Page 129 of Contested Crown

“Miles,” Cade said quietly. He was looking at me, and I knew in the pit of my stomach that it was bad news, but I couldn’t let him say it, not when Coral and Theo were both hanging on just barely, desperate for the single ray of hope I was offering.

He gestured to himself, and even with the half a motion, I knew. He was going to try using his own magic to do something. He was going to spend the magic he’d just gotten in order to save them.

“Hey, uh, boss?” Joel and Evelyn were standing in the entrance to the room, their eyes skimming over the crowd.

“We found them outside.” Evelyn moved to the side, revealing the two people behind her, flanked by Gabe.

“Well! If I’d known it was going to be a puppy party, I would have shown up sooner!” Rhys said. They stalked into the room, the heels of their boots snapping loudly, each footstep a statement.

“Rhys.” Cade’s mouth fell open, and he shook his head. “How did you know we were here?”

“Nia’s been watching. She’s overprotective and wanted to make sure everyone was okay, which they obviouslyaren’t.” Rhys turned and glared at their consort over their shoulder. “When she saw you two come in, she came to get me, which was a good decision because you were about to do something suicidal like waste all your magic trying to heal the dying mages.” Rhys threw up their hands. “We did not go to all the trouble to save everyone only to have you all die!”

“I guess the two of you have a better plan,” I said, raising my eyebrow at Nia.

“In point of fact, we do.” Rhys looked around, their expression going uneasy. “We just hope we aren’t too late.”

ChapterForty-Two

“What are you proposing?” Cade asked.

“The mages here are still linked to House Bartlett, meaning it’s the poison that got them sick.” Rhys’s lips twisted. “The poison acted faster on them because they were absorbing more of it. When they tried to heal their wolves, when they tried to give their wolves magic, the magic went straight back to House Bartlett.”

“And the other mages,” I said, seeing it clearly. “The wolves were giving all their magic to the house, which is why the other mages started getting stronger. But I thought you said some mages live with the same amount of magic for their whole lives? Their magiccan’tincrease.”

“It can’t,” Cade said. “Draining wolves and, through them, their mages wouldn’t increase anyone else’s magic. It’s impossible. Not unless…”

Cade frowned and glanced at me. We both had seen how mages with little magic had increased theirs at House Morrison. But there was no way that Leon, with his obsession with tradition and beliefs about strength, would do anything like the grafting we’d seen at House Morrison.

“I can’t explain it, but I do know this.” Rhys’s nose twitched. “I was not affected. Neither was Nia.”

My attention refocused on the two of them, and I realized that she didn’t show any of the weight loss or weakness of the other House Bartlett wolves. Every other House Bartlett mage was laid out—literally. But Rhys was up as though nothing had happened.

“Why not?” Cade asked. “What’s different about you two?”

“You remember when I did my apprenticeship in Paris?” Rhys looked over at me, their expression warming. “Gorgeous city, gorgeous people, and the cafés! How are all these people so thin when they make bread likethat?”

“You survived because of Parisian bread?” I asked, trying to get them back on track. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Evelyn staring down Coral, and for a second, I was sure it was going to be bloodshed.

Evelyn was doing it as a matter of course. A new wolf was around her, one that I’d claimed as part of the pack, and she was trying to figure out how it shifted the hierarchy. There was an equal chance that Coral didn’t know it was mostly harmless, an introduction like handing out a business card to tell someone your job title. She might think it was a threat, that Evelyn was challenging her.

But Coral slumped, her shoulders dropping, and she whined. Evelyn immediately dropped, having ascertained that she was higher ranked, and now her job was comforting the new member of the pack.

“The cheese I’m sure helped too,” Rhys said tartly, drawing my attention back to them. “But no, in order to take the job, I needed to leave House Bartlett.”

“Yes, you were gone for two years,” Cade said.

“No, sweetie, I needed toleaveHouse Bartlett.” Rhys raised their eyebrows significantly.

Cade’s mouth fell open. “But you were allowed back.”

Rhys waved their hand. “I think everyone assumed I repledged myself to the house. Leon certainly did. But the person I would have done that with was the king, and there was no king.”

“I’m missing something,” I said.

The house is a pledge, a promise, and it owns everyone under its roof,Basil hissed in my ear.Except me. I am the only one who owns me.

Cade explained most of the same thing. “When a member of House Bartlett comes of age, they pledge themselves and their service to the house. It’s mostly ceremonial, but there is a magical element to it.”