Page 54 of Rogue Familiar

Unable to resist her, he pulled her close. “I like your skin, too.”

Almost lazily, she looped her hands behind his neck, toying with the short hairs there as she liked to do, inclining her long body against his. “You certainly spent enough time examining every fingertip of it.”

How well he remembered. Her tawny, satin-soft skin held endless fascination for him, especially when she purred so delightfully in response to his explorations. “You truly will come with me to House Hanneil, even though you think it’s a bad idea?”

“I truly will,” she answered, making it sound like a vow. In a way, he supposed it was.

He kissed her, sinking into the welcome of her full, sensual lips. Maybe they could stay in the little cottage another day. To his surprise, he found himself thinking of the place with nostalgic affection, not as a poorly ventilated hut, but as a cozy nest of peace and safety. When had he ever had that? Never. And he wanted more.

But, he reminded himself, it wasn’t truly safe. That was an illusion, a delusion to believe that he was in any position to take care of Seliah. She would never be safe until he figured out how to be wizard enough to protect her. “What did I do to deserve you?”

She shook her head sadly. “Terrible things, no doubt. But it’s too late to repent of your past ill deeds. You’re stuck with me now.”

Sliding his fingers along the glossy, intricate coils of the braid alongside her face, he let out a dramatic sigh. “I shall just have to bear my punishment with good grace. Off we go to House Hanneil, then.”

“All right, but I reserve the right to—”

“I say House El-Adrel,” a cool voice interrupted.

Jadren whirled at the sound of it, shocked out of his skin at the incongruity of his sister suddenly appearing there, of all places—and by the fact that she had apparently stepped out of thin air. “Ozana,” he said flatly, and surreptitiously palmed a couple of tools from his vest. Good thing Seliah had thought to bring a spare set of clothing for him, along with his usual tools. She knew his propensity for disaster far too well. “What an unexpected displeasure.”

Ozana smiled thinly, a close-lipped echo of their Maman’s elegant charm, and ran a hand to unnecessarily smooth her sleek cap of auburn hair, her wizard-black eyes hard on him. She wore white and gold, a shimmering tribute to the El-Adrel colors, even wearing lightning-bolt earrings that dangled nearly the length of her long neck. The figure-skimming sheath dress showed off her long legs and gold heels—though the grimace she made as her stilettos sank into the turf somewhat ruined the effect.

“You’ve been a naughty tyke, Jaddy-boy,” she said accusingly, lifting one heel to glare at the soil and tufts of grass on it, as if he’d put it there. “Leaving without permission. Making off with House El-Adrel property.” She plucked off the offending turf and flicked it aside, the oil-sheened black of her eyes shimmering as they slid to Seliah. Ozana looked her over with greedy and proprietary interest. “Pretty,” Ozana remarked, showing teeth in predatory delight. “Nummy magic.”

“Mine,” Jadren said, stepping in front of Seliah. Her magic had gone silver-sharp and ice-cold. He was familiar with that particular flavor from being around Gabriel Phel when he lost his temper and truly unleashed his powerful magic—to the point of summoning torrential storms and manifesting silver spikes from moonlight. Seliah couldn’t manifest her magic, naturally, but the explosive levels of it built just the same. And similarly would need somewhere to go.

“The familiar belongs to House El-Adrel,” Ozana coolly corrected, “as do you. It’s convenient that you can return together. Still, I wouldn’t get too full of yourself. I have no idea why Maman gave her to you instead of to me, but I’ve lodged a complaint and requested that the decision be reversed. I’m elder, the familiar is mine by right of birth order.”

“She is already bonded to me.”

“Easily dealt with if you’re dead, then she’s mine as she should have been to begin with.”

“You know,” Seliah put in, “I’m standing right here.”

“I’m not so easy to kill, if you haven’t noticed,” Jadren said, ignoring Seliah’s words, but backing closer to her.

Ozana waved that off, though a pair of unattractive lines puckered her elegantly winged brows. “You do have a cat’s knack for escaping danger, but all cats die in the end, and so will you, brother dear.”

“Everyone dies in the end,” he corrected, sidling another step closer to Seliah. “The only question is when that end occurs.”

“So philosophical when you’re not yammering with insanity and don’t move another step. Here, let me help.”

Too late, Jadren dodged. But even had he been faster, he couldn’t have outpaced the golden lasso Ozana shot at him from her sleeve. She cackled in pure delight as the enchanted metal chain wrapped itself around him at lightning speed, pinning his arms to his sides, his hands flattened against his thighs. A silver blade shot past his head and thunked against Ozana’s hastily erected ward, his wizard-sister raising her brows in interest as the dagger fell harmlessly to the grass.

“How interesting,” Ozana observed. “She bites. A fighting familiar makes this new pet even more exotic. Don’t struggle, Jaddy-boy, the noose only tightens if you do. And gets sharper. I made it myself.”

He’d already discovered as much, the metal loops digging in, lacerating his flesh so that blood soaked into his leathers and welled up to run down his arms. Great, and he’d had this new set on for, what? Maybe a whole hour. Behind him Seliah yelped, and he spun to see as Ozana strolled past. Though he tried not to move his arms, the enchanted lasso clearly interpreted the movement as struggling, and tightened further. Jadren gritted his teeth against the pain. At least that was something he had plenty of practice doing.

One of his mother’s automatons had clasped Seliah in its arms, though it seemed to be struggling with its next steps. Instead of meekly resigning herself to her captor’s superior strength, Seliah had—naturally—lost her shit and gone into feral wildcat mode, shrieking and squirming. She raked her nails across the automaton’s eyes with no result, as the thing wasn’t alive, kicking her booted feet against its metallic legs with a clanging sound like bells. Ozana glanced at him. “Make her stop before she hurts herself.”

“Good luck making Seliah do anything,” he drawled, morbidly amused by Seliah’s rapid de-evolution into her wild self. The automaton, clearly inhabited by a spirit, no doubt harnessed and tasked to the job by an Elal wizard—the amazing part was that he hadn’t seen it before—wasn’t intelligent enough to adapt to the confusing behavior of its captive. Still, it didn’t need to be. It simply had to hold on.

Ozana walked around the little scene as if taking in an art installation. Every once in a while, she looked over to Jadren, assessing his reaction as Seliah’s foul-mouthed cursing rolled over them in waves. Finally, with an exasperated sigh, Ozana pointed at Seliah and a metal and leather gag clamped itself over Seliah’s mouth. She’d learned that particular trick from their mother and it looked exactly the same.

“You know,” Ozana said conversationally into the new silence, broken only by Seliah’s muffled grunting. “I thought Maman had exaggerated, but the creature really is quite untamed, isn’t she? Clearly you’ve made no progress at all. Don’t you know how to use the bond to ensure obedience?”

Ah. Actually Jadren did not. Beyond forcing a familiar into alternate form and keeping them there until they agreed to be more biddable, he didn’t know of any way the bond could be used to force submission to a wizard’s will. Another area of ignorance left by his lack of Convocation Academy education. At the same time, he wasn’t sorry on this one. He liked Seliah’s fire.

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