Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(73)

I stifled a huge sigh of relief, and did not miss the expressions of relief on the others’ faces. Noria was getting a huge break, and we all knew it.

“Are those my only choices?” Noria demanded.

“Yes.”

“Fine. Then I choose the mines.”

“What!” I shouted, slapping my hands on the table. “Noria, you can’t be serious!” I couldn’t contain myself anymore—this was ridiculous. “Quit being so stubborn and just take the deal!”

“I am taking the deal,” Noria said, her eyes still on Iannis—she refused to look at me. “Lord Iannis’s three-year sentence is much lighter than what I expected from him, and I’m taking it. I won’t agree to the oath.”

“Noria, please.” Annia took her sister’s arm and turned her, her dark eyes pleading. “You know Mom will be devastated.”

A look of sadness briefly crossed Noria’s face before it hardened again. “I’d rather die before I make a promise I can’t keep,” she said. “And I have a feeling that I literally would die if I took that oath and broke it,” she added with a bitter smile, turning back to Iannis. “No, it’s better this way.”

“Noria—” Elnos tried, his voice filled with pain, but Iannis cut him off.

“Very well,” Iannis said, his voice ringing with authority. “It has been decided. Noria Melcott, you will serve three years’ hard labor in the mines as punishment for your crimes against the Federation. You are dismissed.”

Tears stung my eyes as I watched the guards march Noria from the room. She left with her head held just as high as it was when she entered, pride and anger emanating from her every step of the way. Annia gave me one last stricken look, then followed her sister out to escort her back to the Enforcers Guild.

“Zum Donnerwetter,” Comenius muttered darkly as the doors closed behind them. He shook his head. “How did it come to this?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered, and, to my horror, the tears started streaming down my face. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that Noria had refused to look at me, or the way Elnos was still standing there looking defeated, but something inside me broke. “It’s just that it’s such a f*cking waste,” I choked, swiping at my tears with the back of my hand.

“It is indeed.” Iannis took me into his arms, his voice low and soothing. “But you are not to blame for Miss Melcott’s life choices, Sunaya. They are hers to make, just as your choices and mistakes were yours to make.”

I clung to Iannis as he held me for a long moment, doing my best to get my tears under control. The fact that I hadn’t been able to stop this from happening, despite all the effort I’d gone through, was crushing. What good did all my work do, if I couldn’t even save my friends?

“Sunaya,” Elnos said, and I lifted my face to meet his gaze. His eyes were sad, but they held no anger as he looked at me. He had to be feeling even worse than I was. “I want you to know that I appreciate all you’ve done to help Noria.”

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat, then wiped at my tears again as I remembered everyone was still looking at me. As I turned to look at them, I was comforted by the fact that I wasn’t alone, and I hadn’t let down all my friends. Most of them were here with me, alive and well, in part because of my struggle to stop the Resistance and help keep our city safe.

“This is not the end for Noria,” Fenris said gently as I stepped out of Iannis’s comforting embrace. “She will pay her penance, and at the end of the three years, she will be older and wiser.”

“Or, she might come out even more bitter than when she went in,” I pointed out, though I knew dwelling on that possibility wasn’t productive.

“Perhaps,” Comenius said, “but at least she will be safer in prison than in the hands of the Resistance. With any luck, within three years, the Resistance will be eradicated. Noria will have to find a more constructive use for her talents at that time.”

“That’s true,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I believed the words. Noria was far too clever and inventive not to find a way to escape the mines within those three years. Nor would she put her revolutionary ideas aside just because the movement she had joined was no longer active. I only hoped that when she eventually fled, she would end up in a safe place, and not in another dangerous hellhole far away, where none of us would be able to rescue her again.





Epilogue





Late in the afternoon, I sat out on my veranda and leafed through the mail Nelia had brought to me. It had been two days since Iannis had left for Dara, and since he still wasn’t back, that meant no lessons. Rather than risking the creation of another ether parrot, or worse, I decided I would catch up on my social duties.

Nelia had been delighted to assist, and she’d helped me prepare for my interview with a mage society matron, scheduled for late afternoon, before leaving me with the stack of correspondence. She’d already sorted through it herself, separating the messages by tabs in a big folder. There were invitations, bills, and even fan mail from citizens praising my efforts in stopping the rebellion.

The bills I set aside for Nelia to take care of—I had more than enough money to handle them, so they weren’t the source of concern they would have been even a few weeks ago. The invitations I marked off with a check or an x as to whether or not I wanted to attend, and I set those aside for Nelia to answer as well. The fan mail I kept for myself, intending to start a collection of them. I would put them in a shoebox to take out and look at whenever things got rough and I started questioning myself. It was the desire to help people that kept me going, that fueled my fight against injustice and evil, and I vowed to never forget that.