“Good thing I don’t plan to do that, then,” Gabriel replied, amused, despite everything. Jadren was only confirming that his plan was a good one. No one would expect it.

This time Jadren seemed to hear him, muttering something unintelligible to himself. “Then what do you plan to do?”

Gabriel allowed himself a wicked smile. “Just watch.”

Nic paced the round tower room, which was crazy-making, but better than sitting still and repeatedly poking at herself mentally in a futile effort to determine if her sanity was eroding yet. She’d gone longer than this before without having her magic tapped, so there really shouldn’t be any corrosive effect yet. Maybe she was feeling the pressure of her magic so much because she’d been using it with Gabriel more than ever before in her life. More likely, she only thought it was building to boiling due to the galling combination of utter boredom and low-level terror.

She had way too much time to think about it. Days, though she wasn’t sure how many. And way too little to do with her energy.

Except pace and fret.

On the upside, smarmy Sergio hadn’t been back to pester her. Neither had her father. The downside of them leaving her alone was that she worried about what they were up to. Were they laying a trap for Gabriel, if he was even awake? Had they gone to House Phel in force and even now everyone there was dead? Had her father used the information she’d given him to take over the arcanium?

Pausing in her pacing, she slammed the meat of her fists against the stone wall, growling her frustration. Never had she felt so impotent to affect her fate, to save the people who meant everything to her. Though she knew she only harmed herself, she beat on the wall, venting her despair in incoherent half screams, stopping short of banging her head against it because that would really hurt.

Giving up on her tantrum, she slid down the wall, giving in to tears. She’d been good about not letting herself cry—mostly because if her father or Sergio did suddenly turn up, she didn’t want them to see the evidence that they were making progress on breaking her. If the untapped magic didn’t make her crazy, the boredom, isolation, and despair would.

But for the regularly delivered, bland-beyond-description meals, she’d worry that they’d left her there to die. “They won’t do that, though, will they?” she muttered to the baby, the silent life inside her. At least then she could pretend she wasn’t talking to herself. “Oh nooo. We’re much too valuable. We’ve always been kept in a cage by them. This one is just far more tangible.” Giving in, she banged her head back against the wall. “Ow.”

Bashing her head against stone walls was as futile, and painful, as she’d known without trying. Gabriel was the one who tried anyway.

Scrubbing the tears away, she tried to think—for the millionth time—of a way out of this predicament. Maybe it wasn’t too late to save Gabriel and everyone in House Phel. If she could just warn them, then maybe… This was getting her nowhere. Instead, she let herself dwell in some memories of Gabriel. He’d been the first person in her life who hadn’t wanted to cage her, intangibly or otherwise. He was the best thing that ever happened to her, and keeping their child alive was the only reason she wasn’t considering suicide to escape the terrible fate that awaited her. Maybe after the baby was born… If she could keep a small corner of her will, she could find a way to finally escape her cage.