Page 77 of Twisted Magic

“For not being able to save us.” He sounded so resigned, so despairing, that it broke her heart. “I should never have started all of this, shouldn’t have given into my hubris and determination to reinstate House Phel. I look back at who I was then, so foolish and naïve, as everyone recognized but me, going through the mouldering books in the library of a rotten manse, dreaming of reclaiming something I never fully understood. I don’t understand now why I wanted that when this is all I ever wanted.” He held her tighter then drew back enough to kiss her. “I wish I could work an enchantment to wipe all of it away except this: you and our child. I love you so much, Nic, and it’s all that matters.”

No point in trying to be strong, she wept freely now. “We have this,” she told him. “This moment, this time that we’ve had, they can’t take it away. Our story will be eternal.”

His lips quirked. “Like Sylus and Lyndella?”

“Yes, exactly like…” She trailed off as a thought hit her.

“What?” Hope lit his face, apparently too strong for even her rationality to fully quench. “You’ve thought of something.”

“Sylus devastated his enemies,” she said slowly, “in the wake of Lyndella’s death. He exhausted his magic and died himself, but he killed them all and scoured the landscape bare.”

Gabriel regarded her with a frown. “That doesn’t sound like a promising solution.”

“No, but that’s what’s held us back, right? That we’ve been trying to find a way to win, to fight our way out, keeping everything we’ve built intact.”

“Well… yes.” He lifted a brow. “If we annihilate ourselves, I think we’re still just giving them what they want.

“Not if we take them with us.” The idea hung there, just out of her grasp.

“I don’t understand, Nic.”

“I don’t either, but there’s something there. They have us surrounded, but if we can draw them to concentrate their forces enough to thin or abandon enough of an avenue…”

“Then we can at least get our people out,” he finished, brightening.

“Yes. And then, while they’re escaping, you unleash your full abilities and we take them down with us.”

“It could work,” he agreed slowly, “though, if we’re going down in a self-destructive blaze, I’d prefer to take Igino Sammael, Piers Elal, and Katica El-Adrel down with us. And the entirety of House Hanneil,” he added wryly, “while I’m making a wish list.”

She smiled in sympathy. “We might not get that. But, it’s possible that we could sow the seeds of their demise. Let me give it some thought. After all, I come from a legacy of conniving and traitorous people.”

“I love the diabolical workings of your Elal mind,” he told her.

“Such is our romance,” she said wrinkling her nose. “In the meanwhile, I agree to conserve my magic for you only. We can still stoke my levels with games in the quiet of our bedroom, even if it isn’t the arcanium.”

“It seems a little wrong to devote ourselves to sex while the house burns down around us.”

She patted his cheek. “We must take one for the team. Soldier bravely on and do what must be done.” Turning thoughtful, she considered. “I do have a potential solution for one problem. Laryn can earn her keep by acting as Asa’s familiar.”

Gabriel regarded her with surprise. “Do you think she’ll agree to it?”

“If we posit it as feed Asa or go be hunter bait, she will,” Nic said grimly, rather relishing the prospect of delivering the ultimatum to the traitorous bitch.

“I don’t like the idea of forcing a familiar to give up their magic, as you know…” Gabriel began, then grinned when she snarled at him. “Simmer down, marsh cat. In this case, I agree. Laryn can pull her weight or take her chances outside the wards.”

“Well, that solves one problem.” She winced as something large crashed on the other side of the door. “If I agree to let you hold the ladder, will you let me trap that fucking poltergeist, at least?”

Chuckling, he gave her a formal bow and offered his arm as if they proceeded to a ball. “It would be my pleasure, Lady Phel.”

“So gracious, Lord Phel,” she replied, taking his arm and lifting her nose in the air. “It’s always a pleasure to plan mutually assured destruction with you.”

She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard him release a sigh before he covered it with a brave smile.

~24~

Jadren surveyed the situation from the top of a tree, using an El-Adrel device that magnified the view nicely. “Arrogant,” he muttered to Seliah, who perched on a nearby branch in feline form, impatiently lashing her long, black tail. “They’re not even bothering to cloak themselves anymore, or even to mount a rear guard.”

Seliah growled in what sounded like agreement, adding a querulous note of inquiry to the end.

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