Oh, Alise.

“Nander will be the next Lord Elal,” her father continued, nodding to himself. “He shows great promise, and none of the unfortunate bad blood that seems to have infected you and your sister. Fortunately for you, kitten, you have an opportunity to redeem yourself. Once you bond with young Sergio here, you will cement our ties with House Sammael. And I’ll consider forgiving you.”

“I can never bond with Sammael.” She held her head high. “I am Lady Phel. House Phel is mine, whether Lord Phel revives or not.”

Her father laughed again, incredulity and contempt in it. “I thought I taught you better than that. It’s just as well you turned out to be a familiar, as impotent in intelligence as you are in magic. House Phel will cease to exist,” he explained. “Once Lord Phel is dispatched, his house status will be well and truly revoked.”

“I carry the House Phel heir,” Nic countered. “That parentage has been certified by the Convocation proctors.”

Her father waved that consideration off with such ease that her worry increased. What would he do?

“Listen to me closely, pet,” he instructed, his magic condensing around her. When she was a little girl and had committed some transgression, he’d used his tame spirits to frighten her, and now he tried the same tricks as if she weren’t a grown woman. Besides that, she was an Elal herself, a trained familiar and well able to discern the spirits he tried to intimidate her with. He was miscalculating, underestimating her, and she kept the satisfaction of that to herself, waiting to use it to her advantage.

“If you want any sort of life,” her father continued, speaking as if she were that child still, “then you will do as you’re told. Look around you at all you can have. I’m sure you missed the wealth and comforts of a Convocation High House. You can be Lady Sammael in due course. No familiar can aspire to better than that.” He held out his hands with open palms facing the sky. “Pain, misery, and insanity on one hand. Wealth, status, and the love of your family on the other. The choice is a simple one.”

She pretended to consider, flicking her uncertain gaze between smug Sergio and her arrogantly preening father. “What would I have to do?”

“Submit to bonding with Sammael here, naturally,” her father replied, confident in her capitulation already. “Once we’ve taken care of Phel, that is. And answer a few questions, make yourself useful that way.”

“Questions?” made a show of looking puzzled, though she began to see where this was going. Why had House Elal—and likely others, such as Sammael?—sought the fall of House Phel generations ago? Though houses fought regularly, it was rare for one to be so decimated the family disappeared altogether. Or nearly so.

“Oh, details of House Phel. Reconnaissance. That sort of thing.” Her father waved a hand, pretending to nonchalance, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’d always prided himself on gathering his own information. He thought Nic knew something he couldn’t uncover on his own.