She was not, however, prepared for the sight of his companion.

“Papa?” she squeaked, her breath having gone entirely out of her. Her thoughts whirled through a gamut of relief, terror, joy, and cruel suspicion. How was Papa there, where House Sammael was holding her captive? She needed to think through the ramifications and possibilities. She couldn’t think at all. Some pitiful childish part of her wanted him to be there to save her. The older, jaded adult knew that wasn’t the case.

It hurt an astonishing amount.

“Kitten,” Papa declared, calling her by her old pet name and opening his arms to her as if nothing between them had changed and she’d run to him for a hug. “It’s so good to see you again,” he said when she didn’t move, prompting her. His magic sang sharp in the air, primed, invisible spirits milling palpably around him, and his black eyes glittered with expectant calculation.

No, he wasn’t here as her beloved papa, no matter how he playacted at it. He was here on some mission of political conniving.

“I’m confused about why you’re here, Lord Elal,” she said formally.

Sergio folded his arms and raked her improvised outfit with an infuriated glare. Nic was doubly happy to have thwarted him. Having her father see her in that excuse for a negligee would’ve been especially humiliating. “What did I tell you, Lord Elal?” Sergio sneered. “Hopelessly recalcitrant.”

“She wouldn’t be if you’d bonded her already,” Lord Elal snapped at the younger man. “I handed you a golden opportunity, a pearl beyond price, and what have you done with it? Nothing.”

“Her wizard is still alive,” Sergio retorted, more than a hint of a whine in his voice. “I can’t bond her while he lives.”

“There’s a simple solution to that, you idiot,” Lord Elal sneered. “How difficult is it to dispatch a magicless living corpse? It’s not as if he can defend himself. A toddler could take care of it.”

Nic’s blood ran cold, and she stared at her father, wondering how she’d ever loved him. And how she could still be taken by surprise at his duplicity. “You’re talking about my husband, wizard, and the father of my child, as well as the lord of a rival house in the Convocation,” she said softly, a clear warning in her tone. One which her father ignored completely.

“Phel has wizards around him,” Sergio protested. “We can’t simply waltz into House Phel and expect no one to fight us.”

“Then take a force of your own,” Lord Elal explained with exaggerated patience. “They are a motley crew of half-talents, with more commoners and familiars than wizards.”

“Do you consider your daughter and heir, Alise, a half-talent?” Nic inquired, steeling herself not to flinch when her father rounded on her, wizard-black eyes blazing with fire.

“Have a care, kitten,” he said with lethal quiet. “You serve a purpose, for the moment, but I won’t hesitate to muzzle you as your wizard should’ve done. You have caused a number of problems for me, you and your delinquent sister. Do you know she wrote to me, begging me to help you?” He laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “She even offered to come home and accept whatever punishment I deemed necessary, like that was something I would ever want from that ungrateful brat.”