I have zero sympathy for fools. And idealists, Nic whispered in his mind.

Terribly afraid he was being both in this venture, and that these fatal flaws would spell Nic’s doom, he leaned his forehead against Salve’s pale hide, stroking her silky shoulder. The mare ruffled his hair with hay-scented breath, and for no good reason, that made him miss Nic more than ever.

“Hey,” Jadren said quietly, for once entirely serious, no joking to him. “We’ll get her back.”

Gabriel closed his eyes, though the image of that forbidding, unassailable castle had seared itself into his brain. “How do you know?”

“We have to. Therefore we will.”

Gabriel mulled that as they rode on, all of Nic’s advice about intention filtering through his mind. I have to, he repeated to himself. Therefore, I will.

There weren’t many roads to House Sammael. So much so that it wasn’t possible to approach the place undetected. At some point, someone would inevitably see them, if they hadn’t been spotted already. That was something the High House shared with House Elal. Gabriel mused grimly over the contrast of those with House Phel. Even in its previous heyday, the grand manse in Meresin had never been designed as a fortress as these were. The entrée to both the Sammael and Elal family seats were explicitly made to be difficult for the uninvited—and no doubt treacherous for anyone with ill intentions.

“Is House El-Adrel like this?” he asked Jadren, who rode beside him. “Built like they expect an invading army to attack at any moment,” he explained when Jadren raised an inquiring brow.

“Of course,” Jadren answered, as if it were self-evident.

“So is House Hanneil,” Han supplied from behind them. “And every other High House I’ve been to—along with a significant number of lower-tier houses hoping to elevate themselves.”

“The history of the Convocation is a bloody and violent one, especially among the houses jockeying to become High Houses,” Jadren added. “No one wins by underestimating their enemies. House Phel is unusual in that it’s so easily approached.”

Perhaps that explained why the Phel family was defeated back in the day. Gabriel rarely felt empathy for his unknown ancestors, but now it seemed perhaps they may have been what Nic accused him of being: too soft and concerned with all the wrong things. Gazing up at the malevolent architecture of House Sammael as it loomed over them, taking up most of the sky from this perspective, he recognized with visceral clarity how unlike the bulk of the Convocation he truly was.

But that didn’t make him a victim. They have no idea how dangerous you are, Nic’s voice echoed in his head. Well, soon they would know.

“Why are we simply riding up to the front doors again?” Gabriel asked, worry and suspicion tightening in his gut.

“The High Houses might be forever at each other’s throats, but we do it politely,” Jadren answered with an easy grin.