Marked by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #4)(51)

“Yes ma’am,” I said sheepishly, but as she turned away, a horrible thought popped into my mind. Mrs. Tandry was human, as was all the kitchen staff. Most humans believed in the Ur-God to some degree, and I couldn’t imagine this stout, middle-aged woman as an atheist. Did that mean she believed the same things as the humans I’d met at the temple? That shifters and mages needed to be wiped from the face of Recca, and only humans had the right to exist? In light of that, was it really wise to have any human servants in the Palace at all? It was already obvious that somebody within the Palace walls was feeding intelligence to the Resistance…who was to say it wasn’t Mrs. Tandry or one of her staff? Could any of the humans be trusted?

Stop that, I told myself sternly as I took a seat. This was exactly what the Resistance wanted…for the races to mistrust and hate each other so it would be easy to tear society apart and take what was left for themselves. I couldn’t allow fear to cloud my judgment, and everything I’d seen from Mrs. Tandry so far indicated that her loyalty was to the Palace.

Still, when she bustled over with a plate piled high with ravioli and tomato-sausage sauce, I couldn’t help but ask if she’d ever heard of Father Calmias, and what she thought of his sermons.

“Oh, I don’t listen to that madman,” she insisted, waving her hand away. “He’s a very good speaker, and clearly devout, but anyone with a brain can hear that his hatred of mages is excessive and has warped his message.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but he was speaking at the Ur-God temple in Maintown, and the crowds there were just eating up his words. I was there in disguise,” I added when she gave me a surprised look.

“Well, that may be so, but it doesn’t mean that all of us, or even most of us, buy into Father Calmias’s teachings,” Mrs. Tandry said with a sniff. “That temple is the largest and best funded in Maintown, but it only became so in the last couple of years. There are other smaller temples, both in Maintown and Rowanville, that represent different denominations. The one I used to go to every Sunday, before the wards went up, teaches that the Ur-God promotes acceptance across all races, and that his plan was to move us toward a society where we could all work in harmony.”

I frowned a little. “You’ve been working at the Palace for years, haven’t you?” I asked, and she nodded. “Hasn’t that ideal been shaken even just a little bit by the fact the mages don’t seem inclined to agree with your interpretation of the Ur-God’s plan?”

Mrs. Tandry smiled. “I’ve been here for thirty years,” she said, “and in that time, the Mages Guild has slowly moved toward the Ur-God’s ideals without being fully aware of it. The change sped up when Lord Iannis took control, and even more so when you came into our lives.” Her expression turned serious. “I didn’t trust you in the beginning, Miss Baine, but now I understand that the Ur-God sent you to us. You’re crucial to making His plan a success, and if there is anything I can do to help, you have but to ask.”

I stared at her, stunned. The way she was talking, it was almost as if she viewed me as a savior or something! If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I wanted no part of the Ur-God’s plans, benign or otherwise. But before I could protest, she gave me a serene smile, then returned to her work. I turned back to my cooling food and tried to enjoy my meal, but the weight of responsibility on my shoulders suddenly seemed very heavy. How many other humans in the Palace had similar thoughts about me? Was this what my human neighbor had thought when he’d helped me escape from the apartment building? He’d said I was a hero, and that I needed to be free to do my hero thing. That sounded awesome, in theory, but I didn’t want to be looked up at as a hero. Heroes were objects of admiration, but they were also targets.

Maybe that’s why you’re being targeted by the Resistance, a snide voice in my head suggested. And why you attract trouble wherever you go.

Scowling, I shoved that voice into a box, locked it, and threw away the key. I didn’t need my own sense of sarcasm turning against me, thank you very much. Tired now, I finished my meal and made tracks toward Iannis’s office. I might as well wait for him there, I reasoned, maybe take a nap on his couch.

But my feet took me straight past the Mages Guild, and the next thing I knew, I was outside the library again. Right, I thought as I pushed open the door. I meant to check in with Janta anyway, to see if she had any new information for me.

“Miss Baine!” Janta’s eyes lit up behind her spectacles, and she rose. Today, she was dressed in a peach-colored robe with tiny daisies sewn along the collar and sleeve hems. “I was hoping you would come by soon. I was able to gain access to a long-distance line, and I’ve had word from my colleague in Dara.”

“Oh yeah?” The fog of exhaustion lifted from my brain as excitement filled my veins. “What did they say? Did you find out who owns the Bellington Trust?”

“Indeed I have.” Janta picked up a piece of paper from her desk and handed it to me. I read the name on it, and felt the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.

The beneficiaries of the trust were Curian Vanderheim and his wife, Thorgana Mills.

“By Magorah,” I muttered, re-reading the names once, twice, then three times to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake. “The Vanderheims! I just saw them at the ball in Dara, only days ago.”