Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(49)

Noria recoiled as though I’d struck her, her accusatory glare briefly eclipsed by pain. “I didn’t abandon them—I was trying to assure their safety.” Her glare returned with a vengeance. “At least I’m not a sellout like you.”

“Noria!” Elnos scolded, his eyes widening with alarm.

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t say,” Noria said, rounding on her ex-boyfriend. “I’ve had far more than enough of that since arriving here.”

“Yeah, and whose fault was that?” I demanded, taking a step forward. I didn’t dare close the distance completely—my hands were itching to throttle her for being such an ungrateful brat. It occurred to me that Iannis must have viewed me in a similar light, and I was amazed he hadn’t killed me outright in the beginning. “You came here of your own will, ignoring all the warnings Annia and I gave you that the Resistance is corrupt. Nobody stopped you from airing your opinions in Solantha—everybody knew you wanted to join the Resistance before you left, and nobody carted you off and stuck you in a jail cell for that. It’s your willful blindness that got you into this mess, nothing else, and worse, you’ve dragged all of us into it too. Annia almost died because of you!”

Noria opened her mouth to say something else, but no words came out. The fire died in her eyes and her shoulders sagged. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she muttered, her dark eyes firmly fixed on the ground.

I wanted to say tough shit, not willing to let her run away from this conversation so easily. Anger roiled in my chest at Noria’s churlishness after all we’d gone through, and I longed to rub her face in all the facts she was choosing to ignore. But Elnos gave me a pleading look, and I kept my mouth shut.

We waited outside the gates in silence as the Osero mages rounded up the prisoners, directed by Lord Logar and Iannis. The scientists, guards, and staff were marched out of the garages in single file and made to strip, then subjected to a purification spell to ensure that they carried no diseases. Iannis had forbidden me to come in with him since he didn’t want me to catch anything. It was a silly fear, as shifters rarely sickened and couldn’t usually catch diseases that affected humans. But I was hardly going to argue with him in front of Lord Logar.

Annia, Rylan, and the other two mages returned as the first carriage, loaded up with prisoners, rolled through the gates. The curtains were drawn over the windows, so I couldn’t see any of them, but they probably weren’t smiling and waving. For many of them, death was the only thing they had to look forward to, once their trials were over. I couldn’t imagine that hard labor would be a sufficient punishment for conspiring to commit genocide.

Turning away from the carriage and its passengers’ gruesome fate, I focused on a happier thought—that the children we rescued would get to return home. They were walking toward us, with the two mages up front, and Rylan and Annia bringing up the rear. Their little faces were anxious, eyes wide with fear, and I saw a few trembling lips.

“It’s going to be all right.” Annia leaned down to snag the hand of a skittish child. He was a dark-skinned little boy with ice-blue shifter eyes, and he looked like he was about to turn tail and dart back into the woods. “We’re going to get you home to your parents. You’re safe now.”

A lump swelled in my throat, and I blinked back tears of my own as I went to meet them at the steam carriages. The two mage children were up front, between the adult mages, and I decided not to complain about the show of favoritism. I might have done the same if the situation was reversed.

“Where are you taking them?” I asked.

“They’ll all be housed in Parabas Palace until their parents are found,” one of the mages assured me. “Lord Logar has a soft spot for children. They’ll be well taken care of.”

“Good.” I moved aside, giving them access so that they could direct the children into the carriages. I’d smelled no lie, and was as convinced as I ever would be that these kids would be all right.

But as I moved away, I locked eyes with the blonde shifter child I’d noticed last night. Her face was pale with worry, her slim shoulders tense, but it was her eyes that made me pause. They were yellow-orange, the exact same color as Lakin’s.

“Hey there,” I said, crouching down to her level and offering a hand. She hesitated for just a moment, but my shifter eyes must have decided her, because she took my hand and allowed me to briefly pull her from the group. Annia and Rylan gave me curious looks, but I ignored them.

“My name is Sunaya Baine,” I told the little girl. “What’s yours?”

“Tula Leoni,” she said quietly. “I’m from the Leoni Clan in Parabas.”

A quick sniff told me she was a jaguar shifter, and I smiled. “I think I may know a relative of yours. Does the name Boon Lakin sound familiar to you?”

“You know my uncle Boon?” Tula’s eyes widened. “Where did you meet him?”

“In Solantha. He and I worked on a case together. I noticed your beautiful eyes and how similar they are to his, and I thought you might be of his old clan. He’s a good man.”

“He’s one of my favorite uncles.” The girl gave a little sniffle. Alarmed, I wondered if I’d made a mistake by mentioning Lakin, who she clearly missed. But then she smiled, her shoulders relaxing. “I guess it’s good to know that you’re his friend.”