Burned by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #1)(60)



Since Enforcers hated paperwork, there were few people at their desks, but the ones that were here lifted their heads to stare at me. Some of the stares were curious, some disdainful, and others downright green with jealousy. The jealous gazes were mostly from the few low-level mage Enforcers – they would all kill to be the Chief Mage’s apprentice, I knew, and it wouldn’t matter to them that I hadn’t asked for the position.

I scanned the desks for Brin and Nila, but there was no sign of them. Bastards were probably avoiding me on purpose.

“Hey Baine,” a blond Enforcer in the back sneered. “Nice of you to join us again. You finally tired of living it up in Solantha Place?”

“Fuck off, Widler.” I paused to glare at him. “I’ve been out like, a day and a half now. Sorry if I bruised your tender little heart by not coming to visit right away.”

“Oh I don’t know that my heart’s the one that’s bruised.” Widler rose from his beat up metal chair and leaned his hip on his desk, a snide grin on his handsome face. He stroked the five o’clock shadow dusting his jaw as he regarded me with sharp green eyes that weren’t at all friendly – but then, he was part of the Main Crew. “It’s the Foreman you’ve really stuck it to. You should’ve known better than to go tattling to the Chief Mage about us. He’s gonna make your life a living hell.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong, Widler.” I stepped right up into his space, shoving my face into his, and his green eyes widened a little. “I’m here to make his life a living hell – in fact, all of your lives a living hell, for sitting here on your lazy asses instead of getting out there on the streets and finding out who’s behind the drug trafficking and the silver murders.” I held up a hand and let a trickle of magic flow into my palm, which burst into crackling blue-green flame. “Wanna know what your flesh smells like when it’s on fire?”

Widler’s nostrils flared in outrage, his green eyes narrowing on me. “You wouldn’t dare,” he hissed as I gave him a fang-toothed grin, but I could smell the beads of sweat trickling from his pores. “Not in front of witnesses.”

I shrugged. “How do you know I can’t do some kind of magic spell to make them all forget?” I reached out with my flaming hand until it was close enough to singe his sideburns. “After all, I’m apprenticed to one of the most powerful mages in the country.”

“F-f*ck off.” Widler stumbled back until his hips hit the desk.

“Sunaya.” Fenris’s hand was on my shoulder, a combination of amusement and alarm in his deep voice. “I think you’ve made your point.”

“I dunno. I think he’s still being a dick.” I shrugged, but extinguished the flame. “Truth is, though, I don’t have time to stand around here and shoot the shit with you, Widler. I’m here to see the Foreman… and you’re coming with me,” I decided on the spur of the moment.

I grabbed his ear and dragged him across the room, ignoring his yelps as I made my way to the Crew Foreman’s office – the only real office on this floor, a corner room encased in concrete walls that were newer than the actual building and featured a long, glass door. The blinds were open, so I could see the Foreman was in there, his dark head ducked down as he hunched over his desk, poring over some report. I kicked open the door, and he jerked up, splashing coffee from the mug in his hands all over his desk.

“Baine!” he barked, his swarthy features contorting with fury as he grabbed for a tissue to mop up the spill. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Widler, whose ear was still firmly in my grasp. “How dare you show up in my office like this!”

“Oww, oww, oww, oww, oww!” Widler finally yanked his ear from my grip, and scurried to hide behind his Lord and Master. He glared daggers at me from behind the Foreman’s black leather chair, which was a hell of a lot nicer than any of the other chairs outside his office. His desk was solid wood, too, and he had some nice-looking weapons displayed on the walls, along with several paintings of half-naked women in provocative poses. I twisted my mouth at the sight – each time a new crew foreman took the office, they got to redecorate it however they liked, but this definitely crossed a line.

“Foreman Vance.” I propped my hip up on the corner of his desk – something I would have never had the balls to do before. I jerked my thumb to the largest painting on the wall, of a dark-skinned Sandian lying on a bed of rose petals. Her sari was half undone, exposing her nipples, and she stared provocatively out of the painting through long-lashed, half-lidded eyes rimmed with kohl. “This what you jerk off to on your lunch break every afternoon?”

The Foreman’s face turned bright red, and his jaw flexed. He rose slowly to his feet, all six foot two inches of him, and I had to remind myself I had nothing to fear as his imposing bulk filled the space. His position as the Crew Foreman didn’t endanger me anymore, and even though he was huge, he was still a human and I could kick his ass.

“You put my job on the line,” he growled, his meaty hands clenching into fists. “And now you come strolling in here like you own the place, hauling my crew mates around and criticizing my decorations?”

I snorted. “Decorations? Seriously?” The painting hanging to his left was of two half-naked Garaian women kissing each other, draped in nothing but the ivory sheets of the bed they were sprawling on. “I think the term you’re looking for is soft-core porn.”

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