“I’ll have to ask her,” Gabriel replied breezily, taking up a missive from his desk and pretending to study it. Nonchalantly, he glanced up, as if surprised to find Jadren still standing there. “Was there anything else?”

“No, Lord Phel.” Jadren smiled easily, a glint in his black eyes. “I’ll let you know if the key doesn’t work. It would be a shame if we had to trot you down to the north wing every time we needed to go in and out.” He made it sound like not a shame at all. “Stay away from the pit, you say?”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

“Good to know. What’s in it?”

“House Phel proprietary information, I’m afraid,” he answered coolly. It wasn’t a lie: someone in House Phel had installed the creature there, knew why, and what it was.

“Ah.” Jadren’s smile widened as he saw right through Gabriel’s prevarication. “I’m sure you’ll tell us once you figure it out. Nothing like the ancient monsters lurking in these mazes our ancestors saw fit to build. You should see House El-Adrel some time. Layers upon layers of mechanisms. Entire wings disappear for years, sometimes with unfortunate non-wizards trapped within and unable to extricate themselves.”

“How disconcerting,” Gabriel observed, quite sure he did not want to see that for himself.

Jadren’s smile faded. “You have no idea.” He tossed off a jaunty salute. “I shall report.”

“Jadren,” Gabriel called on impulse as Jadren opened the door to leave. He waited for the man to turn back. “Would your work be aided by the assistance of a familiar’s magic?” He couldn’t quite believe himself that he offered, but he also seemed to find himself awash in unbonded familiars who’d need their magic tapped. Clearly Nic’s practicality was rubbing off on him.

Jadren turned back slowly, all hint of amusement fled. “I am not interested in bonding a familiar, Lord Phel.”

How fascinating. And how fabulously unlikely it was that the spy fastened upon him by High House El-Adrel via extortion was the sole other wizard he’d encountered totally uninterested in bonding a familiar. Or was he? “I didn’t offer that,” Gabriel replied loftily, pleased when the arrogant man winced ever so slightly, caught neatly by his own confession. “I understand a wizard can tap an unbonded familiar’s magic. I might be able to provide that resource if it would be helpful to you.”

If anything, Jadren’s scowl blackened. “Are you implying I lack sufficient power to conduct my work, Lord Phel?”

“No,” Gabriel answered calmly, unwilling to antagonize the man, as much as he enjoyed poking at his pomposity. “I’m simply—”

“Because there is more to wizardry than brute power,” Jadren interrupted. “The meticulous application of skill, creativity, and intelligence can do more than wild displays of raw power that dazzle but produce nothing more than very loud storms and frightening special effects.”

Ah, well, Gabriel reflected to himself, poke a mad dog and expect to be bitten. Besides, Jadren’s accusation was fair enough. “The offer is there,” he said with a shrug, as if it didn’t matter to him. “I may have familiars in need of having their magic tapped. It occurred to me that we might as well put that magic toward the good of House Phel and the development of our promising new product line.” Listen to him. He sounded just like Nic. The thought amused him greatly, and he wondered again where she was and what she was up to. Amazing how he’d gotten so he missed her desperately after only a few hours deprived of her company.