Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(60)

“Where are the rest of your delegates?”

“I’m very pleased to see you’ve brought him back here alive,” a voice murmured in my ear. I looked over my shoulder to find that Cirin Garidano, the Solantha Finance Secretary, had somehow maneuvered his way behind me. He looked very stately in his gold and blue robes, the same ones as the illusion Iannis wore, and for a moment I was reminded of the time when Argon Chartis had taken up Iannis’s seat in the audience chamber and worn his colors as well. But unlike Chartis, the Finance Secretary was acting with the blessing of the Mages Guild. It made sense for him to wear the colors of his state, as he’d been Canalo’s only representative until our arrival.

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” I jabbed, but only halfheartedly. “I had to hijack a hot air balloon in order to get to him.”

“So that hunch of yours really did work out. I must confess I thought you were bluffing. How exactly did you find him?” the Finance Secretary wanted to know. His voice was pitched low, his lips so close to my ear I could feel his breath on my skin. “What a slap in the face for the Council, that you managed to locate Lord Iannis when they could not. You clearly must have had some sort of plan in place.”

“It’s a long story.” I knew the Finance Secretary was trying to make sure he wasn’t overheard, but despite his efforts and the loud noise in the room, I wasn’t comfortable disclosing that information to him. Not to mention I still wasn’t sure I could trust him. “I’ll let the Chief Mage relay those details to you.”

“And who is this young lady accompanying you?” the mage who’d ‘greeted’ us asked, drawing my attention back to the conversation.

“Narina Sernan,” Iannis said, apparently inventing a name for me on the spot. I cursed him inwardly for not consulting with me first – he’d yet to pick an alias for me that I actually liked – but committed it to memory so I would know to answer to it. “She is my assistant, and she accompanied the search party which located me near the airship’s crash site.”

“I see.” The mage inclined his head in my direction before turning back to Iannis. “While we are all grateful for her part in your rescue, I’ll have to ask Miss Sernan to leave,” he said sternly. “This particular banquet is for delegates only.”

“Very well, Lord Bastien,” Iannis said before I could protest. “In any case, we came straight here, and one of our party must secure our rooms at the Crystal Hotel.”

“Are you serious?” I snapped, gritting my teeth in anger. “You’re going to send me off to run errands?”

“The rules here are very strict,” Iannis replied in mindspeak even as he went on talking to the other mages. “Besides, I really do need you to secure our hotel rooms and purchase clothing and other necessities. Much as I wish you could stay here with me, it isn’t possible, so please hold your temper and do as I ask. You’ll have plenty of time to snoop around tomorrow.”

“Fine.” His explanation was slightly mollifying, and I forced myself to keep my expression calm even though what I really wanted to do was spit on Lord Bastien’s shoe.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Bastien said. He gestured to a guard, who instantly appeared at his side. “Help Miss Sernan procure transportation to the Crystal Hotel.”

“Yes sir.” The guard bowed, and I bit back a sigh. I didn’t need an escort, but the warning look in Iannis’s eyes was enough to make me think twice about kicking the guard to the curb. We were here on a mission, after all, and squabbling about petty matters wasn’t going to help us get to the bottom of the attack on Iannis and the other delegates.

“Take this,” Iannis said, pulling a leather pouch from the magical vortex that seemed to exist inside his sleeve. I took it from him and resisted the urge to test the weight of the pouch in my hand – I figured such behavior was unbecoming amongst the wealthy, and besides, I could already tell it had significant heft. “That should be more than enough to cover expenses.”

“Thank you.” With nothing left to say, I bowed to the delegates around us, then followed the guard out of the banquet hall, leaving Iannis to fend for himself against the pack of vultures descending on him en masse.



Playing the part Iannis had assigned, I allowed the guard to escort me outside and hail a cab, but stopped short of having him actually accompany me to the hotel. An escort was all well and good, but I didn’t need a babysitter.

As I listened to the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves, I peered through the cab’s curtains and studied the city. Unlike Solantha, the majority of the people walking these broad streets were mages, dressed in robes that varied in color, style, and material. As we passed through a trendy shopping district, I watched a woman glide out of a carriage and take the arm of a man I assumed to be her husband. She was dressed in an ermine-trimmed fuchsia robe and sparkling gemstones, and her dark red hair was twisted up into two elaborate knots at the top of her head. Her husband was dressed in similar fashion, though his robes were black and more masculine in style. The two of them headed into a fancy restaurant, and I wondered if that was just their normal idea of a date night, or if they had important business there. Conversely, just across the street a pair of mages dressed in plain, monochromatic robes walked out of a bookshop, both carrying thick leather tomes in their arms as they chattered earnestly about whatever scholarly topic they were pursuing.