyes. “Besides the fact that you are different in every way?”

“Lord Phel has a point,” Asa put in. “Why Seliah and why him, after all this time? Two siblings in a single generation. Something changed. Some sort of repressed magical breakthrough? I need to research this.” He gave Nic and Gabriel a thoughtful look. “You should consider asking House Refoel for aid.”

Gabriel frowned, not understanding. “We have an alliance with House Refoel. That’s why you’re here.”

“No.” Nic shook her head at him. “We have a business contract. House Refoel never allies or gives aid to any house,” she explained, looking at Asa. “They stay neutral.”

“I think in this case,” Asa said slowly, “if they can be persuaded that Hanneil is moving to create a multi-high-house alliance, they might make an exception.”

“But is that what is going on?” Quinn said into the ensuing silence. “This is all supposition.”

“We need a lot more information,” Nic said, as Gabriel seemed still stunned into silent contemplation. She leveled a look on Alise. “Will going back to school with your dutiful tail tucked between your legs sit easier if we task you to infiltrate the records and copy and send everything you can on House Phel?”

A smile gradually lit Alise’s face. “It will, yes. Challenge accepted.”

~15~

“I thought we decided that trying to go to House Hanneil, again, was definitely a bad idea,” Seliah said to him, far from the first time. “I think we should go to House Refoel,” she added, also far from the first time.

“Why didn’t you mention that idea before this?” he inquired sarcastically, rewarded by a fierce amber glare. “Besides, when I apparently agreed that House Hanneil was a bad idea, my cock was in your mouth and I can be excused for not listening to a word you were saying.”

“If your cock had actually been in my mouth, I wouldn’t have been able to speak,” she retorted with a cheeky smile. “You’re well endowed enough that a girl wouldn’t be able to talk around it.”

He swallowed a laugh, not wanting to encourage her. Seliah continued to be a puzzling blend of wide-eyed naivete and an earthy sensuality beyond her years and actual experience. That she could give as good as she got in the scathing insults department made it difficult to shut her up with a well-aimed remark. It also made him love her all that much more, which was equally distressing, although on an entirely different scale.

“I changed my mind,” he informed her. “Besides there’s no point in going to House Refoel. We’re both of us healed. Even Vale is in tip-top condition, you admitted that much.”

Seliah’s relief at hearing he’d groomed Vale and put him in an enclosed pasture to eat his brains out on fresh grass had been almost embarrassing, she’d clearly thought so little of his abilities in that arena. She’d been less pleased when she reviewed his efforts in detail, going to pains to instruct him in the finer points of equine care. Because he considered Vale to be their heroic savior in equal weight to being a hot-headed fart-beast who’d galloped off with him at the worst possible moment, Jadren made an effort to pay attention and didn’t make a single remark about this being work for hostlers and beneath a scion of House El-Adrel, tempting as it was to annoy Seliah by saying so. Besides which—clearly in this new life he led, replete with freedom even as it lacked basic conveniences like elemental-powered carriages—it was useful information to know.

Also… He was in simply too good of a mood to dredge up his normally caustic outlook on life. The spring morning was bright and sunny, delightfully mild. He was brimming with Seliah’s magic and replete from sating himself in her deliciously sensuous body. They’d spent the remainder of the afternoon and the entire night in bed, alternating bouts of intense sex with sleeping entwined around each other, and taking turns fetching snacks. Never had he slept so hard or so peacefully. And, even though the sleep had been interrupted by them reaching for each other, the blaze of desire billowing them into wakefulness, he figured they’d easily spent around twenty hours in bed, so he was surprisingly well rested.

He almost caught himself humming a jaunty tune before he realized and stopped in horror. That was a bridge too far.

Glancing over at Seliah, who was performing the final checks on the packs strapped to the patient Vale, he surreptitiously admired her unusual beauty. Tall and lean in her black Ophiel fighting leathers, with legs that went on forever, she moved with the grace of a wild creature. She’d braided her dark hair at her temples, to keep the long, silky strands out of her face, but otherwise acceded to his request that she leave it loose. He’d never been in the privileged position of having a lover he could make such requests of and it gave him an odd feeling of triumph mixed with trepidation. He both treasured the intense joy of having her and obsessively worried about the pain of losing her, which would inevitably occur, no doubt sooner rather than later.

What a mess he was.

“The point of going to Refoel,” she was saying and he hastily paid attention when she raised a brow at him, “is to discover more about your healing ability. This is something we both agree you need to know.”

“House Hanneil does all the MP score testing,” he replied. “They can assess exactly what kind of magic I have and they can give me an official scorecard.”

“Why do you even care about that?” She stretched herself up to reach higher on Vale’s back, the position showing off her perfectly round and delectable ass, and he couldn’t resist sidling up behind her and cupping it with both hands.

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