Scorched by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #7)(22)

“I will interview her tomorrow, after our breakfast with Miss Baine,” Pillick declared, and my stomach sank. By Magorah, they were going to drag Janta into this?

They retired shortly afterward, and I slipped out of the guest room. I desperately wanted to run to the library and leave Janta a note on her desk, warning her not to give away any information about Fenris, but the library was too close to where the guards were stationed. I wouldn’t be able to get in and out unseen. And there would be no sneaking out to warn her—the guards would definitely see that.

Riding the edge of exhaustion now, I snuck back into Iannis’s room, then stripped off my clothes and cuddled into bed next to him. He grumbled a little in his sleep, but his long arms tucked me against him, my back to his chest, and he pressed a kiss to my shoulder. Sparks skipped along my bare skin, and I relaxed, a smile coming to my lips despite everything. With a deep sigh, I forced myself to let go of my problems and finally sink into sleep. I’d need all my wits about me to deal with Garrett tomorrow.





9





“So,” Garrett said as he slathered cream cheese and lox onto his onion bagel at breakfast the next morning. “Do you have any idea what Thorgana may be planning, Sunaya? You have spent more time with her than I—what sort of revenge would she be plotting?”

I was silent for a moment as I chewed on my mouthful of bacon, considering. “She’s not one for silent strikes in the night,” I finally said, reaching for my glass of orange juice. “She’ll want to make a big splashy statement with her strike, and take out as many mages as possible. Shifters, too, if she can, but mages are her priority. She’d destroy all of us if she could.”

“Do you think she still has any of those dangerous viruses?” Pillick asked. He’d ordered steak and eggs, and I’d done my best to avoid enviously eyeing his plate. “I know the labs in Osero and Garai have been destroyed, but some of their products may have been shipped out before you got there. She might have stashed them in other locations.”

“She did have some deadly concoction around her neck when we captured her,” I said, a chill running down my spine as I remembered the thick, bright red smoke that had exploded from the shattered vial. Iannis had contained it before it could touch us, but a sense of wrongness had pervaded my being at the sight of that stuff. I knew if it had touched us, we would have died. “I sincerely hope that she doesn’t have more, but that would be wishful thinking.”

“Indeed,” Garrett agreed, his golden-brown eyebrows drawing together. “It’s a pity Lord Iannis wasn’t able to collect a sample of it to study.”

I ignored the subtle dig, and instead launched into a discussion of our plans for the day. We agreed that visits to the Enforcers Guild and the Shiftertown Inspector were necessary, to enlist their assistance and offer bounties for useful information. We also decided to visit the Herald and the Shifter Courier, and question Thorgana’s known associates. If there was time left in the day, we would take a trip to Prison Isle and interview the few high-level Resistance members languishing there who had worked with her personally.

“This is a good start,” Garrett said, scanning the list of names I’d compiled of those I believed to be part of Thorgana’s social circle, “but a woman of Thorgana’s status would have more friends and associates than this. We should pass by the library and check the archives of any society magazines that would have reported on her many parties.”

My shoulders tensed at the mention of the library, but I only nodded. “That’s a good idea. I can go ahead and do that, then meet you at the Enforcers Guild a little later.”

“Nonsense,” Garrett said, waving his hand. “I’ve a fondness for libraries, and we’ll get through the task faster if all three of us work on it together.”

My stomach sank—I’d hoped I could find a way to stall them, so I could get to Janta first. But Garrett was chomping at the bit to get going, and he was right—it really didn’t make sense for us to split up right now. My appetite gone, I finished up the few morsels left on my plate, then forced myself to escort Garrett and his assistant to the library.

As we passed the main entrance lobby, a small commotion at the front door caught my attention, and we paused. My eyes widened briefly in surprise as four mage guards brought in an old man dressed in clerical robes. He’d lost a little weight, his white hair was thinner, and there were circles beneath his eyes, but there was no mistaking him—it was Father Calmias, brought back from Prison Isle.

“How interesting,” Garrett said, his eyes gleaming as he studied the prisoner. He would recognize him from the photos in the press—articles demanding his release appeared nationwide, almost every day. “That such an old, frail-looking human could be the cause of so much trouble.”

“You have no idea,” I growled under my breath as I watched the guards herd Father Calmias past us. Our eyes clashed, and he lifted his chin, somehow managing to look down his nose at me despite the heavy manacles dragging at him. As if I were the scumbag who’d preached violence and genocide. “Iannis is going to interview him this morning.”

“That is something I wouldn’t miss for the world,” Garrett said. To my supreme annoyance, he turned to follow Father Calmias and his escort. “Harron, you and Miss Baine can go on to the library without me. I will meet you later to go to the Enforcers Guild.”