“That wasn’t part of the test!”
“Neither was adding heat to the light spell and sending it my way!”
“You promised you’d stay out of my head!” he protested.
She laughed, and it wasn’t the pleasant sound that often accompanied their time together. This was cold and derisive.
“Grow up. If you’re going to try to put one over on me, you’re going to get it back tenfold.”
Thaddeus glared, but her calm expression never changed. Finally, he dropped his eyes.
“Yeah, all right,” he muttered. “I get your point. I wasn’t going to let it go too far. I just wanted to surprise you.”
“Now you know what happens when you do. You do know that they’re watching both of us, right?”
Thaddeus looked up, his eyes shifting around the room wildly. Melanie laughed again.
“Not in here. Not like that. But if we left this room with you being perfectly fine and me being singed, what do you think would happen?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t know either,” she said, her voice growing softer. “But it wouldn’t be good. At the least, they’d remove me as your trainer. They’re probably waiting for you to grow past me as it is.”
“I don’t want another trainer.” Thaddeus moved closer to her.
“Think they care? They want you ready.”
He took her hand. “I’m sorry, for real. But…”
“What?”
“Maybe I have started to grow past what you can teach me.” He fought to keep the grin from his face, and when it broke through she narrowed her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. It hurt. Whatever else Melanie was or wasn’t, she was certainly not weak.
“I hate you,” she said.
“Nope.” He took her into his arms. “But you don’t love me either.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“Why are they in such a hurry for me to be ready for some task?” Thaddeus asked later.
“There’s not a lot of members of this House. I’m sure it’s to get more of us out there, doing what we do.”
“That just it, though. What is it that we do?”
“You know. Infiltrate the other Houses, get them to do things the way we want them to, things like that.”
“Sure,” he said, “but why? What’s the endgame?”
Melanie sighed. “You ask a lot of questions, you know?”
“So I’ve been told. You haven’t answered mine.”
“I don’t know. It’s never been discussed with me.”
“Right. That’s what I thought.” Ever since he came here, Thaddeus had been asking the same question. Why? What was the purpose of their activities? And no one could give him an answer.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” he finally said. “I think Malachi is playing a game that treats us like pawns. We don’t mean anything to him, as long as he gets what he wants.”
“Which is?” she asked.
Thaddeus shrugged. “No idea.”
She was looking at him strangely. “You’re up to something.”
“No, not really. Just…thinking.”
“Uh-huh. About what?”
Thaddeus looked around, making sure they were still alone and that no one stood outside the room.
“I think we should find out. See if Malachi’s interests match our own.”
“And how will we do that?”
“Not sure yet, honestly. But we have the means.”
He conjured up a flame, a small thing, made out of nothing. No scrap of paper, no thread, no candle wick. Flame out of thin air. As Melanie watched, he danced it across his fingers, then formed it into a perfect rose, still burning brightly.
“Finesse,” he grinned. “Something I’ve been working on.”
“You’re going to give Malachi a flower?”
“No. I’m showing you that there can be more to what we do than brute force. If I can do this, what can you do?”
“You mean get inside his head? Are you crazy? No one knows what Malachi’s powers are, but he’s supposed to be ridiculously strong.”
“Strength isn’t everything. As I said, finesse.”
“And to what end for us?”
“I was in line, you know.” He let the flower flare brighter, then droop like it was wilting. “After Celia disappeared, Florian had no heir. I never had any interest in being Head of House, but I was the next one up. I started to get myself ready.” The flower regrew in his hand. “And then I found that I quite liked the idea. Then, Subtle Hemlock came, with the Soul Gaunts.” He transferred the flower from his right hand to his damaged left. With a sudden movement, he closed his remaining two fingers and thumb around it, snuffing it out. “And everything was changed, gone.”
He looked back at Melanie.
“Maybe I’ll take this House instead.”
Chapter 15
It was still dark when he woke, feeling refreshed. Whatever Yag-Morah gave him to drink worked as she promised. He slept like a baby, no dreams disturbing him and now he felt ready to conquer a new day. It was a nice feeling.
Gan-Rowe was in the same spot he had been when Solomon slipped off.
“Don’t you ever sleep?” he smiled.
The Mar-trollid smiled back. “Of course. All things sleep in one manner or another. I don’t need as much as some, though.”
“Well, apparently I needed it. I can’t remember the last time I felt this rested.”
“I am happy to hear it. And my daughter will be as well. She takes great pride in her teas.”
Solomon pushed himself upright. “She has reason to. If I might ask, where is her mother?”
“She left us many years ago, when Yag-Morah was still small. Since then, it’s been her and I. Along with the rest of our people, of course.”
Solomon didn’t know if that meant Yag-Morah’s mother had gone to seek elsewhere, or if she had passed away, but decided it would be rude to ask. “Well, you’ve raised a great kid.”
Gan-Rowe smiled at
