“Good enough,” he decided, surreptitiously stroking the velvety nape of her neck before stepping away to let her concentrate.

“You’re not using Elal elementals for lighting, I noticed,” Asa said as Nic wrote.

Nic’s magic, which had been blooming rosily, contracted at Asa’s words. “No,” Gabriel replied for her. “We have yet to reach… an agreement with House Elal.”

“Pity.” Asa nodded knowingly. “And no surprise there, though I’m sorry to hear it.”

“Care to review this, Wizard Asa?” Nic inquired, holding out the contract.

He took it, laying the document on the desk in the pool of warm light and bending over it. He straightened, looking between Nic and Gabriel with considerable surprise. “You’re asking your wizards to agree to share all income, including royalties from products developed, equally with their familiars?”

Laryn startled visibly in Gabriel’s peripheral vision, and Asa turned to look at his familiar as if just then remembering her existence. Gabriel set his teeth. Asa wasn’t anywhere near as arrogant and self-involved as most Convocation wizards, but he still had a distressing tendency to treat his familiar like an appendage, rather than as an independent human being.

“Where would she keep the funds?” he asked, studying Laryn. “And how would she use them?”

Mastering his temper, Gabriel looked to Nic for help. She blinked at him with wide eyes, smiling with patently false innocence, making it clear he was on his own. This was your idea, she seemed to be saying, so you make the argument. Clearing his throat, he recalled what Nic had said when he proposed the idea. “To begin with, we’re aware that familiars wouldn’t be able to spend their income outside of Meresin. House Phel could, however, keep accounts for familiars who are uncomfortable keeping their coin any other way. We would then make purchases for familiars via our house vendor accounts, so they can acquire what they like from their credit.”

For the first time in their brief acquaintance, Laryn looked something less than dour.

“I’m frankly a bit insulted by the implication that I wouldn’t provide for my own familiar and wife,” Asa said, but not angrily.

“Don’t be, Asa,” Nic put in. “No one is questioning your ability or willingness to provide for Laryn. Think about other wizards we’ve known who are not so generous as you.”

Asa, still studying Laryn, nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a radical idea,” he said. “I suggest that your nondisclosure cover the contract terms as well, or you may see trouble from this. In fact, you’d be wise to seal the nondisclosure before you show anyone the contract, in case they decline to sign and carry the tale back to the Convocation.”

Nic raised her brows at Gabriel, managing to both seek his approval on the tactic and remind him that she’d told him this move would create trouble. “Excellent idea,” he replied to Asa, wondering if the wizard would now be one of those who refused to sign, the first to carry the tale to Convocation if allowed—and what lengths Gabriel would be willing to go to in order to silence the man.