Marked by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #4)(13)

“The two of them have decided to infiltrate the Resistance,” Comenius said from behind me. I turned to see him standing near the small, round dining table, arms crossed and an uncharacteristic glower on his handsome features. “Something I am in complete disagreement with, by the way.”

Sighing, I turned back to face Annia. She might have been wearing a different guise, but the steely look of determination in her eyes was all her. “I’d ask why you’re doing this, but I already know. You two are going to try and get Noria back, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Elnos answered, his voice hard. “By force, if necessary. She has gotten in way over her head.”

“We’re going to try to persuade her first, though,” Annia added.

I snorted. “Do you really think persuasion is going to work at this stage of the game?”

Annia opened her mouth, but Elnos beat her too it. “No,” he said glumly. “She won’t listen to reason at this point, and we don’t have time to convince her. We need to get her out before the Resistance is defeated, and she is killed.”

“You seem pretty convinced of that,” I commented. Not that I disagreed, but I was interested in hearing his reasoning.

Elnos nodded, his expression grave. “Modern humans and shifters have no idea what cornered mages are truly capable of. The mage community has not been forced to use the full extent of its powers since the Conflict, and neither human nor shifter memory is that long. The Resistance and their supporters think that between their superior firepower, greater numbers and the handful of magic users they’ve recruited to their side, they have what it takes to successfully overthrow the Federation government. However, offensive and defensive magic is still very much a part of every apprentice’s curriculum. We have lethal spells that can wipe out entire armies if they’re not set up to properly defend. These spells are currently forbidden, but if the Resistance continues their provocations, that is going to change.”

I paled at that. “So you’re saying that, if it came down to it, the Federation could just send a group of mages to wherever Noria’s at and wipe out her entire camp?”

Elnos nodded. “Easily. The Federation has refrained from such action because they did not consider the Resistance a large enough threat, and also because they know the kind of public-relations nightmare indiscriminate mass killings would cause. But they will only exercise restraint for so long. This is why I’ve always pleaded for peaceful and voluntary reform. I kept hoping that if I had enough time, I could convince Noria to change her outlook.” He sighed, his stern expression crumpling with sadness. “But I failed, and now I must get her back before it is too late.”

I nodded slowly, impressed with Elnos’s maturity, then went over and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “All right. What can I do to help you guys?”

“I need some assistance with our disguises,” Elnos admitted, a little sheepishly. He gestured to Annia, who pushed her sleeve back to reveal a bracelet with a single charm hanging from it. “I created a charm for Annia’s disguise, in case we get separated. While I believe the look itself is solid, I haven’t quite gotten the hang of masking her scent, since my own nose is not sensitive. There will be shifters at the camps, and since she has already infiltrated a Resistance camp with you and Fenris, there is always the chance someone might recognize her scent. Not to mention that we need to disguise the scent of my magic, or the Resistance will know for sure that we’re not two rebel humans running off from our homes to join the fight.”

“Yeah, you’ll definitely want to mask that.” Sitting down on the couch between them, I guided Elnos through the necessary steps required to change their scents. It was interesting, that I was teaching a full-blooded mage how to direct his magic in a specific way, when I’d only just learned this trick myself a few months ago. Iannis had mentioned that my sensitivity to scents must be why I had such an aptitude for disguising them – it was a talent that usually took a long time to master. I wondered what other types of magic my shifter heritage might give me an advantage in, but I filed that question away for later.

“Okay, you two should be good now.”

“Thanks.” Sighing, Annia leaned her head back against the couch, then eyed me. “You know, it’s a little weird to hear your voice coming out of a teenage boy’s mouth.”

“Oh. Right.” I dropped the illusion. Almost as soon as I did, I felt a surge of warmth, followed by a soreness in my breasts and a tingling ache in my lower belly.

“Naya? Is something wrong?”

I pressed a hand to my belly. “My symptoms. They disappeared for a while.” At Comenius’s blank look, I explained, “I’m about to go into heat, and for the past couple of days, I’ve been experiencing the onset. But when I put on the teenage-boy disguise, the symptoms reduced so drastically I barely noticed them.”

“Fascinating,” Elnos said. He tilted his head, regarding me like I was one of the machines in his shop. “I wonder if it’s because you are more in tune with your mage half than your shifter half when using magic? Or if your use of a male illusion is tricking your female body to some degree?”

“All plausible explanations,” Comenius agreed. He had a strange look on his face as he stared at me. “Do you think you’re going to be okay this next week? Dealing with this insurrection as well as your…heat?”