Chapter 5 #2
Sighing, I turned back to face Annia. She might have been wearing a different guise, but the steely look of determination in her eyes was all her. “I’d ask why you’re doing this, but I already know. You two are going to try and get Noria back, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Elnos answered, his voice hard. “By force, if necessary. She has gotten in way over her head.”
“We’re going to try to persuade her first, though,” Annia added.
I snorted. “Do you really think persuasion is going to work at this stage of the game?”
Annia opened her mouth, but Elnos beat her too it. “No,” he said glumly. “She won’t listen to reason at this point, and we don’t have time to convince her. We need to get her out before the Resistance is defeated, and she is killed.”
“You seem pretty convinced of that,” I commented. Not that I disagreed, but I was interested in hearing his reasoning.
Elnos nodded, his expression grave. “Modern humans and shifters have no idea what cornered mages are truly capable of. The mage community has not been forced to use the full extent of its powers since the Conflict, and neither human nor shifter memory is that long. The Resistance and their supporters think that between their superior firepower, greater numbers and the handful of magic users they’ve recruited to their side, they have what it takes to successfully overthrow the Federation government.
However, offensive and defensive magic is still very much a part of every apprentice’s curriculum.
We have lethal spells that can wipe out entire armies if they’re not set up to properly defend.
These spells are currently forbidden, but if the Resistance continues their provocations, that is going to change. ”
I paled at that. “So you’re saying that, if it came down to it, the Federation could just send a group of mages to wherever Noria’s at and wipe out her entire camp?”
Elnos nodded. “Easily. The Federation has refrained from such action because they did not consider the Resistance a large enough threat, and also because they know the kind of public-relations nightmare indiscriminate mass killings would cause. But they will only exercise restraint for so long. This is why I’ve always pleaded for peaceful and voluntary reform.
I kept hoping that if I had enough time, I could convince Noria to change her outlook.
” He sighed, his stern expression crumpling with sadness.
“But I failed, and now I must get her back before it is too late.”
I nodded slowly, impressed with Elnos’s maturity, then went over and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “All right. What can I do to help you guys?”
“I need some assistance with our disguises,” Elnos admitted, a little sheepishly.
He gestured to Annia, who pushed her sleeve back to reveal a bracelet with a single charm hanging from it.
“I created a charm for Annia’s disguise, in case we get separated.
While I believe the look itself is solid, I haven’t quite gotten the hang of masking her scent, since my own nose is not sensitive.
There will be shifters at the camps, and since she has already infiltrated a Resistance camp with you and Fenris, there is always the chance someone might recognize her scent.
Not to mention that we need to disguise the scent of my magic, or the Resistance will know for sure that we’re not two rebel humans running off from our homes to join the fight. ”
“Yeah, you’ll definitely want to mask that.
” Sitting down on the couch between them, I guided Elnos through the necessary steps required to change their scents.
It was interesting, that I was teaching a full-blooded mage how to direct his magic in a specific way, when I’d only just learned this trick myself a few months ago.
Iannis had mentioned that my sensitivity to scents must be why I had such an aptitude for disguising them – it was a talent that usually took a long time to master.
I wondered what other types of magic my shifter heritage might give me an advantage in, but I filed that question away for later.
“Okay, you two should be good now.”
“Thanks.” Sighing, Annia leaned her head back against the couch, then eyed me. “You know, it’s a little weird to hear your voice coming out of a teenage boy’s mouth.”
“Oh. Right.” I dropped the illusion. Almost as soon as I did, I felt a surge of warmth, followed by a soreness in my breasts and a tingling ache in my lower belly.
“Naya? Is something wrong?”
I pressed a hand to my belly. “My symptoms. They disappeared for a while.” At Comenius’s blank look, I explained, “I’m about to go into heat, and for the past couple of days, I’ve been experiencing the onset.
But when I put on the teenage-boy disguise, the symptoms reduced so drastically I barely noticed them. ”
“Fascinating,” Elnos said. He tilted his head, regarding me like I was one of the machines in his shop. “I wonder if it’s because you are more in tune with your mage half than your shifter half when using magic? Or if your use of a male illusion is tricking your female body to some degree?”
