Chapter 16
The next morning, a servant knocked on my door and told me that the Chief Mage required my presence in the audience chamber for an important meeting.
Groaning, I dragged myself out of bed and made myself as presentable as I could – I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, my mind replaying my outing with Iannis over and over.
As soon as we’d gotten into the cab, Iannis had dropped the illusion, and along with it the lax, easygoing manner he’d adopted in his human guise.
I’d plied him with questions about how he’d blended in with the humans so easily and why, even though he seemed to acknowledge the importance and validity of technology, he didn’t really use it in his palace, but he blew me off and told me to be quiet.
He’d spent most of the time staring pensively out the window, and I’d left him alone.
Hopefully, whatever had been going through his mind last night would result in positive action this morning.
When I arrived at the audience chamber, I was surprised to see Captain Galling of the Enforcer’s Guild there, along with three other people I didn’t know.
Iannis was standing behind his desk, and I caught a glimpse of Fenris standing next to him in wolf form, his bushy brown tail sticking out from behind the stone desk.
“Miss Baine.” The Chief Mage nodded at me in greeting. “I’d like to introduce you to Lalia Chen, the future Director of the Mage’s Guild, and her apprentice, Benalin Liu.” He gestured to the two mages on his right.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Baine.” Director Chen nodded at me, and I automatically returned the gesture.
She was a beautiful woman, with ivory skin and a head full of fine, glossy dark hair that was pulled back from her oval face into a ponytail.
Her willowy form was clothed in deep red robes embroidered in gold and tied with a sash at her trim waist. The apprentice, a slender man with close-cropped dark hair, bowed, though hesitantly.
The look in his glittering eyes told me he wasn’t at all happy about having to show deference to someone like me.
“And you as well,” I told the Director, too surprised to remember to be snarky.
I didn’t recognize either of these mages from the party, which meant they had to be from somewhere outside of Solantha.
Their accents placed them as Northian, though they clearly were both of Garaian ancestry.
Had Iannis actually intended on picking a replacement from any of the mages who’d been to the banquet?
Or was there some other reason he’d called them all together that night that I wasn’t aware of?
“I hadn’t realized a replacement had been found so quickly. ”
Director Chen smiled slightly. “My appointment is not yet official,” she said in a quiet voice that was like river water flowing over smooth pebbles – deceptively calm with a hidden strength behind it. “Lord Iannis wishes to test me first, before officially instating me.”
“Well, that makes sense.” I turned to the third man, who wore the same blue uniform as all the other Privacy Guard employees, except that he had gold epaulets on his shoulders and the sword swinging from his hip was more fancy than others I’d seen.
“I’m guessing you’re Privacy Guard’s Regional Director for Solantha?” Privacy Guard was a worldwide company, and each branch had a Director that oversaw the operations for that particular location.
“I am.” The Regional Director inclined his shining head of black hair, a little stiffly. His dark blue eyes were as hard as his face, his thin lips showing no emotion. He turned to Iannis. “Are we ready to proceed with this meeting now that the girl is here, my Lord?”
The Chief Mage’s violet eyes flashed. “The ‘girl’, as you so daringly put it, is my apprentice, Mr. Channing,” he said, and the Regional Director’s cheeks flushed. “I expect you to treat her with the respect befitting her station.”
I opened my mouth to protest, not at all sure I liked where this was going – sure, I wanted to be respected just as much as anyone else, but on my own terms and not because of my association with the Chief Mage.
But the Regional Director apologized before I could say anything, and Iannis took that as a sign the meeting could get underway.
“It has come to my attention these past few days that the people I depend upon have not all been doing their jobs,” the Chief Mage said.
He pinned each person in the room with a penetrating stare, and though not one moved a muscle, the air thickened with tension.
“Amongst other things, the last Director was not passing on crucial reports to me, instead choosing to handle things as he saw fit, which is why he is being replaced.” He gestured to Chen, who inclined her head fractionally.
“However,” the Chief Mage continued. “I have been going through the reports myself, and there are still important issues that are not being passed through the correct channels. For example,” he turned his hawk-like gaze on Captain Galling, “I should have found out about this drug issue from you, not the Herald.” He picked up a copy of the paper I’d slapped on his desk yesterday, and something inside me warmed.
