Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(4)

It did not take me long to reach the library, on the lower level of the Palace. “Good morning, Miss Baine,” a youthful voice greeted me, and I started at the sight of an unfamiliar female mage sitting behind the front desk of the library. Dressed in grey robes, the emblem of an open book inside a circle stitched above the left breast, she had dark, glossy brown hair and a polite, welcoming expression.

“Umm, good morning.” I glanced around the library, a huge room with towering bookshelves and soaring ceilings. Unlike the last time I’d been here, most of the gleaming wooden desks with their green glass lamps were occupied by mages—apprentices studying new spells, and Guild employees doing research. More grey-robed librarians moved about between the shelves, placing books that had been returned, or retrieving them for someone else. It was slightly disconcerting, but I was nonetheless happy to see that a sense of normalcy had returned.

“Do you know where I can find Miss Urama?” I asked, referring to Janta by last name. The last two times I’d come here to see her, she’d been manning the front desk as the only librarian present, while her subordinates were out fighting the Resistance. “I need her help with an important matter.”

“I believe she’s in the back, cataloguing a new shipment of books,” the librarian told me. “I can see if she’s available, if you’d like.”

“Please.”

I clasped my hands behind my back and tried to wait patiently. I could feel the gazes of several mages on me, but when I turned to return their stares, they hastily dropped their eyes back to their books. I’d always been an object of rumor and speculation amongst the mages, and even more so since my engagement to the most powerful man in Canalo. Bets were being placed to see how long it would take for the engagement to be called off, and much as I wanted to be angry about that, I couldn’t blame them. A marriage between a powerful mage and a shifter was unprecedented, and my half-mage heritage was the only thing that allowed the mage community to swallow it in the first place. On top of it all, Iannis and I were also master and apprentice. I doubted we’d be able to get away with that part either if Iannis wasn’t the Chief Mage.

By Magorah, what a mess this was. If I didn’t love Iannis, I’d be tempted to ditch the entire affair and move somewhere else where nobody knew me.

Of course, that would mean leaving my friends behind. And Solantha itself, which I loved despite the city’s flaws. The shifter community was still in shambles after the war between the Mages Guild and the Resistance. Someone had to bridge the gap between mages and shifters if there were going to be any kind of peace between us. I was starting to think that the thankless job would fall on me, since I didn’t see anyone else stepping up. But not today. Today, I needed to finish putting together all the pieces of who I was. And that meant finding out the identity of my father.

“Good morning, Miss Baine.” Janta’s, dulcet tones drew me away from my thoughts. I turned to see her coming toward me, the front-desk librarian in tow. Unlike the last time I saw her, she wore the same grey robes with the book emblem as the other librarians. Hers were hemmed in silver at the throat, wrists and collar, marking her higher position. The outfit went very well with her silver hair, which she wore twisted into an elegant knot near the top of her head, and the silver spectacles perched on her straight nose. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“Good morning, Miss Urama.” I smiled, genuinely happy to see her. I didn’t know her very well yet, but she was on the gradually expanding list of mages who treated me like a real person. “I was hoping you could help me with another research project.”

“Certainly.” A hint of worry entered her pale blue eyes. “Is it something to do with the Resistance?”

“No.” I hesitated, not sure it was wise to say more when I knew that at least some of the other mages were listening. “It’s regarding a personal matter. Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

“Of course. Right this way.”

Janta disappeared between the bookshelves, and I followed. She led me down several rows, to a glass-partitioned section of the library. A sign across the door said ‘restricted area’. She pulled a key from her belt and unlocked the door, then stepped back to let me through first.

“Why is this place restricted?” I asked as she guided me to one of the tables. Other than the partition, this part of the library looked exactly the same as the rest.

“Many of the books on these shelves are very old and rare. We keep them back here to protect them,” Janta said as she sat down across from me. “Besides, some texts contain forbidden or extremely dangerous spells, and they can only be checked out with special permission.”

“That makes sense,” I murmured, scanning the shelves with apprehension and curiosity. What sorts of spells were so dangerous that they had to be kept under lock and key? And would I be able to learn any of them, now that I was betrothed to the Chief Mage? I imagined my new status would afford me some privileges other than riches and comfort. But that was a thought for another time—I was hardly in any position to start learning spells of that caliber.

“Now, what is this personal matter for which you need my assistance?”

“I’m looking into my parentage,” I explained. “Specifically on my father’s side. I’m trying to embrace my heritage as a mage, and I feel I can’t do that unless I know more about that side of my family.”