Nic gaped at her sister, completely flummoxed. “I will never be the head of House Elal. No familiar can be.”

Alise waved that off as inconsequential. “Yes, yes. I know that. You know that. Everyone in the freaking Convocation knows that—but do you ever think about how stupid that is? All the Convocation houses being led only by the most powerful wizards the family can produce, as if magical potential gives you any ability to run a business, which it emphatically does not. No wonder our high and lower-tier houses are forever foundering, being relegated to obscurity. Just imagine if the houses chose the most business-minded and savvy person to head the house!”

“Even a familiar?” Nic asked, her head spinning a bit. She’d never imagined Alise harbored such radical ideas.

“Even a commoner!” Alise fired back, face alight with enthusiasm. “Magic doesn’t make you intelligent or competent. Why can’t people with MP scores below the almighty 3.0 hold positions of power?”

“Because the wizards don’t like it,” Nic answered reflexively.

“Exactly. Because they’re power-hungry megalomaniacs. And we just let them control the whole world!”

“Well, we let them because otherwise they’d kill us all,” Nic replied drily.

“It’s not right, Nic,” Alise insisted. “No one should hold so much power, and for all the wrong reasons. They become consumed with battling each other rather than working for any kind of common good. It’s as if we put feral bulls in charge when we know they only want to rut and ram horns with each other.”

“I had no idea you were such a rebel.”

“Back at you,” Alise retorted with raised brows. “You were always the good girl, Papa’s pet, so determined to be the perfect student and perfect everything. I’m frankly amazed—and impressed—that you had it in you to try to escape Lord Phel’s claim.”

“Don’t be impressed. I failed miserably.”

Alise studied her. “I’ll still help you,” she said in a lowered voice. “I’m not a powerful wizard by any stretch, but I’m competent and getting better. We can run away, back to Wartson, if you like. I can tap your magic to keep you sane. Han and Iliana would come with us. We could begin something new there. A magical community without the Convocation rules.”

“Is that why you helped them?” Nic asked, genuinely still unable to wrap her mind around it.

Alise took up her wine and studied it without drinking. “In part? I’m not sure why I did, except that I really loathe Sabrina Sammael and couldn’t stand by while she hurt my friends.”

“You could have,” Nic suggested gently. “No one would’ve held it against you.”

“I would’ve held it against me. Iliana asked, and I hadn’t been a good friend to her since I became a wizard. I didn’t like who I was becoming. I hate what it does to us, you know? When we were young uncats, we could all be friends, but then as, one by one, everyone was categorized as wizard or familiar, it’s like we became something… else. Only our magical roles and no longer people. Monsters instead of humans, particularly the wizards.”