Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(46)

I felt a little bad that she’d been forced to wear them so soon after tasting freedom, but the truth was, she wasn’t free. She’d just exchanged one prison for another.

“You said you were going to destroy the compound.” She lifted her gaze to meet Iannis’s. The amount of loathing in those dark brown eyes made me clench my teeth—was she still going to treat Iannis like the enemy, after all this? “By imprisoning those men and women in there, you’re condemning them all to death. Don’t they deserve a hearing, at the very least?”

“Of course they do,” Iannis said, a hint of irritation in his voice. “I do not intend to leave them in the compound—it is simply the safest place to hold them until Lord Logar arrives with transport. They will be given a hearing, as will you,” he added sternly.

Noria jerked her gaze away, staring back into the fire. Annia, who sat on the log next to her, looked stricken, and Rylan, who sat across from Noria, wore an uncomfortable expression on his face. But Iannis had only spoken the truth.

“Please remember, Lord Iannis, my sister is still not yet eighteen,” Annia said quietly, clenching her hands into her lap. She looked up at Iannis, a quiet desperation in her dark eyes. “She might be a genius, but she’s still a child.”

“Don’t, Annia,” Noria protested, looking both angry and guilty all at once. “I know you mean well, but don’t belittle my actions by calling me a child. I’m not one. Aside from what happened here at the bunker, if I had to do this all over again, I’d still join the Resistance.” Her eyes flashed as she met Iannis’s gaze, tilting her stubborn chin at him. “I’m fighting for equal rights for all, and I am willing to pay any price for that.”

“If I could try her as a child, I would,” Iannis said calmly. Sympathy flickered in his gaze for a moment as he looked at Annia and Noria. “But since Noria is enrolled in college, however early, she is legally considered an adult.” A weariness settled across his expression, and he looked down into the fire. All that healing had probably worn him out.

“At least we managed to get these children to safety,” Elnos said awkwardly, getting to his feet. He’d been putting a sleep spell on the children, to ensure they did not wake during the night—we didn’t need them running off after we’d just rescued them. “You found the two mage children in one of the vehicles, Lord Iannis?”

“Yes.” Iannis’s violet eyes flashed as he looked down at their sleeping faces. Like all the other children, and Annia, they were dressed in simple white cotton pants and shirts. Seeing the mage children sleeping side by side with the shifter children, their eyes closed, made me realize just how similar we all were in the end. They all looked… human.

“A spell to puncture the tires and freeze the soldiers was enough to bring them all to a stop,” Iannis continued. “We found the children in the back of one of the vehicles, bound and gagged, and completely isolated from the escapees.” His eyes flickered toward the hill. “I must check on those wards—”

“I’ll go,” Elnos said, stepping forward. “I’ll take Rylan with me as backup.”

Rylan arched a brow. “I’ll be useless if it has anything to do with the wards.”

“Yes, but you’re handy with a blade,” Elnos said, glancing to the short sword Rylan had strapped to his hips.

“True.” Rylan got to his feet, then stretched his arms overhead. “Try not to miss me when I’m gone,” he said to us, winking at Annia with a roguish grin. Noria gave him a murderous glare as he turned away, and I held in a sigh.

Fenris got up too. “I’ll patrol the area around our camp to make sure there are no surprises.” He slipped away, no doubt to change into wolf form in the forest.

“I’m going to bed,” Noria said, standing up. She stalked away toward the sleeping area, though the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that her hands were restrained, and disappeared inside Annia’s tent.

“I suppose I will go and rest as well,” Iannis said, though it was clear he still didn’t feel comfortable taking any downtime right now. “But someone needs to watch the children.”

“I will,” Annia said quietly. The firelight flickered in her sad eyes, and my heart clenched in sympathy. This was supposed to be a happy reunion, a triumphant moment, but it was anything but.

“I’ll join you in a few,” I told Iannis, laying a hand on his forearm.

Understanding lit behind his violet eyes, and he nodded quietly before striding off to his own tent. Iannis and Fenris had brought several more, so there were enough for everyone even if the clearing was rather cramped now. Rylan and Elnos were headed to the compound, so there was no one but Annia and me as I sat down next to her by the fire.

“I’m sorry things have turned out this way.” I put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her, careful not to hurt her injured arm.

“It’s not your fault.” Annia let out a heavy sigh as she leaned into me. “I always knew Noria might spurn me when Elnos and I arrived to rescue her. She came here willingly, even if she didn’t know exactly what she was getting into.”

“And she left willingly too.” I glanced over at Annia’s tent, where Noria slept now. I doubt she could hear us from so far away, over the crackle of the fire, but I lowered my voice anyway. “Though I imagine she’s wondering how she can escape her restraints and run off.”