Gabriel vaporized the water on the floor, drenching himself so the flames died away. At the same time, he flung a series of silver spikes at Lord Elal. Several spirit sentries intervened, batting them away with apparent ease.

“You’re tiring,” Lord Elal taunted, “and I have barely begun.”

“This is my arcanium,” Gabriel ground out, edging just a bit closer while Elal gloated.

“It was.” The wizard pulled a sad face. “It answers to me now. The benefit of training and experience you lack. It didn’t take long to attune it to me. Magic is magic, after all, and there is a nigh infinite amount stored here. I can go on forever while you have made a critical erro. A beginner’s mistake.” He grinned in triumph. “I am between you and your familiar. You cannot reach her. Meanwhile, I’ll bleed you dry and finally rid us of your pestilent presence.”

“You’re celebrating too soon,” Gabriel informed him. Beyond the wizard, on the other side of the room, Nic stood, meeting his gaze with firm devotion. She nodded her readiness. “And your thinking is limited by your archaic Convocation traditions. I never went to House Sammael, because Nic and I don’t need to touch to combine magic.”

Lord Elal’s instant sneer of disdain shattered into astonishment, then fear as Gabriel received Nic’s magic, spinning it with his into an amalgam of moon, water, and spirit fire. He wrested the spirits and elementals from Elal’s dwindling grasp, then slammed the wizard with steam boiling up from the floor. Elal shrieked, high and frantic, twisting and contorting as silver spikes pierced him from all directions, his blood falling to the floor like the richest of his wines.

With a final wail, he collapsed, holding both hands to his head, sobbing piteously as he tried to pluck the spike embedded in his right eye. Gabriel stood over him, then looked to Nic. “An eye for an eye.”

“Is it enough for you?” she asked softly, no judgment in her gaze.

He considered, the monster within craving more, the man who Nic called foolishly noble uncertain for once of the balance that needed to be struck. “It can be enough,” he told her, “if you tell me it is.”

“It’s enough.” She offered a rueful smile. “There’s been sufficient bloodshed today, and I’d like to be done with it.”

“What shall we do with him, then?”

Nic let out a long sigh, drifting closer, though she spared no glance for her defeated father. “Put him in his carriage and send him back to Elal. Alise can direct the elemental to take him. I want him gone from here.”

“And your mother?”

“Maman stays with us,” Nic answered firmly.

“Won’t she pine after him, try to return?”

“I have an idea.” Finally, she glanced down. “Lord Elal. I am confiscating your familiar as payment for crimes against our family.”

He stared up at her, face contorted as his mouth worked, and she looked away from the spike embedded in his ruined eye. “You can’t,” he croaked.