Burned by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #1)(19)

I blinked. The man had read my file? Maybe he really was interested in me. My insides squirmed uncomfortably at the thought.

Chartis cleared his throat. “She did, sir, and the tests were run. As to why they failed, I cannot say, but her status as a magic user is beyond reasonable doubt now. It’s an open-and-shut case.”

Fenris growled at that, and I glanced down at him, curious as he turned his glare on the Director. Was the Chief Mage’s pet shifter actually on my side?

Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

“I’m not quite so eager to rush to judgment,” the Chief Mage said, giving the Director a mildly disapproving frown for his trouble before turning his violet gaze back on me. “What do you have to say about all this, Miss Baine? Why was your magical talent not discovered during your school years?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” I challenged. Truthfully, though, that question had been burning in the back of my mind for many years. I’d never understood how I had managed to slip past the magic testing even though my magical outbursts, when they happened, were so powerful. Quite frankly it was amazing I’d been able to go undetected all these years from everyone. “It’s your test. I don’t know, and don’t care.”

“I’m not entirely certain I believe you, Miss Baine.” The Chief Mage steepled his fingers. He studied me as if I were an interesting puzzle that had been presented to him as a way to pass the time. “And I find that unlike you, I do care. I don’t like the idea of citizens slipping past the test so easily, especially one with a magical talent as strong as yours. I’ll need to study your case further to determine exactly how it was done and to make sure it does not happen again.”

“Study?” I echoed as images of me being strapped to a metal table under a set of bright lights danced through my mind. “As in, like, an experiment?”

To my surprise, the Chief Mage’s lips curved, a hint of amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Rest assured that no part of your body will be altered. Experimenting on humanoid subjects is a long banned practice, in any case.”

“Right.” I let out a breath. Because I fully expect you to follow the letter of your own laws. However, something about him made me wonder whether or not he really did hold himself to the same standards he was subjecting everyone else to.

“Argon, have her taken to a secure location where she can be kept until I am ready for her,” the Chief Mage ordered the Director. “Also, remove the shackles from her wrists. They won’t be necessary any longer.”

“Sir,” the Director protested, though I wasn’t sure whether he objected to removing my shackles or the fact that the Chief Mage wasn’t calling for my head. But a single frown from the Chief Mage silenced him.

“Very well,” he sighed, coming forward to remove my shackles. I held my wrists out to him with a cheeky grin, and he glared at me as he passed a hand over them, muttering some kind of incantation. The shackles glowed briefly before they dropped from my wrists into his outstretched hand. “Don’t think this is some kind of vacation, Miss Baine. You will be brought to account for your actions soon enough.”

I smirked as he and Elgarion escorted me out of the room to the guards waiting in the hall beyond. Maybe that was true, but I had another day to live, and that was good enough for me. The longer I stayed alive, the greater my chances of escape. And once I was out of this forsaken place, I could solve the poison murders and join the Resistance to overthrow the mages once and for all.





Chapter Six




I’m not sure why I expected to be led to a five-star chamber instead of a sparse tower room with rough-hewn furniture and iron bars fitted over the single window. Maybe it was because every single room I’d seen in this palace was dripping with wealth and grandeur, and I assumed they could have spared one of those rooms for me. But in any case, there I was, twiddling my thumbs as I sat on my narrow mattress, wondering what I was supposed to do with myself now.

At least I have a nice view, I thought sullenly as I gazed out at the glittering bay. My eyes followed one end of the Firegate Bridge to the other, the metal, which was enchanted to look red, contrasting starkly against the pale blue sky. A mirror to the Bay Bridge on the other side –though that one lacked the gorgeous coloring – it was the pride and joy of Solantha, a feat created through a combination of magic and human engineering, and proof that humans and mages could work together to create things if they really wanted to.

If only mages thought that way all the time, I mused. But they only collaborated with humans when it served their purpose, and from what I’d heard, they’d only collaborated on the bridges because a human engineer had brought up the project and designed the schematics. The long-lived mages were the opposite of innovative, and would have never undertaken such a project without human involvement.

Shaking off my melancholy thoughts, I returned my attention to the beauty of the bridge itself. My eyes traced its sleek line all the way down to the other side, then traveled further along the coast where a small island rested smack dab between the two bridges.

Forget the view, I thought to myself, shuddering a little. At least I’m not over there. That little spot of land was Prison Isle, where Solantha’s convicts were sent to serve their sentences. I’d gone over there once, to question a prisoner regarding a bounty I was chasing, and the memory of the heavy scent of depression combined with filth and squalor suddenly made me appreciate my little room. Sure, it was basically a closet with a bed and a dresser inside it, but it was a hell of a lot safer and cleaner than any of the cells on Prison Isle.