Finally, someone was taking this seriously!
Captain Galling’s cheeks reddened as his eyes flickered over the headline. “The papers are just speculating,” he argued. “My main crew has been investigating the rumors, and I planned on sending a full report as soon as I had more concrete information –”
“Which would be never,” I interrupted, folding my arms. Captain Galling slashed a glare my way, and I pushed away the tremor of fear in my belly – he might be my boss as an Enforcer, but Iannis outranked him.
“The Main Crew only put their attention on jobs that result in bounties, and usually go after the easiest ones. Since investigating rumors pays exactly zilch, I think it’s safe to say I’ll be cold in my grave by the time they get around to it. ”
“How dare you –”
“Captain Galling,” the Chief Mage interrupted. “Is this true?”
The Captain snapped his mouth shut and turned his frigid gaze back to Iannis. “It is true that the Main Crew isn’t getting paid for the task,” he said finally. “That isn’t how our reward structure works – we pay per head.”
“Well, it sounds like you need to come up with some better incentives, and perhaps a better Crew,” the Chief Mage said firmly.
“I’ll give you one week to sort it out, and I’ll be coming by to inspect things at the Enforcer’s Guild myself.
If I don’t like what I see, I’m afraid I’ll have to replace you. ”
“Yes, sir.” Captain Galling clenched his jaw.
My insides squirmed as he shot me a hateful glare out of the corner of his eye, but I stiffened my shoulders and lifted my chin.
I knew well enough that sometimes you had to make enemies in order to get anything done around here – it seemed that was all I was doing these days.
Though Captain Galling wasn’t the worst of the lot, things had still fallen down under his watch, and he needed to be held accountable for it.
“Good.” The Chief Mage turned to Director Chen.
“I want you and your apprentice to spend the next week gathering intelligence in the city, incognito. I went out myself last night and there is a significant amount of discontent. I want you to adopt different guises to suit whichever communities you are in, and report everything you hear back to me.”
Director Chen blinked, but otherwise managed to cover her surprise.
“As you wish,” she said, bowing, and her apprentice followed suit.
I was impressed at how graciously she accepted the assignment, which would normally be delegated far below her on the chain of command – but then, she did have to prove herself. “We will leave right away.”
The others filed out of the room, leaving Iannis, Fenris, and myself behind. As the double doors closed, Fenris changed from wolf to human form. He leaned his hip against the desk casually, as if we were in the study or in the Chief Mage’s private chambers rather than the more formal audience room.
Iannis arched a brow. “I assume you have something to say?”
Fenris nodded. “I would like to conduct a parallel investigation myself, with Sunaya’s help.”
The Chief Mage’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not certain that is an appropriate use of my apprentice’s time,” he said.
“We already spent a significant amount of time investigating last night.” His eyes flickered as he slanted his gaze toward me.
Heat curled in my belly as I remembered how casual he’d been, and the way his body had felt against mine.
I broke contact before the warmth spread to my cheeks, not wanting him to know I was still affected by the memory.
“Perhaps, but we both know this situation has been weighing on her mind since before she got here, and her knowledge and connections could be useful,” Fenris insisted. “I will be with her the whole time, so it is not as if she’ll be without protection.”
The Chief Mage pondered this for a long moment before he finally spoke, looking at me. “Give me your hands.”
My pulse spiked. “Why?”
He didn’t answer, just held his hands out, palms up, in a gesture that was becoming familiar. Sighing, I placed my hands in his, wondering what kind of magical diagnostic he was going to run on me this time.
A bolt of energy lanced through me, and I gasped as a current of magic passed through us, like an electrical circuit being completed.
Iannis’s eyes glowed as he looked down at me, and I imagined that I was glowing too – the amount of magical energy emanating from my center was so great I could probably power an entire grid block.
Eventually the magical surge died off, but the circle within my chest seemed to burn a little brighter. “Did… did you just increase my power level?” I asked, my voice more breathless than I would have liked.