He grunted, sounding not at all excited, taking another step into the gloom. Nic immediately spotted the low bench she’d barked her shins on during their previous visit. It, along with a circle of similar benches, ringed what appeared to be a pit, even blacker than the general gloom of the huge, windowless room. “Is that water in the pit?” she asked, as Gabriel would know.

“Yes. A lot of water.” His magic streamed out as he used his water senses to test the pit. “Very deep. I think there are things living in it.”

“Given that this was all underwater until recently, it would be more surprising if there wasn’t.”

“Good point. But this is… something unusual.”

She was quiet, letting him concentrate, although her curiosity burned bright, wanting to know what he sensed.

Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t know what it is. I can tell it’s huge, possibly as big as this house. I can feel it displacing the water, but I can’t determine more detail than that. How could a pit this deep and a creature that huge possibly fit inside this space?”

“Magic,” Nic answered with a resigned shrug. “Sometimes there’s no explaining it.

This almost looks like an arena. Are there family stories about Phel wizards having water-based battles? Magic tournaments, maybe?”

He raised a brow at her, his hair a pale flame in the dimness. “Not that I ever heard, but I can ask Mom if she…” His face fell. “No, I suppose I can’t.”

“It would be a good excuse to talk to her,” Nic prodded. “I know she feels terrible that you overheard what she said. She needs to know that you forgive her.”

Gabriel studied Nic for a long moment. “What if I can’t forgive her?” he asked quietly.

Her heart ached for him. “Oh, Gabriel. Then you do your best to forget what you cannot forgive. And over time, you might find that the careless words of a fraught moment don’t matter as much as the fact that your mother loves you.”

“If she does.”

“Gabriel! Of course she does.”

His lips twisted, not quite a smile. “How can anyone love a monster?”

“Are you questioning my taste, integrity, and judgment?” she retorted, not quite annoyed, but close. “Because I love you.”

Now he did smile, wistfully. “Yes, but possibly because you, my heart, are also a monster.”

She surprised them both by laughing. “This is a legitimate point. You, me, and the swamp monster in yon pit.”

Making a face, Gabriel looked back at the pit. “Did you say you decided against recruiting a House Ariel wizard?”

She sighed, mentally rearranging her delicately balanced—more accurately, unbalanced and teetering on the edge of disaster—budget. “I thought having an animal wizard was low priority. I have since moved that up very high on the list. The last thing we need is a rampaging swamp monster.”

“I think I can keep it confined to the pit using the water,” Gabriel said thoughtfully.