Page 13 of Strange Familiar

“I disagree. Humanity is unable to leave this world. We gaze upon the stars, but cannot reach them. Does that make this entire wild and wonderful world a prison?”

“I would argue that we only currently lack the ability to leave, not that we are being arbitrarily deprived of the freedom to do so,” he answered quietly. “Whereas you, Grandmother, are proposing to limit my freedom to live my life as I wish for the entirety of it. Or until you die, at which point I wouldn’t have to abide by your rule.”

“By then you will grasp the wisdom of my strategy. Do you see me leaving Harahel lands? No. That’s not an accident and this decision is far from arbitrary, boy. I don’t need to leave and neither do you.”

“I disagree, regarding myself.”

“Why?” she shot back. “Because you long to find yet another ambitious young wizard from a high house to trample your heart and abuse your trust?”

“No.” He allowed a smile. “Just the one.”

“The one who left you,” his grandmother pointed out with asperity. “Have you so little self-respect that you wish to go running after her, panting like a desperate puppy?”

His smile faded in the face of that marked contempt. No arguing with that. And there was no point in planning his escape—for escape he eventually would—until he had the information that would be his entrée to an audience with Alise. Once he knew what the Phel archives contained, he would go to Alise and give her those secrets. That would open a conversation and they could decide where to go from there. Capitulation would be the better part of valor in this moment. He allowed his very real heartache to show through.

“I can’t believe Alise left me like that, not even knowing if I’d recovered.”

“I’m sorry, Cillian.” His grandmother unbent, sliding him a plate of cookies. “She couldn’t leave fast enough.”

“I know she doesn’t love me like I love her,” he confessed, sticking to that painful truth. “But I thought we were friends, at least.”

“This is what I’m talking about. She used and manipulated your pure feelings. A friend wouldn’t do that.”

“You’re right,” he agreed on a sigh. Then made a show of coming to a decision. “The work is important to me. I risked a great deal to locate and extract those archives, not for Alise—no matter what you may think—but because I thought the importance of restoring the integrity of those texts, of the historical record, eclipsed any concerns about my job security. Because House Harahel, and all we stand for, matters more to me than anything else.”

Lady Harahel eyed him shrewdly, no doubt reading his thoughts for the veracity of his words. He focused on the inherent truth of what he’d said. None of it was a lie.

“I am impressed by what you managed to do,” she said at last, almost grudgingly. “And I admit some of my motivation in keeping you here with me, derives from that. You achieved a feat of library magic that my best wizards have been unable to comprehend or replicate. You have displayed hidden depths that make you an enormous asset to House Harahel. I’m proud of you.” She smiled faintly. “I apologize if I failed to recognize that before.”

“And yet you require a test of loyalty from me.”

Her smile faded. “If you regard being asked to cleave to your house and homeland as a test of loyalty, then yes. You have abilities I hadn’t guessed at, my boy, which is on me. I underestimated you and allowed you to take yourself and your skills to Convocation Center. Now I must make the best choice for the house I lead, which means protecting our assets.”

“I’m a person, not an asset,” he retorted, bitterness in his voice. So much of this hurt far more than he’d expected. He’d been granted permission to cultivate a career in Convocation Archives not by an affectionate grandmother as he’d assumed, but by the head of his house who’d weighed his value and found him expendable. It was an uncomfortable irony that finding Alise, that his love for her, had been the incentive to push himself to strive for more than he’d ever imagined himself capable of accomplishing. He also hadn’t shared that Alise, herself, had literally made that feat possible. She’d inspired him, yes, but she’d also shared her magic with him.

“You are wrong, Cillian,” Lady Harahel said, not unkindly and not without a hint of regret. “You will begin to understand this as I train you to be my heir. Some high houses count their assets in their trademarks, their warehouses of produced widgets for sale, the wealth they’ve accumulated and invested. At House Harahel, our greatest asset lies in the intellect of our wizards.”

“Also in the libraries and archives we maintain,” he countered, and she accepted that with a nod.

“But the true value of what we bring is our ability to catalogue, index, read, collate, and analyze that information. And to do whatever it is that you managed to do.” She smiled again, this time warmly. “I know I’m placing difficult restrictions on you and, in time, we can revisit them if you truly wish to travel beyond Harahel. You should know that this is all because your grandmother loves you and the head of your house values you. I’m asking you to give me your time, your presence, and the gift of your wizardry.”

He believed her—and that she firmly believed in her decisions and the motivations behind them.

“Agreed,” he said, careful not to make his agreement too specific. “I’ll work on the Phel archives and take training with you.”

“And you won’t leave Harahel lands?”

“I will stay here, yes.” For now. He suppressed the though as quickly as it bubbled up, concentrating on meaning what he’d said.

She inclined her head, accepting his words. He wouldn’t make the mistake again of underestimating her. Lady Harahel would be keeping tabs on him, no doubt about it. Time to plant some seeds for the future.

“You should consider this, however,” he said, allowing himself to look as troubled as he felt. “What I managed to do with those hidden Phel archives… I did that by undoing what someone else did. Only a wizard with powerful skills and magic in Harahel proprietary archival tools would have been able to hide that volume of information and make it undetectable.”

Lady Harahel drummed her fingers on the table. “I had already thought of that and those considerations factored heavily into my decisions regarding you and my requests.”

Cillian raised his brows in mute question, not trusting himself to speak and be caustic about her choosing the word “request.” Probably extortion sounded too harsh in her mind, however accurate it might be.

“The perpetrator isn’t necessarily one of ours,” she mused. “The library magic itself isn’t damming, as those skills can crop up in any number of wizards.” She held up a hand when he opened his mouth. “Though I concede the power and skill needed are unusual, as is access to our proprietary tools. Still—it could be an outside wizard operating with intelligence from someone within.” She leveled a stern look at him. “Perhaps in this light, you will reconsider condemning me for declining to give unnecessary access to outsiders.”

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