Scorched by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #7)(47)

“Miss Baine?” someone asked, and I jerked my head up to see Director Chen staring down at me. Her silk robes had been replaced with utilitarian brown wool, her long hair was pulled up into a no-nonsense bun, and her ivory skin was smudged with soot and blood. “Thank the Lady I’ve found you. Lord Iannis has returned.”

I shot to my feet, my exhaustion forgotten. “He has? How?” In all the commotion, I hadn’t thought to check my serapha charm, and as far as I’d known, there had been no point. He’d been a day away this morning, and I hadn’t thought he would make it in time to assist today.

“He has been experimenting with creating gulayas, using that new method from the diary he found on that deserted island,” Chen said, lowering her voice. “He took one with him on his trip, and he used it to get back as soon as he got word about the quake. He’s been leading the firefighting for the past hour, and the flames are almost completely subdued now.”

“That’s great.” Touching my serapha charm, I confirmed that Iannis was indeed back in Solantha, and though he seemed tired and strained, he was healthy. “I’ll go find him. Thanks.”

Using my serapha charm as a guide, I picked my way through the rubble-strewn streets toward Iannis. He was a couple of blocks west, at the town center, putting out a fire in the town hall. I leaned against the remnants of a street lamp and watched as he and, to my great surprise, Director Toring, worked together to staunch the flames licking the roof of the building. The other buildings on either side of the town hall were partially charred and still smoking, but their fires had been put out safely.

“You’ve been busy,” I said, strolling up to the two mages once they’d gotten the fire under control. I would have volunteered to help, but I was still recovering from the healings I’d done, and the two of them hadn’t seemed to need my help anyway. Like Chen, Iannis and Garrett were dressed in simple robes rather than their usual finery. Both their faces were black with soot, but I grabbed Iannis and kissed him anyway. He tasted like ash and blood, but also himself, and as he wrapped his strong arms about me and crushed me tight against him, an indulgence he rarely allowed in public, the knot of grief and pain inside my chest loosened a bit.

“I’m very glad you’re safe,” he finally said, pulling back. He pushed a curl out of my face with a blackened finger, no doubt streaking soot across my forehead. But I didn’t care. After this hellish day, I needed to feel his touch, hear his voice, see those brilliant violet eyes staring down at me as they did now, still so full of vitality despite the grueling, draining work. “I felt your pain, and I was worried that something had happened to you. Are you all right?”

I swallowed hard against the sudden ball of tears in my throat, eyes stinging again. “Fenris is dead,” I choked out.

Iannis’s face went deathly pale beneath the soot. “What?”

“Dead?” Garrett echoed, scowling. “What do you mean, dead?”

“I mean he’s no longer living in this world, you asshole!” I took a step toward him, fangs bared, and Garrett recoiled in shock. He wasn’t used to seeing me this feral. Iannis braced a hand against my forearm, and the only reason I halted was because he was as much leaning on me as he was silently telling me to stop.

“Why don’t you sit down?” I said heavily. We sank onto the cracked marble steps in front of the town hall, and I relayed the story to Iannis, leaving out only the part about Fenris gifting his knowledge to me. By the time I was done, my eyes were burning with unshed tears, and my heart felt like it had been repeatedly run over by a steamtruck. By Magorah, how could he be gone? How could I have let him die?

A long silence settled over the three of us when I finished. Iannis’s expression was like stone, but I knew that was because we were in public—the anguish coming off him, which I could feel clearly through the serapha charm, was so great that it made mine feel paltry in comparison. Fenris had been his friend far longer than mine.

“You did not fail him,” I said firmly in mindspeak, sensing what Iannis was thinking. “He left this world knowing how much you loved him.”

“He wouldn’t have left this world at all, had I not convinced him to stay the first time he announced he was leaving.” Iannis’s eyes burned with restrained emotion, and I had to struggle to keep from hugging him again. “He could be a thousand miles away by now, living his own life.”

“Well, that’s very convenient,” Garrett said skeptically, interrupting our silent conversation. “For Fenris to die just as I was preparing my arrest warrant for him. How do I know that you aren’t lying, and that he didn’t escape in the confusion?”

“You bastard—” I snarled, but stopped myself before I lunged for Garrett again. Fenris wouldn’t want me to get myself into hot water after all he’d done to save my life. Fuck. Taking a deep breath, I sat back down, then said, “If you doubt me, I will take you to the place where it happened. We need to recover the body anyway.”

“Sunaya,” Iannis said, putting his hand on my arm. He turned to Garrett, his voice full of reproach. “Now is hardly the time to squabble about such a petty—”

“No,” I said, my voice hard. I got to my feet and pinned Garrett with an icy stare that could give Iannis a run for his money. “If taking time away from helping the sick and the dying is what we need to appease Director Toring’s sense of justice,” I spat the word, and his eyes flickered, “then that’s what we’ll do.”