Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(32)

“Okay.” I could work with that. “Should we camp here, or stay in the town?”

“Whichever is easiest for you, but it is best that you not stray too far,” Iannis said. “I would like you and Elnos to confiscate and destroy any packages leaving the facility—they may contain these deadly concoctions that we are trying to prevent from spreading.”

“I’ve been doing that already,” Elnos said, nodding. “I didn’t know what they were sending out, but since it’s the Resistance in charge here, I knew it could be nothing good. I figured it would be too risky to ambush arriving packages, as it would make whoever is running the compound suspicious if expected packages started going missing. But it’s been easy to transmogrify packages leaving the compound.

“Transmogrify?” My eyebrows winged up as I regarded Elnos with interest. “Into what?”

“Usually water, or grape juice, if it is a liquid, or bread if it is a solid.” Elnos’s lips twitched. “I imagine whoever is receiving these shipments is very frustrated.”

“That is impressive, and lucky for us all,” Iannis commented. “Were they very large shipments?”

“So far I’ve only done two,” Elnos confessed. “One left by a rather large wagon, the other in a smaller steamcar. It was easy enough to break a wheel or flatten a tire from the cover of the trees on the side of the road, then sneak into the back and change the contents before they noticed.” Elnos smiled shyly, rubbing the back of his neck as he realized how much attention he was getting. “I’m studying chemistry, which gives me quite an advantage in transmogrification.”

“That is very good work,” Iannis praised. “You would make a good spy.”

Elnos shook his head. “I’m much more comfortable in my workshop.”

We descended from the hill, back down into the warded clearing. Frowning, I looked around at the fire pit and tents Elnos and Annia had set up. “Is there going to be enough food?”

“I’m afraid not. I planned on picking some up from the market in town, but I forgot to do so before we left the inn. Annia and I stocked up when we arrived, but we’re out now.”

“I guess we can do that, and maybe snoop around in the local pubs and catch some useful gossip.”

“Try not to get into too much trouble while I’m gone, Sunaya.” Iannis settled his hands on my waist, drawing me close and dropping the disguise. “I want you alive when I get back.”

“I plan to be.” I framed his gorgeous face with my hands and kissed him, hard. His arms banded around me, drawing me tight to him as we savored the moment. Sparks sizzled through my veins, igniting my hunger, and I nipped his bottom lip before pulling back.

“I love you,” I whispered, allowing my gaze to roam over his face. I soaked in every curve and edge of bone in his aristocratic features, every line and dent in his alabaster skin. But most of all, I soaked in the emotion blazing from those iridescent eyes, those impossibly vibrant irises that he inherited from a mythical Tua ancestor long ago.

“I love you.” Iannis brushed a thumb over my cheekbones, then pulled away. “I’ll be back soon,” he said to me, then turned to Elnos. They locked gazes for a moment, some kind of unspoken communication passing between them before Elnos nodded.

And then he disappeared, one moment here, the next gone in a burst of wind and speed.





14





Three days later.

“Sunaya, don’t be foolish!” Elnos hissed from the tree line. “Come back here!”

“No,” I growled, stalking forward. My boots thumped along the dirt path that led directly to the back entrance of the compound. Or, rather, the exit, as it was a metal door sunken into the back of a hillside, with no handle. It could only be opened from the inside, as Annia had discovered when she’d tried to get in this way.

“I won’t let you do this!” Elnos dashed from the trees and grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. “Why set off the alarm and risk exposing us, when Lord Iannis will be back any moment now?”

“Iannis should have been back yesterday!” Angry, I ripped my arm free as I whirled around to face Elnos. He was a good deal taller than I was, nearly as tall as Iannis, so I had to crane my neck in order to glare at him. “It’s been three days with no sign of him, and we haven’t been able to discover any way into the compound. All we’ve managed to do is ruin those two outgoing shipments yesterday!”

“I understand your frustration,” Elnos said, and indeed, his own voice was brimming with the same emotion. “But charging in now and risking our safety is a foolish plan. We have time until Lord Iannis returns. Surely we can think of something—”

“Like what?” I propped my hands on my hips. “We’re out of options. We’ve found no way to get past the wards, and eavesdropping on those guards in town hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Impersonating them won’t do us any good, because you tried to breach the wards disguised as a human and you still set them off. The ether pigeons we sent in to warn Noria and Annia didn’t seem to do any good either.” They’d probably fizzled out the moment they’d touched the border, though they hadn’t actually set off the alarm.

“You don’t know that,” Elnos said tightly. “For all we know, Noria may have noticed our attempts to breach the barrier. She could be trying to engineer an escape attempt right now. What if we trigger the alarm and ruin her chances of getting out?”