Burned by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #1)(18)

Umm, hello??? You’re standing before a high-level mage who can change his appearance at will. He could make his irises rainbow-colored if he wanted to!

I snorted, both at the image and at myself for getting caught up by the Chief Mage’s looks. Without his magical glamour he probably looked like any other human on the street. This display was just another way of trying to show that mages were better.

The mage in question arched an eyebrow. “Is there something that amuses you about this situation, Miss Baine?”

I bristled at his cool, slightly condescending voice, which carried a whisper of a musical accent. “I’m just wondering why you don’t drop the glamour and show me what your real face looks like.” I shrugged. “No reason to impress the criminal, right?”

A flicker of surprise disturbed the austere expression on his alabaster face, but before I had time to gloat at the reaction I’d caused, the guard on my left punched me in the kidney. Hard. A gasp flew from my lips as the left side of my body exploded with pain.

“Show some respect!” the guard growled.

Like hell. “That. Fucking. Hurt!” I snarled, baring my fangs at him. Before he had a chance to hit me again, I raised my knee high and brought my boot crashing down on his foot, scraping my heel along his shin as I went. The big bastard howled, and I used the opportunity to jump away from him. The guard to my right moved forward, and I swung my right elbow up as he closed in, smashing it under his chin. He staggered back into the third guard, who had to pause mid-rush to catch the guy. The sharp ring of steel caught my attention as the fourth guard drew his sword and aimed it at me, prepared to deliver a killing blow.

Fuck, I thought as I turned to face him. I could really use my crescent knives right now. They were great for catching an opponent’s weapon. I raised my manacled hands, thinking the best I could hope for was that his sword would slice through my chains so I could regain full use of my hands, because my magic sure as hell wasn’t going to step in and save me this time.

“ENOUGH!”

We all froze as the Chief Mage slammed his open palms against the stone desk, the sound reverberating off the granite walls. His violet eyes burned with cold fury as he turned to the Director, who’d stood off to the side next to his gaping apprentice the entire time, watching the fight. “Get them out of here.” His voice was as frigid as Solantha Bay in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Yes sir.” Director Chartis motioned toward the two guards who were still standing to collect me, and I bared my fangs at them, fully prepared to be dragged back to my cell kicking and biting.

“Not her,” the Chief Mage snapped before they could lay a hand on me. “The guards.”

The Director froze. “You want me to remove the guards?” he sputtered. “After that violent display from this… this beastly girl?”

“Are you questioning my ability to defend myself against a hybrid?” The Chief Mage asked coolly. His face had turned to stone again, no hint of the emotion from earlier, but that was okay – I was furious enough for the both of us. How dare he refer to me so dismissively!

“N-no,” Chartis faltered, glancing at me uncertainly as I glared at both of them. “It’s just… this is against protocol.”

“I’ll remind you that I’m in charge here,” the Chief Mage said mildly. “Now have these guards escorted outside, or I will have you escorted out as well. And if that happens, rest assured you will not be coming back.”

The Director’s face paled at the threat. He nodded tightly at his boss, and turned to shoot me a death glare before waving the guards out the door. The sound of the double doors closing behind them echoed through the chamber with an awful sense of finality.

Before the Chief Mage could address me again, a hidden door to his right slid open, and a brown wolf shifter with yellow eyes prowled into the room.

“Ah, Fenris.” The Chief Mage turned to greet him. “You are late.”

I narrowed my eyes as the wolf shifter settled next to the Chief Mage and regarded me balefully. I glared back at him, disgust rising up in me at the sight of a shifter, any shifter, relegating himself to little more than a mage’s pet.

“I would not be so quick to judge a book by its cover.”

I blinked, startled as the wolf shifter’s deep voice echoed in my head. I hadn’t actually expected him to speak to me, and what was he talking about anyway? Was he reading my mind somehow?

“Director Chartis,” the Chief Mage said, drawing my attention away from Fenris. “Please read the charges.”

“With pleasure, sir.” Chartis pulled a sheet of paper from the sleeve of his robe, then listed off the same charges that Talcon had read, back at the earlier hearing. But this time, instead of being filled with anger, a kind of hopelessness stole through me. The Chief Mage didn’t look like he had a single ounce of compassion in his magical bones. What made me think that the outcome of this appeal was going to be any different?

“I see.” The Chief Mage drummed his long fingers on the table as he regarded me with those strangely colored eyes. I fought the urge to squirm beneath his piercing gaze, and instead lifted my chin and stared back at him as if I could see into the depths of his stone heart.

Not that I actually could. But as Talcon had so sweetly informed me yesterday, I was good at bluffing.

“Why was Miss Baine not identified as a magic user during the mandatory school testing?” the Chief Mage asked, never taking his eyes from me. “According to her file she attended a state-run educational facility.”