Taken by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #8)(45)

A gardener chose that moment to walk around the corner. He dropped the shovel he was carrying, his eyes widening in astonishment. “Lord Iannis! Miss Baine! You’re back!”

“And here comes the cavalry,” Iannis murmured as the guards came running from their posts to greet us. We were quickly escorted inside the palace amidst loud cheers. I did my best not to cringe at all the eyes fixed on us as we entered the building—after all that solitude, the gawking crowd was a bit disorienting. Every mage we passed wanted to know where we’d been, if we were all right, why we looked all dirty and disheveled, but Iannis and I deflected their questions as we headed straight for his rooms. There would be time enough to give explanations and get reports on what had been going on at home—for now, I was so tired that all I longed for was soaking in a hot bath and taking a long nap. And not necessarily in that order.

We were almost at Iannis’s suite when a familiar voice echoed in my mind. “Iannis?” Fenris asked, sounding tentative. “Sunaya?”

Iannis and I froze, giving each other startled looks. “Fenris?” I cried, my heart leaping. Could it really be he? Here, in our home?

A few seconds later, Fenris’s door, which was just a few feet from where we were standing, burst open. I squealed as Fenris rushed out—he looked exactly the same as when I’d last seen him, though he wore modern clothes instead of his usual tunics. My exhaustion forgotten, I shot across the hall to wrap him up in a bear hug.

“Dammit, Fenris!” I yelled as he returned the hug just as fiercely. “I missed you so fucking much,” I mumbled into his shirt. Tears stung at my eyes as I lifted my head to look up at him, and my throat swelled with emotion as his yellow eyes blazed with happiness. Taking in a breath, I savored his familiar scent…and caught another one that smelled of magic and lavender and sunshine. “Figures you would take advantage of the quake to ditch us and go find a mate,” I said, flashing him a grin. “I can smell her all over you.”

Fenris cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed. “We’re not actually married yet,” he said, stepping back. “Though I hope to be, soon.”

“You must invite us to the wedding,” Iannis said, sweeping in for a quick, hard hug of his own. “I’m so glad you will be here for ours.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Fenris said with a broad smile. He looked us both over, then said, “You both look exhausted. I’ll let you rest, and we can talk more in the morning.”

“Oh, hell no,” I said, grabbing his arm. “You just got back—I’m not letting you out of my sight so soon.” After all this time away, he was just going to leave us? I had an irrational fear that if I allowed that, he’d vanish again, perhaps for good.

“Technically you are the ones who just got back,” Fenris said as I dragged him into the suite. I noticed he wasn’t putting up any resistance. “I’ve been here in Solantha for several days.”

“You have?” I exclaimed as we sat down in front of the fireplace. The door opened almost immediately, and I sighed a little in relief when a group of servants came in and set drinks and snacks down on the coffee table. My stomach rumbled, and I quickly snatched up some smoked ham—I was famished. “What have you been doing here this whole time?”

“I came here to warn you,” Fenris said, helping himself to a glass of wine and a small plate of cheese and crackers. “There was a plot afoot—some of Thorgana’s former associates were gathering ex-Resistance members here in Solantha and planned to seize the city after attacking the Convention in force. They hoped to kill the country’s strongest mages in one go and improve their chances of seizing power. Luckily, they were discovered just today, their leaders imprisoned and their weapons seized. It was an impressive collaboration of the Mages Guild under Director Chen, the enforcers, and Director Toring’s office.”

Iannis and I exchanged alarmed glances. “It would seem we’ve missed quite a bit,” he said.

“And you, too?” I asked Fenris. He made it sound like everyone else had been involved, but I knew him better than that. “There is a tinge of gunpowder in your scent.”

“I was there,” he admitted. “Now that I have been outed as Lord Polar’s illegitimate son, Garrett Toring has been surprisingly pleasant,” he added wryly.

I chuckled. “So you know about that, huh? I hope you’re not too offended—I kind of came up with it on the spur of the moment, and since I thought you were dead at the time, I didn’t think there would be any ramifications to you.”

Fenris smiled. “It was inspired, but you’ll need to tell me every detail of your invention, so I don’t accidentally give myself away.”

“Never mind all that now. I want to know more about this plot,” Iannis said, his violet eyes narrowed. “I knew there was a chance something like this could happen when the Minister announced he’d hold the Convention here. We took precautions, but we hadn’t gotten wind of anything like this before I left.”

The door opened before Fenris could reply, and Director Chen strode in. “Thank Resinah you are back,” she said fervently in a rare show of emotion, making a beeline for Iannis. “I was beginning to reach my wits’ end. Are you both unharmed?”

“Yes, thank you.” Iannis smiled. “I apologize for leaving you hanging, Director Chen, but I trust you’ve had things in hand. I gather that on top of everything else, you had to deal with this Resistance plot Fenris was telling us about?”