Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(41)

“Oww!” Xiver’s eyes popped open, and he jerked, likely wanting to clap his hand across his stinging cheek. When he realized his arms weren’t moving, he looked down at himself, and his eyes bulged as he realized he was strapped to a tree. “What the f*ck is going on here?”

“Aww, does little Xiver not like being tied up?” I crooned. “I bet the delegates down in that mineshaft feel the same way.”

His eyes narrowed. “So Captain Milios was right! You three are traitors.”

“You’re the traitor,” Fenris growled, taking a step forward. “You and the band of renegades you run around with, terrorizing good, innocent people in the name of justice.”

“Those filthy mages we’ve got down in the mines aren’t good or innocent,” Xiver sneered. “They’re part of the institution that oppresses us. What the f*ck did they bribe you three with to get you on their side? You’re all shifters and humans, the same as us. You should be helping us, not them.”

“Thanks for the speech, but we’re not interested,” Annia interjected. “We brought you out here because you seem to be the only one who knows what happened to the Chief Mage, and I intend to drag his ass back to Solantha so I can cash in on the big pile of gold the government’s put up as a reward. Now would be a good time to tell us what you know, before we disfigure something of yours.” She pulled a knife from the sheath at her side and tested the point with her thumb.

“Like I’d help a gold-digging whore like you.” Xiver spat at her feet, narrowly missing Annia’s boots.

I cracked my palm across Xiver’s face again, and his head snapped to the side. “You might want to use better manners on my friend. She’s pretty good with that knife.”

“I’m not scared of a little pain,” Xiver snarled. The fear gleaming in his eyes told a different story, but I had to admire him a little for his refusal to give in. “You bitches probably don’t even know how to use a blade outside the kitchen anyway.”

The knife in Annia’s hand landed with a thunk to the right of Xiver’s head, slicing off a lock of his inky hair as it buried itself into the tree trunk. Xiver’s face paled, and I snickered.

“I’ve got more of these,” Annia warned, pulling another knife from her boot. As she straightened, the blade gleaming in her right hand, she pretended to yawn. “It’s kinda late though, and I’m getting pretty tired, so my aim might not be the best—”

“Like chopping off my dick with that knife of yours is going to help you?” Xiver sneered. “You’re not collecting that bounty no matter what you do, so go ahead and waste your time carving me up like a turkey.”

Annia paused, and Fenris’s face turned icy. “What do you mean by that, exactly?” I asked cautiously.

“I mean that your precious Chief Mage is dead!” Xiver laughed as he curled his lip at us. “I killed him myself, so you might as well tuck your tails between your legs and run on home!”

“How do you know he’s dead?” I asked, resisting the urge to check the serapha charms resting against my chest. I’d last checked them only an hour ago, and Iannis had still been alive and well.

“Because I threw the bastard out the door, that’s how!” Xiver boasted. “The plan was to put everyone to sleep with a special gas, but your precious Chief Mage wouldn’t stay down, and he tried to kill me. So I lost my temper and threw him out the door, and then I landed the dirigible north of our camp, safe and sound. Things might not have gone exactly as planned, but I did my f*cking job. Not many humans can say they faced down a Chief Mage and lived to tell the tale.” His chest puffed up with pride.

“You lie!” Fenris cried, lunging forward. He wrapped his fingers around the straps of Xiver’s tank top, pulling him close so that they were nose to nose. “There’s no way you would be able to get rid of the Chief Mage so easily!”

“It was pretty damn easy if you ask me.” Xiver smiled slyly. “The bastard was half paralyzed from all that gas, so he missed with whatever stupid spell he tried to cast on me. He was weak as a kitten when I grabbed his robe and shoved him out the door, so no way he survived the five-thousand-foot drop. He’s burning in the afterlife right now for all his crimes against humanity.”

Fenris let go of Xiver, his head bowed as he stepped back, and for a moment I thought he was done. But then he lifted his head, eyes gleaming with fury as he pinned Xiver with the coldest, deadliest glare I’d ever seen.

“Your crimes are inexcusable,” he whispered, raising his hands. My eyes widened as power crackled from his fingertips, the blue-green glow I associated with magic. “On behalf of the Federation, I sentence you to death.”

Bolts of lightning erupted from Fenris’s hands, hitting Xiver straight in the chest. Annia and I both clapped our hands over our ears, a second before a deafening crack ripped through the air. The soldier’s mouth opened in a scream as the lightning tore through him, and I squeezed my eyes against the flash of purple and yellow that momentarily lit up the clearing. Spots danced beneath my closed eyelids, and I waited until the sizzle in the air subsided before opening my eyes.

What had been a healthy human male only a minute ago was now reduced to human-shaped chunk of blackened flesh. The stench of charred flesh coated my nostrils, but I was less stunned by Xiver’s death than by the manner of how it had happened. Ripping my eyes away from Xiver’s corpse, I stared at Fenris, whose chest heaved with exertion even as he continued to glare at the remnants of the human who’d inspired his wrath.