“All plausible explanations,” Comenius agreed. He had a strange look on his face as he stared at me. “Do you think you’re going to be okay this next week? Dealing with this insurrection as well as your…heat?”
His face flushed, and I grinned a little, understanding.
I’d gone to Comenius twice in the past when my heat had become too unbearable to ignore, and even though we’d no longer been in a relationship at that time, he’d been more than happy to oblige.
But now he had Elania and that was no longer possible, so he was concerned about what I might do without a ready outlet.
“Don’t worry about it, Com,” I told him. “I’ll figure out a solution, even if it means I have to walk around like a teenage boy for the next week.”
“Why are you disguised as a teenage boy, anyway?” Annia asked. “Are you also on a reconnaissance mission?”
“I wish.” I sighed, thinking back to Chen’s directive – that she wanted me to stay out of the way and not do anything.
“Honestly, I’m just trying not to die.” I stood up and began to pace as I told them about the warning message the Resistance had left on my door yesterday, and the fire I’d narrowly escaped in the early hours of the morning.
“Heiliger Strohsack, Naya!” Comenius exclaimed. “You waited to tell us about this until now? You could have been killed!” He wrapped me in a tight hug.
“I know, but I wasn’t.” I hugged him back, briefly resting my cheek on his chest as I inhaled his woodsy, herbal scent.
The ache in my lower body flared up in proximity to a male, and I hastily extricated myself from his grip.
Logic and heat didn’t really go together, so it was better if I didn’t touch Comenius, or any other male I wasn’t planning on taking to bed.
“Anyway, I’ve got to stay in disguise when I go out in public, which sucks. But at least it helps with the heat, so that’s something.”
“You could always jump the Chief Mage,” Annia said, waggling her eyebrows. “I’m sure he’d understand your…situation. He’d probably even be happy to help.” She grinned.
“Annia,” Comenius scolded.
“I’m afraid he’s a little busy,” I said, not sure whether I should laugh or cringe. “Don’t worry, guys. Seriously. I’ll figure it out.”
“I might be able to help.” Elania’s musical voice drifted from the stairwell, and I turned as I heard her footsteps creaking on the wooden steps.
She sashayed in a few moments later, and I was surprised to see her in a black top and pants rather than the tight, low-cut dresses she preferred.
Over her clothing, she wore a stained apron, and the smudges of dirt on her usually perfect face and the duster in her hand told me she’d been cleaning downstairs.
“Help with what?” I asked as she glided over to Comenius. “The heat?”
“Yes.” She planted a kiss on Comenius’s cheek, then turned to face me.
“My mother used to make an anti-aphrodisiac that was quite effective. Her customers were usually tired women who wanted to stave off their randy husbands. They would mix a few drops in their man’s beer when he came home from work, and unless said man had an extraordinarily powerful libido, he was content to leave her alone for the evening. ”
“Huh.” I’d never even considered such a scenario between married couples, but I could understand an overtired housewife wanting to go to bed early every so often without spreading her legs. “Well, if you’ve got some, I’ll try it out.”
“It’ll only take a few moments to make,” Elania promised. “Let me just get washed up.”
She disappeared into Comenius’s bedroom, then returned a little bit later with the dirt removed from her face, wearing a long, high-waisted black dress with no sleeves.
She tied a glittering purple apron over her dress as she went into the kitchen, then bustled around, chopping up herbs and boiling water.
Resigned to the wait, I sat down in the wicker armchair next to the sofa and turned back to Elnos and Annia. “So are you two already packed, then? Do you need help with any other preparations?”
“No, we’re good,” Annia said softly. There was a faraway look in her eyes as she stared at the opposite wall.
“I’m not sure how long we’re going to be gone for, Naya.
It could be a week, or it could be months.
Part of me feels I’m being selfish by doing this, that I should be staying here to help defend the city and fight off the Resistance. ”
“It’s okay.” I reached over and squeezed her hand.
“You’ve done a lot already, between helping me with the Shifter Royale case and rescuing the Chief Mage.
And depriving the Resistance of Noria’s talents has got to be worthwhile in itself.
No one would dream of faulting you for wanting to go after your sister.
” I turned my head to glare at Comenius. “Right?”