Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(83)

“What things?” Iannis demanded, looking between Chen and Fenris. “What more has happened in my absence?”

Director Chen sucked in a deep breath before she spoke. “Because my appointment was never formally ratified, the Council decided to rule in your stead and completely shut me out while I was leading the search. They called for the arrest of anyone who has known or suspected ties to the Resistance, which in their very broad definition is half the city.”

“What?” Iannis’s voice sizzled with fury.

“It’s true, Iannis.” Fenris’s voice was heavy with sorrow. “Not only that, but they’ve arrested the families of all these ‘suspects’ as well. Prominent business owners, Enforcers, media employees, and many, many others have been taken, including Inspector Lakin and most of the Baine Clan. If not for the fact that I returned aboard Director Chen’s dirigible with Resistance prisoners in tow, I suspect I would be sharing their fate.”

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” I shouted, furious at the idea that Lakin, who when last I’d talked to him had been working hard to protect shifters from the fallout, had been swept up by the Mages Guild’s misguided attempts at seeking justice. “Iannis, we have to fix this.” I nearly grabbed his sleeve before I caught myself.

“Set up a meeting with the Council in thirty minutes,” Iannis said between gritted teeth. “I want to get to the bottom of this, and I mean to do it now.”



The meeting was a bloody affair, and I got to watch from the sidelines as Iannis ripped each and every one of the Council members a new hole. Omonas tried to fight back, pointing out that it was Iannis’s fault that he hadn’t made sure to ratify Chen’s appointment, and in response Iannis set his robes aflame. It would have been gratifying to watch the fat bastard shriek and scream if he hadn’t also decided to rip off his robes, but apparently the fire Iannis had used couldn’t be put out by normal means, and it consumed the robe to ashes before winking itself out.

After that, none of the other councilmen dared to raise a voice against Iannis, and he told them in no uncertain terms that they were never to pull a stunt like that again, and that as of today he would be ratifying Chen’s appointment. He also told them that they needed to immediately release any citizens they’d imprisoned that they didn’t have hard evidence against, and that if it wasn’t done by the end of today he would see them all removed from their positions and new Council members appointed.

Seeing that he had matters well in hand, I slipped out of the Palace in disguise, briefly integrating myself into the mob outside as a human so I could get into the city itself. Now that I was on the ground, I could read the picket fences clearly, and they said things like “FREE MY FAMILY” and “DEATH TO ALL MAGES” and “GIVE THE POWER TO THE PEOPLE.” A huge part of me wanted to tell these people to stand down, that it was okay now, that Iannis was back and their loved ones would be returned to them, but there was no reason they would believe me, and in any case I needed to check on my friends.

Wishing for my steambike, I considered changing into beast form and running down to the Port. But running around as a jaguar after my entire clan had been arrested was probably a bad idea, so I decided against it and hoofed it down to Witches’ End instead. The five-mile walk was even more depressing than the mob outside the Palace – the once-clean streets were now strewn with refuse from the piles of uncollected garbage bags rotting on the sidewalks, storefronts were smashed in or boarded up, and the few people out on the streets walked quickly, eyes darting around nervously as though expecting someone to jump at them from the shadows or through a broken window. The streets stank of garbage, grief, and fear, and it made my heart hurt.

Worse, though, was the fact that Comenius’s glass storefront was now covered in plywood, battened down and closed to the public. For a heart-stopping moment I feared that he’d skipped town, but when I ran up the side entrance and pounded on the second level door, he answered.

“Oh, Naya.” He threw his arms around me, and we both squeezed each other so tightly I wondered which of us would bust a rib first. “I am so glad to see you’ve come back safely.”

“I thought you’d left,” I told him as he let me into the apartment, my legs shaky with relief. Elania was just inside, and I embraced her too, soaking in her exotic scent. “So many shops are closed, and when I saw yours was boarded up, I feared the worst.”

“We’re still here, and we’re alive and well,” Comenius said gently. “Elania and I decided it would be best to close up our shops until this disaster blows over.”

The sound of a toilet flushing caught my attention, and I turned to see Annia walk out of the bathroom. Her eyes were unusually dull, her shoulders slumped, and she barely managed a smile when she saw me.

“Hey.” I rushed over to her, my heart sinking faster than a downed ship as I embraced her. “What’s going on?”

“Noria’s gone,” Annia muttered as she hugged me back. “When I came home, Mom was crying in the living room and clutching an old photograph of her. She told me that Noria had left the day before to join the Resistance.”

“No.” I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach, and I pulled back to stare at Annia. She only gazed back at me woodenly, no sign in her face that this was a joke or prank. “Fuck,” I exhaled.