Marked by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #4)(67)

“Why, cousin,” Rylan drawled as he sat down in the chair opposite mine, “a tea party, for me? You shouldn’t have.”

“Don’t be an *, Rylan.” I shoved the platter at him. “Eat. You look like something the cat dragged in.”

“No kidding,” Rylan agreed. His wrists were bound with steel manacles engraved in runes that prevented him from breaking them, so he couldn’t shovel the food into his mouth as fast as he wanted to. Nevertheless, he managed to clear the plate in less than ten minutes, and downed three glasses of milk besides that.

“Thanks,” he muttered when he was finished.

“No problem,” I said dryly. My stomach gave a hollow pang at the sight of the empty platter – I’d yet to have dinner, but I hadn’t wanted to eat any of the food since Rylan clearly needed it more than I did.

“So, did you come here just to feed me?” Rylan asked. “Or did you have something to say?”

“I wanted to bring you some news,” I told him. I started in with the Benefactor’s plans for the shifter community, telling him what I’d learned at the Ur-God temple and from talking with the humans individually, and also that I’d convinced the Mages Guild to lighten the sentences of shifter soldiers in view of the recent injustices.

Rylan’s lips were pressed together when I finished. He looked pained, but resigned. “I know you’re not lying, and what you say unfortunately lines up,” he admitted with a sigh. “Over the past few months, the human officers were suddenly being given access to ridiculous amounts of money and way more information than we were, and shifters were excluded and ignored more and more in meetings and decisions. Believe it or not, we used to avoid things like blowing up bridges and setting buildings on fire. But not only were we starting to do it, but shifters were also being sent in to carry out the worst and most dangerous missions.”

“I suspected as much,” I told him, a little sadly now. “I couldn’t believe it when you guys tried to blow up the Firegate Bridge. It had never occurred to me that the Resistance would go that far.”

“We shouldn’t have.” Rylan’s shoulders slumped, and he scrubbed his hands over his face before looking me in the eye again. “Look, despite everything that’s happened between us, I’m glad you’re safe. I fought hard against the kill order that was put out on you, but it came down from the top, and there was nothing I could do.”

“I know,” I told him. I didn’t want him to feel guilty about this. Thorgana was at fault here, not him. “And you did warn me about going to the Convention.”

“I also told you not to warn the Chief Mage,” Rylan growled, anger lighting his eyes now. “But I knew you wouldn’t listen, so I took extra steps there to ensure your safety too.”

I froze. “What do you mean by that?”

“I was in town when I called you, so after I hung up the phone, I went down to Witches End and had a witch cast a spell to make you forget to tell the Chief Mage whenever you were near him.”

“What the f*ck?” I shot to my feet so quickly that my chair clattered to the floor. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“I filched some hair from your apartment the last time I was there,” Rylan admitted, looking more than a little uncomfortable now. “The witch was able to use it to cast the spell on you.”

“You bastard!” I slammed my hands down on the table, sending the empty milk pitcher crashing to the ground. It shattered, scattering shards of pottery across the floor as I shoved my nose in Rylan’s face. “You almost got the Chief Mage killed, and you made me think it was my fault by making me forget to warn him!”

“Yes, and I also saved your life,” Rylan shouted back, not backing down one bit. “The Resistance would have killed you for sure if the Chief Mage hadn’t gotten on the dirigible that day.”

“Yeah, and so what?” I sneered, shoving back from the table. “They put a hit out on me anyway, didn’t they? At least if you hadn’t messed with my head, I could have warned Iannis, and we could have potentially saved hundreds of lives. Their blood is on your hands, Rylan.”

Disgusted, I had the guards take him away, then asked them to leave me for a moment so I could regain my composure. I was shaking with rage, so angry at Rylan’s betrayal that I wanted the guards to bring him back in here so I could beat the shit out of him. But that wouldn’t solve anything, and besides, he would be sent off to the mines soon anyway.

When I was composed again, I asked the guards to bring Thorgana in. Unlike Rylan, she didn’t appear undernourished, but her platinum-blonde hair hung limp around her heart-shaped face. Without her makeup, she looked brittle and colorless.

“Miss Baine,” she said in a cool voice, crossing her legs as she sat down in the chair. Somehow, she managed to make her prison uniform look elegant, and she sat in the hard chair with the posture of a queen. “I would say it’s nice of you to visit, but I’m afraid the very sight of you turns my stomach.”

“Is that because I’m a shifter, or because I’m a mage?” I asked casually, refusing to react to the malice glittering in her eyes. “I hear you hate both of them equally, which is kind of strange.”

She shrugged. “The mages are cruel and unjust, and the shifters barbaric and dangerous. I console myself with the certainty that their days are numbered, no matter what becomes of me.”