Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(60)

25





I was up bright and early the next morning, full of energy and ready to track down the traitor. Rylan was a little grumpy about being dragged out of bed before nine, but the idea of getting breakfast while it was still hot was appealing to him, so he dressed and showered quickly before heading down to the dining hall with me.

I had hoped to find Fenris sitting in his usual spot near the buffet tables, but he wasn’t there. I scanned the rows of wooden tables, filled with mages who chose to get their breakfast here rather than at home before starting work at the Guild. No sign of him at all.

“Maybe he’s sleeping in,” Rylan suggested as he wolfed down his third plate of bacon and eggs. “You know, like any self-respecting shifter would be.”

I shook my head. “Fenris is an early bird, like Iannis.” I imagined that even as a shifter, his old habits as a mage, and a Chief Mage at that, would be hard to break. “Well, maybe not quite like Iannis, since Iannis is already at some meeting or another,” I amended. “But he’s usually here this time of day.”

Rylan nodded. “You would know,” he said easily, buttering a piece of toast. “Just as I imagine you would know where to find him.”

I sighed. “I’ll start with his room. If not there, he could be in the library.” I’d found him there more than once in the past—Fenris liked to study magical texts discreetly, to keep up on his spell lore even though he wasn’t officially a mage anymore. But the library wasn’t open for another ten minutes, so unless he snuck in, I doubted I’d find him there.

It was a little annoying, having to walk all the way back to the west wing after already coming from there. Fenris’s room was located a few doors up from Iannis’s, on the same side as Rylan’s. I sniffed the air as I knocked on his door, and his scent was strong enough that I was certain he was present.

“What is it?” Fenris called, his voice uncharacteristically irritable.

I frowned, really concerned now. Fenris was normally so unflappable, and he usually was the one calming me down. I wasn’t totally sure how to handle the role reversal.

“I need to get the list of suspects from you,” I said through the door. “Iannis said I should help you interview them.”

“Did he now?” Fenris asked, sounding downright petulant.

Okay, enough was enough. “Wait here,” I told Rylan as I pulled a set of lock picks from one of my pouches. I selected the right one, then unlocked the door and opened it.

“Hey!” Fenris snapped, tossing a sheet over his naked body as I stepped inside. To my surprise, he was still abed and looking very scruffy, with bags under his dark eyes and a serious case of bedhead. “You can’t just break into my room like this.”

“I can damn well do whatever I want,” I told him, kicking the door shut behind me. “After all, you’re too busy moping around in bed to stop me, aren’t you?” I grabbed his desk chair, then flipped it around so I could straddle it.

“Don’t be so overconfident,” Fenris growled, his dark eyes flashing. “I may not be a full mage anymore, but I can still wipe the floor with you without ever leaving this bed.”

“Then do it,” I challenged, crossing my arms over the back of the chair and meeting his stare without fear. “But until you either kick my ass, or tell me what the hell is going on with you and Iannis, I’m not leaving this room.”

Fenris glared at me for a long moment, then sighed and raked a hand over his hair. The sheet dropped, exposing a muscular torso dusted with dark hair. I didn’t know what Polar ar’Tollis had looked like under his state robes, but Iannis had made him damn good looking when he’d transformed him into Fenris. Strange really that I’d never been attracted to him that way—he was more like a brother, or maybe an uncle-type figure, to me. But as I looked at him now, so closed off, I wondered if he felt lonely. He deserved someone to love, and for someone to love him.

Eventually, he dropped his gaze. “It isn’t what you think,” he finally said, staring down at his dark red bedspread. “Iannis didn’t reproach me for slipping up at the banquet. He came to check on me, and to reassure me that my identity is still secret.”

“Good.” Relief swept through me at that—I didn’t have to be angry with Iannis after all. “So if that’s the case, then what did the two of you argue about?”

A look of pain flashed across Fenris’s face, his fists clenching in the sheets. “About my leaving Solantha.”

“What?” I grabbed the edge of the desk to keep myself from toppling sideways off the chair. “Leave Solantha? What the hell for?”

Fenris finally met my gaze, and the pain and sadness in his dark eyes nearly stole my breath. “I’m sure you can empathize more than most, Sunaya… but I do not belong. I sit on the sidelines here, in the shadows, watching other mages walk freely in the sunlight, able to practice their magic without fear and pursue their ambitions and dreams. These past few years following my faked execution and transformation into a shifter, I’ve mostly focused on staying alive and out of the spotlight. But I have had no real goals, no ambition, no… direction in my life.” Fenris waved his hand in the air, a frustrated motion. “I am not truly a shifter, as I have no clan and was not raised with their customs, and before you came here, I did my best to avoid real shifters. And I am no longer allowed to be a mage, even though I still retain some power, and all of my knowledge.”