Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(55)

“So, how is Miss Baine’s training to be taken care of, now that the two of you are betrothed?” Resa enquired after our entrées had arrived. “I can’t imagine that you will continue to apprentice her.”

“And I can’t imagine that’s any of your business,” I said as I cut a piece of my steak. Resa’s painted lips formed a surprised ‘O’ at the fact that I was addressing her directly, and her eyes flew to mine.

“I am simply concerned about propriety,” Resa said stiffly, leaving her salmon untouched as she lowered her fork. “You would not want others to gossip about what happens after hours between a master and an apprentice.”

“And I am concerned about your obvious desire to engage in ‘after-hours’ activities with my fiancée,” I said dryly.

Gasps ensued from around the table, and Resa clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. Iannis’s eyebrows winged up, but I caught just a hint of amusement in his eyes, and knew he wasn’t angry with me for calling out the trollop across the table.

“How dare you!” Resa cried, her pale cheeks mottling. “Lord Iannis, I have never in my life been confronted with such rude behavior. I expect your apprentice to apologize immediately.”

“Actually, I believe you are the one who should apologize,” Lord Logar said. His voice was mild, but the stony expression on his face said he was not pleased with this turn of events. All heads swiveled in his direction, and I imagined this was like watching a match of tennis to the other mages. The rest of the room had quieted some too—the attention of others had been drawn to the altercation.

“But, My Lord—”

“These are our guests,” Lord Logar said sternly. “Regardless of whether or not you intended to be rude, you have clearly offended Miss Baine. You can either apologize, or you can leave this table.”

The table was deathly silent for several moments. The other mages went still, astonishment in their eyes—clearly, they hadn’t expected him to take it this far. Resa’s face turned to stone. Like all mages, she was good at schooling her expression, but I could smell the anger and shock rolling off her in waves. I half expected her to flounce away from the table in anger, like a spoiled child.

Instead, she wrestled her emotions back into place and gave me a small smile. “Please accept my apologies, Miss Baine. I did not mean to offend you.” She inclined her head fractionally, and I refrained from snorting. I was certain she fully intended to offend me—she just hadn’t expected to get her ass slapped for it.

“That is quite all right,” I said graciously, lifting my glass to her. “Now what do you say we enjoy the rest of this meal?”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Lord Logar said.

“I heard you had a young mage amongst your party who specializes in alchemical magic,” one of the secretaries said, addressing Iannis. “Does he know anything about xingou shaun?” she asked, referencing a Loranian phrase I didn’t recognize.

“It’s xinghòu shaun.”

All eyes snapped to Fenris. My heart began to thud faster in my chest, and by the way Fenris’s cheeks blanched slightly, he wasn’t the only one who realized his mistake.

“So it is,” another mage said, his eyes narrowing.

“How do you know that?” the secretary asked curiously. Her gaze turned to Lord Iannis. “Are you teaching shifters our spells now?”

“Fenris keeps me company a lot,” I said, my brain racing as I tried to come up with a convincing explanation so Iannis wouldn’t have to. “I often practice my Loranian while he’s around.”

“I see.” The secretary frowned, looking at Fenris again. “I suppose it does no harm since shifters cannot use spells, but I must admit that is rather unorthodox.”

“I agree,” Iannis said, narrowing his gaze on Fenris. The warning in his eyes was clear.

Before he could say anymore, an apprentice rushed up to Lord Logar’s elbow. “My Lord,” the young man said, bowing deeply. He wore the same dun-colored robes that the apprentices in Solantha did. “I apologize for disturbing you, but the interrogator that the Enforcer’s Guild has assigned to the prisoners has discovered some very distressing information, and asked me to inform you without delay.”

“Well, out with it,” Lord Logar demanded. “You can speak freely before us. What did they learn?”

“The head scientist of that disgusting installation has confessed that there is a sister lab in Southern Garai that is also working on producing the same type of secret weapons. In addition to the diseases, it also supplies the guns that the Resistance is using lately.” He handed over a folded-up paper. “There are additional details here.”

“You cannot be serious!” Lord Logar took the paper from the apprentice and scanned it, his brows drawing together in a deep scowl. “It seems the other lab is in Leniang Port,” he told Iannis, a hint of disgust creeping into his tone. I could understand why—in addition to Garai being out of our jurisdiction, Leniang Port was one of the more lawless ports in that huge empire, where anything could be bought with enough gold.

Including weapons for killing shifters and mages wholesale, apparently.

“My director, Lalia Chen, is Garaian,” Iannis said thoughtfully. “I believe she has family back there, and influential connections that may be useful to us. I will need to speak to the Minister before any action is taken—our trade deal with Garai is due to be re-negotiated, and it would be unfortunate if we accidentally upset things. But destroying this danger is even more important.”