Bound by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #2)(37)

“You’ll have to ask the home office about that,” the manager said stiffly. “They’re the ones who’ve been sending out the orders.”

“Oh, so it’s some big mysterious hand pulling strings behind the curtain again?” I wrinkled my nose. This entire thing stank of the Benefactor’s involvement – as with the silver murders, Yantz had been the instrument, but he’d been following someone else’s orders.

Danrian’s eyes flashed again. “I would suggest you watch your tone, Enforcer Baine. Sandin Federal Bank has some very powerful investors. It would be unwise to upset any of them with baseless accusations.”

“Oh really?” I stood up, then flattened my palms on the desk as I leaned across it, shoving my nose into Danrian’s face. The man’s eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair to put some distance between us. “Well you might have some bigwigs behind you, but I’ve got the Chief Mage behind me, and he’s very interested in your bank’s activities, Mr. Danrian.” I bared my teeth into a vicious grin. “If I were you, I’d be careful that you haven’t ‘accidentally’ gotten yourself into anything illegal.”

Danrian’s cheeks mottled. “How dare you throw around accusations like that in my office!’ He leapt to his feet. “Unless either of you plan on arresting me, I demand that you leave. Now.”

“No worries,” Lakin said, curling a hand into the fabric of my shirt and gently pulling me backward. “We’ve got another interview coming up, so we’ll be on our way.” He stood up, releasing my shirt as he did so. “We’ll be back if we have more questions.”

“Naturally,” Danrian’s voice was like ice. “I do wish you the best of luck in your investigation.”

“Of course you do,” I said as I followed Lakin out the door. I turned back for just a moment to wink at Danrian, who was watching us with a stony expression. “Have a nice day.” While it lasts, I added to myself silently. I didn’t know what Danrian was hiding from us yet, but I was going to find out, and once I did I was going to ruin his week.





12





After we left the bank, I asked Lakin to go off to Shiftertown without me to spread the impotence rumors, then turned my wheels in the direction of the Palace. This whole business with the bank was nagging at me, and while the Chief Mage would probably be too busy to go over it with me until tomorrow, there was someone else I could ask in the meantime.

I found Fenris in the Palace Library – a huge room that could have easily fit the entire Shifter Courier building inside the bookshelves that stood in rows in the middle of the room and lined the walls, so tall they nearly touched the soaring ceiling. He was sitting toward the front, buried in a dusty leather tome written entirely in Loranian, and I arched a brow. Not for the first time, I wondered how it was that Fenris was fluent in the magical language, when most shifters weren’t. Yes, he spent a lot of time around Iannis, but I wasn’t sure that explained it… not to mention that their friendship itself was highly unusual. Nobody seemed to question it, but it was unheard of for a mage of Iannis’s rank to be such close friends with any shifter, especially a clanless one.

“Whatcha reading there?” I asked casually, wandering up beside him.

“Sunaya!” Fenris’s head shot up, surprise flickering in his yellow eyes. Several of the mages sitting at the other tables shot us dirty looks for disturbing the silence of the library, and Fenris winced.

“Sorry,” I muttered, lowering my voice as I sat down in the chair across from him. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You must’ve really been into that book.” That was the only explanation I could come up with – Fenris was a wolf shifter, and like me he had a heightened sense of smell and hearing. In his place I would have already known I was here before I’d spoken.

“Yes, well, it’s fascinating stuff.” Fenris closed the book gently, then pushed it to the side, spine facing away so that I couldn’t read the title. I wondered if he’d done that on purpose, but now was not the time to ask – I’d just draw myself off-track, and it wasn’t really my business anyway. “What are you doing back at the Palace? It’s not even eleven o’clock, and it’s not like you to be early.”

“Gee thanks.” I stuck my tongue out at Fenris, and he grinned a little. “Actually, I’m here because I was hoping you might be able to help me with the investigation the Chief Mage put me on earlier this week.”

“You mean about the bank loans being given out to shifters?” Interest lit Fenris’s dark eyes. “What can I do to help?”

“Well,” I said, propping my elbows on the table and folding my hands beneath my chin, “Inspector Lakin and I went to Sandin Federal today to question the bank manager about the loans, and he said that hundreds of shifters have been signing up every day. But when I thought about it, I realized that’s got to be a ridiculous amount of gold they’re giving out. From what Lakin’s heard around town the average loan amount is something like three hundred pieces of gold.”

“That would be astronomical.” Fenris’s thick, black brows shot up. “And at zero percent interest? That certainly doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I sighed, relieved that Fenris agreed with me. Finances weren’t really my strong suit, and I’d been afraid I was just missing something. “So, where do you think they’re getting that gold from?” As far as I knew, the money in circulation was produced by the Mages Guilds of each individual Federation state. “Is someone siphoning money from the Guilds?”