Chapter 11
Han waited in the silent night by the skating pond. The garlands with their elemental lights bobbed over the empty dance floor. Everyone was inside at the feast, drinking and making merry. He gazed up at the remote stars in the black sky above, wishing his magic could read an omen in them.
A whisper of sound had him drawing his sword. Then he relaxed as Iliana’s familiar presence brushed across his senses, sweet as strawberries in summer.
Then he sensed the wizard with her and held onto his sword.
“It’s all right,” Iliana said. “Alise is coming with us.”
“Where are we going?” he asked cautiously, taking the hand Iliana held out and pulling her to his side.
“Meresin,” Alise replied from the shadowed interior of her black cloak. “We’re going to rescue my sister, and then we’ll all run away across the sea.”
He didn’t quite credit it. “Why would you do this, Alise? You stand to inherit House Elal.”
She let out a long breath. “I don’t want it. Not like this.”
“But—”
“Han,” she interrupted with some impatience, “I just want to see my sister. I’ll figure out everything else after that, all right?”
He sheathed his sword. “Who am I to argue with a wizard?”
Iliana giggled and Alise narrowed her eyes at him. “Just get in the sleigh, will you? I have an elemental to retrain.”
Han handed Iliana into the sleigh, tucking the fur blanket over her lap and snuggling her close against his side. She turned her face up to his, so he kissed her. Her lips were cold and sweet, her magic warmly coiling around them. “Happy Founder’s Day,” she whispered against his mouth.
“Happy Freedom Day,” he corrected.
“Prosperity through … love,” she answered.
“My favorite new holiday.” He kissed her again as the sleigh sprang into motion and Alise settled into her side of the seat.
They sped off into the night until the festive elemental lights faded into nothing and only the stars lit their way.
This time he glimpsed the omen in them, of hope, and of true love.
Lady Veronica Elal, captive in her tower, has one hope for control over her life: a wizard she can manipulate. Gabriel Phel seems like the perfect choice for Nic’s gambit—he’s desperate and untutored in wizardry—but within moments of meeting him, she feels the bonds of magic tying them together...