Scorched by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #7)(13)

“Not exactly, but it is related.” He ruefully glanced back at the ruins of the house. “I wish I could have saved the map—I was planning to present it to you so I could give you a better visual of the problem. But the long and short of it is that many of Solantha’s public buildings have not been built up to code, and they are safety hazards in and of themselves even without the recent rash of quakes. I have been writing to both the Maintown Council and the Mages Guild about this for over a year now, but they’ve ignored my letters. Now that there are rumors that a big quake might be imminent, it is urgent I get an audience with the appropriate officials, to make them face up to the scale of the problem. I was hoping you might be able to speak to the Chief Mage for me, and perhaps arrange something.”

“I can do one better.” I smiled at him to hide my outrage. Why had such an important issue been lost in the shuffle? I could understand Argon Chartis stuffing Kardanor’s letters somewhere out of Iannis’s line of sight—he cared nothing for humans, and the Mages Quarter was well protected. But why wasn’t the Maintown Council interested in this? “We’re having a working dinner at the Palace tonight to discuss quake-proofing the city. Your expertise is relevant, so I’d like to invite you. Eight o’clock. You can make your case personally to the Chief Mage then.”

Kardanor looked taken aback. “Really? You would do that for me even though we’ve only just met?”

I smiled again. “I trust you.” My heirloom ring hadn’t reacted to Kardanor’s presence, so I knew he meant no harm. Pulling my notepad and pen out of my inner jacket pocket, I scribbled a note on it, then folded it up and handed it to Kardanor. “Just show this to the front desk receptionist when you come in. He’s a bit of a grump, but if you give him this, he’ll make sure you’re admitted.”

“Thank you.” Kardanor tucked the note into his coat pocket, then bowed again. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Baine.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a crush on him,” Rylan teased as I watched the architect walk away. “Does Iannis have some competition?”

I chuckled. “Hardly. I’m just impressed at how quickly he reacted in the face of danger.” I dealt with dangerous situations on a regular basis, but as an architect, he probably wasn’t used to facing down death. Even so, he’d handled himself with remarkable composure. I had a feeling that he’d be an asset—once Iannis and the others got over the shock of sharing their evening meal with a human.

Rylan, the receptionist, and I went back around to the front of the house to wait by the body of our would-be assassin. The enforcers arrived a few minutes later, a male-female pair from the Main Crew, and even their hardened faces slackened in shock as they surveyed the damage.

“You’re very lucky that you all made it out unscathed,” the male said as he crouched by the body, which he’d pulled from the rubble. The receptionist let out a tiny sob, and Rylan took her in his arms, turning her face away from the ghastly scene. The dead man’s face was badly bruised, his neck lolling at a strange angle—as Rylan had said, it had been broken. He stared at me, unseeing, but even in death, fear and anger marked the lines of his face. It was as though his spirit still lingered, silently glaring daggers at me and cursing me for not dying neatly as I should have.

Well, fuck you, too, I thought, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Any idea who this asshole is?” I asked aloud.

“Got an ID.” The male enforcer flipped open a wallet. “Aerin Yolas,” he read aloud. “Forty-five, lives in Maintown.” He rifled through the man’s wallet, then pulled out a business card. “Works for Gorax Construction.”

“That explains how he got hold of that road paver,” I muttered. The Goraxes had been at the reception last night. Did they have anything to do with this, or was this man acting alone?

“I recognize this guy,” the female enforcer said suddenly. “Took me a minute with his face so bashed in, but I’ve seen him at the Maintown Temple. He’s a follower of Father Calmias.”

I ground my teeth at that. That fucking pastor was determined to be the death of me, even behind bars. “That means he could be working on Father Calmias’s orders.” Just because the bastard was locked up didn’t mean he couldn’t slip messages to his followers.

“Maybe, maybe not.” The female enforcer shrugged. “A lot of these guys are happy to commit any kind of crime in the Ur-God’s name. Just means more bounties for us.” To my annoyance, she seemed somewhat disappointed, and I had a feeling it had to do with the fact Aerin was dead. If he’d been alive, she could have brought him in for a bounty. And I sensed that she wouldn’t have cared one iota if he’d killed me.

“Well, have fun with this one,” I said, giving them a sarcastic salute. I turned my back on them, no longer feeling quite so nostalgic about being an enforcer. I had bigger things to worry about than whether these guys liked me. Like making sure I stayed alive, for one. And as soon as this quake thing was under control, I was going to deal with Father Calmias once and for all.





5





Iannis was busy handling state matters when I returned, so I didn’t bother telling him about the attack in Rowanville. He didn’t need to spend the rest of the day worrying about it since Rylan and I had handled it well enough. I’d tell him about it before dinner, if I had a chance.