Page 57 of Rogue Familiar

“You wanted to make time.”

“True. The sooner we get to House Refoel, the happier I’ll be.”

“Why the change of heart?” she asked.

“Maybe I’m just that worried about my ability to ever get it up again.”

“You chose Refoel before the jouncing began.”

“It’s closer,” he answered. “Which we might be extraordinarily grateful for, if Zany recovers soon enough to pursue with vigor, which might as well be her middle name. I’m reasonably certain Refoel will offer us sanctuary, as it’s part of their ethic and they’re not fond of El-Adrel, from way back. And you might have a point about me learning about my abilities being more important than obtaining a piece of paper.”

Would wonders never cease? “Did you just admit I was right and you were wrong?”

She almost felt him roll his eyes. “Not everything is a competition.”

Not everything, but she’d definitely won that contest. “Just watch me win this race.” She urged Vale into a faster gallop, the wind of their passage too fierce for further conversation. But Jadren lay against her back, strong thighs snugged against hers, and his arms tightly embracing her. From time to time, he caressed some part of her or other, or kissed her cheek, temple, jaw, throat, his face alongside hers so her hair whipped out behind them on the other side. He wasn’t one to express affection with words or romantic gestures, but the way he touched her said everything.

They might be racing for their lives to safety, but it was also one of the best moments of her life.

“You were going to tell me about your sister,” she said several hours later, when Jadren estimated they should be near the Refoel border, or perhaps over it, if they left it unguarded and unmarked. Besides, Vale was drenched in sweat and tiring. For fear of pursuit, they kept moving, this time walking alongside Vale to let him cool. As she’d dourly predicted, Selly felt like one of those El-Adrel automatons, moving stiffly and painfully. Jadren offered to try to heal her, but she demurred, saying he should save his magic in case they were attacked, and since she could get healed soon enough anyway, once they reached Refoel. Besides, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t walked off aches before.

To her surprise, instead of taking up position on the other side of Vale’s head, Jadren elected to walk beside her, even holding her hand, interlacing her fingers with his. For all his brusque attitude, now that he’d stopped trying to push her away, he treated her with a surprisingly sweet level of affection.

“Ozana is a psychotic, evil bitch,” Jadren said. “Oh wait, that describes my entire family. Was there something more specific you wanted to know?”

“Fyrdo isn’t psychotic or evil.”

“True. Apparently his paternal contribution was entirely too nice and gentle to battle the psychotically evil El-Adrel side from dear Maman, because we’re all like her and not him. Alas. Not incidentally, the ability to heal slash resist death seems to come from Maman’s side, too. So, yes, to answer your earlier question, Ozana, like all of my siblings, seems to be more difficult to kill than the average person. I’m not sure she knows about it, though. Maman isn’t exactly chatty on the topic. I mostly know it about myself because I’m the most extreme example and, after a few years of my mother doing her best to kill me, I eventually figured it out.”

“I don’t remember meeting any of your siblings when we had those dinners at House El-Adrel.”

“No, they were all conspicuously absent. Not that I blame any of them. Far away from Maman is always wisest.”

She contemplated that a moment, how it would be to regard your own mother and your siblings as the worst of enemies. It made her heart ache for him, a sentiment she knew he wouldn’t welcome. “Are you all wizards—no familiars?”

“Exactly. Makes for lovely family dinners, each one clawing to be heir to the glorious El-Adrel legacy.”

Selly ignored his sarcasm as being of his light, knee-jerk variety and not the cutting version that indicated she’d come too close to something truly painful. “Except for you.”

“Correct. I have no desire to be Lord El-Adrel.” He mock shuddered.

“Even though the house loves you.”

“The house loves only herself. I suspect she sussed out my lack of useful wizardry early on and, correctly discerning that I wasn’t a contender for ruling her life, let me off easily. The others have a much harder go of it, which Maman observes closely. To head House El-Adrel, a wizard must be able to govern the house itself. Can’t have your house eating everyone in it. Before you ask, no that’s not the case with other houses, even High Houses, but falls in line with the El-Adrel magical concentration on enchanted artifacts. The house is our greatest and worst invention.”

“In a way, Gabriel had to govern the manse for Phel. He had to raise it from the water and make it whole again.”

Jadren gave her a thoughtful look. “That’s true. Perhaps there is an element of the heads of houses having to deploy a certain level of wizardry to manage the physical house to rise to leadership of the non-tangible aspect.” Then he waved his free hand, making Vale bob his head and snort. “At any rate, none of this is here nor there. Maman has numerous wizardlings to choose from and Ozana is one of her favorites. And, not incidentally, why I fought to bond you as my familiar, lest you ended up in Zany’s evil clutches. Or the equally evil clutches of one of the others who are as yet unbonded. You’re facing enough trouble being in mine.”

“You’re not evil,” she protested.

He slid her a dark look from glittering wizard-black eyes. “Seliah, darling, you really have no idea.”

“Then tell me. What is this thing that you’re so afraid of becoming?” When he hesitated, his magic developing a decided unhappy clanking, she pressed on. “Because I think the worst has already happened. Your automatic healing ability inadvertently drained all of my magic so you could save yourself and it turned out fine. You saved me in turn. You can do it again. I really don’t understand what—”

“No,” he snarled, dropping her hand. “You don’t understand anything, Seliah! You have no idea what it’s possible for me to become, especially with unlimited access to all of your magic that rebounds so bountifully.”

“Then, tell me what—” She broke off at the same moment his head whipped up. That sense of magic, so like and unlike Jadren’s impinged on her senses.

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