The image made him want to laugh. At the same time, it drove him crazy how much she amused him. This imp in woman’s clothing should not be able to get under his skin this way. He cleared his throat, focusing on the lesson to be imparted. “You are already familiar—if you’ll pardon the expression—with the core principle of the wizard–familiar dynamic, which is that a familiar, by definition unable to express their own magic, yields up said magic to a wizard, who—also by definition—is able to wield it.”
He glanced at her and she nodded encouragingly, though some of the light in her had dimmed. Understandable. “I don’t make the rules,” he added, though he didn’t know why he bothered. “I’m just explaining them.”
She grimaced, then gestured for him to continue, admirably keeping to the requirement that she not interrupt.
“A wizard can tap any familiar’s magic, something you already know, having donated magic already to me, your brother, and to Alise on this benighted quest, but for there to be a permanent partnership, a wizard must bond a familiar. The bonding serves to expedite the power transfer and also prevents wizards from stealing familiars, as occurred in the bad old days. The bonding has a third benefit in that a wizard can trigger the transformation of their familiar into the familiar’s alternate form. That is what you witnessed with Lord and Lady Phel; that silver phoenix is—inexplicably and mind-bogglingly, if that’s a word—Nic’s alternate form.”
He had Seliah’s full and fascinated attention. Her lips, still pressed together, were now pursed and puffed, as if the questions caged behind her teeth fought to break free. He couldn’t help laughing. “Fine, before you burst, ask your questions now.”
Her breath whooshed out. “But Gabriel did bond Nic, and House Sammael stole her anyway—how is that possible?”
Jadren rubbed his forehead. Of course she picked the hardest question first.
~ 4 ~
Jadren looked positively pained by the question. Of course, he hadn’t looked good since the snake incident—though Selly privately believed that it hadn’t been the snake at all that had caused him to lose his shit, as he so pithily put it, but something to do with the cut on his cheek. It wasn’t the sight of blood from the cut either, as the fight with the hunters had scored him in many places that bled.
No, it was something about that cut on his cheek. Or possibly almost losing his life, but he hadn’t really put that together until later, so she was betting on the cut—though why that would bother him so deeply as to make him physically ill was a mystery. He’d gone a grayish-green she’d never have guessed a living person could take on, and for a moment, she’d been worried that the snake’s venom had somehow gotten into his system. It had been a relief that he’d rallied on his own, because she’d been at an utter loss as to how to help him.
In truth, she didn’t know what to do for him—and she was confused about why she wanted to help Jadren, if he would even let her. His prickly pride didn’t allow much. She understood pride. Being broken inside made her feel like an injured creature in the wild, easy prey for the predators, and just miserable enough to occasionally fantasize about them ending it all. Jadren wasn’t wounded like that. Nothing seemed to dent his determinedly careless shell. He had fortitude to carry him through whatever internal battle he fought. She rather envied him that. It would be nice to have some kind of purpose. That was the main reason she’d insisted on coming along on this mission. She’d had a bellyful of hanging out in the infirmary, obediently stuffing herself in order to “recover” while everyone tiptoed around the hard truth that she was broken to a degree that no amount of healing could rectify.
And now she was depressing herself. “How could House Sammael steal Nic if she and Gabriel were bonded and bonded familiars can’t be stolen?” she prompted.
“You don’t need to rephrase the question,” Jadren replied, rolling his eyes. “I was thinking.”
“That explains the burning smell.”
“Ha ha. Conversation with you is like being ten years old again.”
“At last you’ve found your mental equivalent,” she retorted cheerfully.
“Keep it up and you won’t get your answers.”
“Apologies, professor.”
He grunted noncommittally, squinting at a distant point, a line between his brows as he contemplated. “There are at least two complicating factors at play in this particular circumstance,” Jadren said, then he tossed her a jaunty grin. “Though I reserve the right to add more as I think of them.”
She nodded, reverting to keeping her mouth shut and her attention on scanning for danger while he talked. They hadn’t seen any of the Elal warrior spirits or spies, like they had on the journey in. That meant either she and Jadren couldn’t detect them or they weren’t there. It could be they were all focused on whatever was going on back at House Phel, but they didn’t want to assume.
“The first and broader complication is that ‘can’t be stolen’ is an over-generalization. Anyone can be taken captive, given sufficient guile or force. In the Convocation, however, the penalties for stealing another wizard’s familiar are both inherent and external. Taking the latter first, the external penalties are severe: it’s against Convocation law and breaking those laws results in such extreme consequences for the wizard—and possibly their entire house, which never works out well for the wizard, reference previous conversation about the heads of houses and their pathological need for ultimate control—that the prospect is usually a sufficient deterrent. By consequences, I mean exorbitant fines, primarily, though there might be other penalties.”
He held up a hand, even though she’d made no move to interrupt. “There are several reasons the deterrent wasn’t enough to stop Sergio Sammael—besides the fact that he’s a fuckhead in general and a poor excuse for a wizard in particular—and I’ll get to that. But first, we have to consider the inherent consequences of stealing a bonded familiar, which is that ultimately they become useless for the one thing that makes a familiar valuable.”
“Their magic.”
“Exactly.” Jadren slid her a considering look. “As you are the brand-new textbook entry in just how messed up it can get for a familiar whose magic goes south, you’ll understand the logical trajectory here. A bonded familiar cannot be forced to give up their magic to any wizard but their own, which leads to, as we well know, an unpleasant level of insanity.”
“There’s a pleasant level of insanity?”
“Heh. Don’t get me started. To continue with my point, the attenuation of the wizard–familiar bond exacerbates the problem for the familiar. Keep a bonded familiar separated from their wizard too long, especially if the familiar is loyal and refuses to cooperate by having their magic tapped, and you end up with a useless bag of flesh and bones. Makes the whole venture moot, and then solidly in the negative column when you factor in the external consequences.”
Jadren sucked on his teeth, expression grave. “In this very specific situation, a number of factors led Sammael—we’ll debate if Sergio was acting on his own or with the knowledge of the house, which changes things, as you’ve no doubt surmised, clever as you are—into thinking their gambit might work out to the profit side of the ledger.” He ticked the points off on his long fingers. “House Phel is still on probationary status, so there’s considerable question as to how vigorously the Convocation would pursue offenses against your house, especially given the multiple transgressions and irregularities of your rogue wizard of a brother.” He ticked up a second finger. “Not mention the fact that Nic had the presumption to attempt to escape the Convocation. They really don’t look kindly on familiars being rebellious in the slightest way, let alone something so egregious. That earns two points.” Two more fingers shot up.
“Also, as our unloved in-house traitor Laryn reported to Sammael, the Convocation proctor herself questioned whether Nic was properly bonded, declaring it non-standard for all to hear.” A fourth finger went up. “Finally—I think this is finally, anyway—Phel was incapacitated and thought likely to die from his attempt to clear out the incredible mess of garbage in your head, which Laryn also reported, which improved the odds of the Sammael gamble working. If Phel had died, any bond restraining or protecting Nic would’ve died with him. With her conveniently in-house, Sergio could’ve bonded her and the Convocation would have had to accept that as a fait accompli.”
Jadren waved his five splayed fingers at her. “Even someone who isn’t a shortsighted, overly ambitious sod with delusions of grandeur like Sergio Sammael might have thought the gambit was worth trying. It’s entirely possible Sergio’s father backed the plan, but stayed out of it in any observable way, for plausible deniability should Sergio fail.”
“Should?” Selly echoed, her brain swimming from all the information. “He did fail. Nic is rescued and back with Gabriel.”
