Scorched by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #7)(19)

“Yes.” I paused for a moment, considering my options, then said. “We’ll meet back here, in the Winter Garden room, at eight.” I didn’t want to invite him into my suite for breakfast, nor was I interested in going to his—that would be all kinds of inappropriate. “In the meantime, let’s get you settled in for the night.” I rang a bell, summoning the Palace staff.

“Excellent.” Garrett smiled, his hazel eyes glinting. “I look forward to seeing what we might accomplish together.”

I don’t, I thought as I handed Garrett off to a servant who would show him and his assistant to appropriate guestrooms in the East Wing. By Magorah, we didn’t need this. But I met Iannis’s eyes again, and they were surprisingly steady.

We’ll find a way through this, his gaze said. We’ve been through worse.

Nodding, I slipped my hand into his, and we hurried down the hall to find out where Fenris had gone off to.





7





Unsurprisingly, Fenris wasn’t actually in the library. We checked there anyway, but I figured he wouldn’t want to risk Garrett seeking him out. His scent lingered near the entrance, as if he’d been here recently, so he must have stopped by to grab some books to continue his research elsewhere.

“You’re back faster than I thought you’d be,” he said by way of greeting as we entered Iannis’s suite. Fenris’s room was farther down the hall, but I’d smelled him right outside Iannis’s door, so we didn’t bother going any further. He was settled into the wing-backed chair by the fire, a thick leather tome in his hand and several more stacked on the side table by his left elbow. “How was your chat with Director Toring?”

“Unsettling,” Iannis said, sitting down on the end of the couch closest to Fenris. He snapped his fingers, and the scent of magic tickled my nose as the eavesdropping wards he’d set into the walls were activated. I kicked off my boots, then stretched out on the remainder of the couch and settled my calves across Iannis’s lap. “Thorgana survived the fire, and Garrett strongly suspects she has fled here.”

Fenris sat straight up in his chair, setting the book aside. “That woman is like a blasted cockroach,” he growled, his yellow eyes narrowing to slits. “How did she survive?”

Iannis relayed to Fenris what Garrett had told us—that the fire had been orchestrated to break Thorgana out, and that one of the arsonists had heard she was headed to Solantha for some payback.

Fenris’s bearded face was drawn so tight by the time Iannis was done, I half expected his tanned skin to start cracking. “I wish there was some way I could be of more help,” he said, “but with Director Toring here, I am severely limited.”

“We’ll be fine,” I assured him. “You just need to lie low until he’s gone. I’m going to be working with him to apprehend Thorgana, and I intend to find her quickly so that we can send him on his way.”

Fenris nodded. “As soon as he is gone, I shall be on my way as well.”

Iannis stiffened, and I stared at Fenris in shock. “What do you mean? Where are you going?”

“I don’t know yet,” Fenris admitted. He scrubbed a hand over his face, and my heart began to ache—he looked so brittle, as if a well-placed blow would shatter his soul and send it scattering to the winds. “But it is clear that I can no longer stay here. My shifter nose has much improved since you came to the Palace, Sunaya—I could smell Garrett’s ill will quite clearly during his brief interrogation attempt. He will not be content to focus his energies exclusively on Thorgana, and I believe Thorgana may only be an excuse. Now that he and Iannis are contenders for the Minister’s position, he will use any means at his disposal to eliminate the competition. I may well be the perfect weapon. If not for the fact that it would confirm Toring’s suspicions, and my guilt, I would leave right now.”

“I concede the point,” Iannis said reluctantly, looking troubled. “If I could, I would simply tell Garrett to his face that I care nothing for the position, and that he is welcome to it. But he would not believe me, and besides, he will not be satisfied until he solves the mystery of how you slipped from his grasp as Polar ar’Tollis.”

“That’s all well and good, but Garrett doesn’t have any proof that you and Polar are the same person,” I argued. “We don’t even know that is what he suspects—we only know he sees a mystery in Fenris.” Anger bubbled in my chest—I wasn’t going to accept this! Fenris had been my only friend when I’d first come to the Palace, bridging the gap between Iannis and me with his calm, compassionate manner. If not for him, I might never have become Iannis’s apprentice. “We’ll just have to make sure he walks away empty handed.”

Fenris shook his head emphatically. “Director Toring will not suffer to be made a fool of twice,” he growled, his yellow eyes gleaming as the fire in the hearth reflected off them. “He and his assistant will be watching me very closely, and questioning the servants and staff about me. He is very intelligent and highly motivated, so there is a distinct chance he might discover the truth before Thorgana is apprehended. Even if he doesn’t, he will find another excuse to come back and keep searching. No, I must not tempt fate. As soon as he leaves, I will depart.”