Chapter 22
After getting off the phone with Annia, I crashed so hard that I never heard Iannis come into the suite. But the scent of coffee roused me bright and early from my slumber, and as my nose twitched, scenting the air, I also caught the briefest whiff of Iannis’s scent.
Sitting up, I rubbed at my bleary eyes and checked the crystal clock on my nightstand.
Seven fifteen. Far too early for a nocturnal panther girl to be awake.
But Iannis was going to have to leave for the Convention sooner rather than later, so I hopped out of bed, snagged the fluffy white robe hanging on the outside of my bathroom door, then belted it around my waist before wandering out into the living area.
Iannis stood behind the glossy island countertop in the kitchen, already dressed in a set of blue and gold robes with the Canalo Mages Guild Emblem stitched above his heart.
He glanced over at me from above the rim of his mug as he sipped his coffee, violet eyes studying me as I made a beeline for the coffee pot.
“I noticed that you didn’t procure clothing or toiletries last night,” he said mildly as I poured myself a steaming cup of my own.
“Yeah well, by the time I was done wrestling with the concierge and manager downstairs, I was pretty pooped.” I added a hefty amount of cream and sugar to my coffee, then lifted the mug in both hands and blew across the top to cool the piping-hot liquid.
“I figured you guys could make do with the hotel-provided stuff in the meantime, and it looks like you’re still working that illusion. ”
“I’m actually not,” Iannis said dryly. “These are Cirin’s robes. He and I are of a similar size, so he leant me a set. The other delegates will have to make do, but it is rather unbecoming of us to show up wearing illusionary clothing. Other mages can tell.”
I blinked. “They can?”
“Just like Fenris and I were able to see the wards around the Resistance camp, a well-trained mage can detect illusion. That is, they can tell that there is some kind of magic being used, and it wouldn’t take much to deduce what kind.
At least a few of my colleagues are bound to notice.
” Iannis arched an eyebrow. “It would be embarrassing for a Chief Mage to be unable to afford proper clothing.”
“Yeah, I get it.” I took a sip of my coffee, then closed my eyes and enjoyed the taste of rich, creamy caffeine sinking into my tongue. “I’m going shopping this morning, so I’ll get all your stuff. Would help if I knew your measurements, though.”
“I already wrote them down, as well as those of the other delegates.” Iannis pulled a small, black leather notebook from his sleeve, tore out a cream-colored page, and handed it to me.
“I suggest you procure robes for yourself too, and formalwear for all of us. There will be a ball tonight that is open to special guests as well as the delegates and their associates. I would like you to attend and make use of those heightened senses of yours.”
“Sounds good.” Nervous energy bounced through me as I tucked the piece of paper into the front pocket of my robe. I’d never been to a formal ball before, and I wasn’t sure what would be expected of me. Was I going to have to socialize with the other mages? Were people going to ask me to dance?
“All of the above,” Iannis confirmed.
I blinked. “Huh? Were…were you reading my mind?”
“It wasn’t necessary. You were talking out loud.”
“Oh.” A blush rose to my cheeks, and I pressed a hand to my lips, then picked up my mug again.
I took another drink – though the coffee didn’t actually work on me, just like other drugs, I still liked the taste, and the morning ritual helped wake me up.
As my head finally began to clear, another question popped into my head, one I’d been meaning to ask but hadn’t had the opportunity yet.
“When we were escaping from the Coazi, how is it that you were able to run so fast and for so long?” I asked. “Unless I’m mistaken, you can’t just spell yourself that way, and you didn’t have any charms that would boost your speed or energy.”
Iannis went still beneath my gaze, and if I didn’t know better I would have thought he was nervous. “It’s not something I like to discuss,” he said carefully.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” My gaze narrowed.
“Back on the Firegate Bridge, when you did that weird thing where you slipped inside my body with me.” Chills still vibrated through me whenever I relived that moment – it had been truly unreal.
“You’re only going to be able to get away with that for so long before I start investigating. ”
Iannis scowled. “You’ve no right to go digging into my past,” he snapped. “My business is just that, mine.”
I folded my arms across my chest and scowled right back.
“This may come as a surprise to you, but you’re not a one-man show anymore, buddy.
Especially not since you decided to bind us together by giving me a charm that, apparently, is usually exchanged by couples who are married or who intend to get married.
” I tugged the serapha charm from beneath the fluffy collar of my robe and held it up.
“Were you ever gonna tell me about that one?”
Iannis frowned. “It wasn’t intended as a wedding gift at the time I gave it to you. Who told you that?”
“Comenius and Elania, his witch girlfriend.” I tried to ignore the little jab to my heart at his rejection. “They’re not even mages, so that means this sort of thing is public knowledge.”
Iannis sighed, running his long fingers through his cherrywood locks. They gleamed in the morning sunlight streaming through the picture window to his left, the rays highlighting the notes of red and making his violet eyes glow.
“You said that you wanted me to trust you more, right?” I persisted.
“Well that means you’ve got to do some trusting yourself.
Whatever secret you’re sitting on, I promise it will never leave this room.
And it would really help, the next time you rope me into some kind of magical spell, if you told me all the fine print. ”
Iannis cracked a smile. “Very well. I will endeavor to do so, although I doubt such a situation will come up very often. As to my abilities…they come from a part of my heritage that is only known to a select few.”
My ears perked right up at that. “And that would be…?”
“My mother. She is half-Tua.”
“What?” I nearly dropped my coffee cup. Dark liquid sloshed over the side, and I yelped as the hot liquid splattered across my hand and stained the sleeve of my shirt.
Setting the cup down on the table, I hastily grabbed the sponge sitting near the kitchen sink and used it to mop up the spill as best I could.
I grimaced as I dabbed at the dark stain across my pristine robe – that wasn’t going to be easy to get out.
“Here, let me help you.” Iannis was at my side, gently taking the sponge from my hand. My breath caught as I felt the heat radiating from his body, and I bit my lower lip as his fingers gently grasped the wrist of the hand I’d burned.
“Are you alright?” he asked. I hissed as he stroked his thumb over my skin.
“I’ll live.” The skin had been bright red, but the color was already fading thanks to my superhuman healing abilities. “Not the first time I’ve burned myself.”
“And probably not the last, either.” Iannis’s lips twitched as he stretched out the cloth of the robe and briskly rubbed the sponge over it. “You know, this isn’t really necessary. The hotel staff will launder the robe and provide you with another. All you have to do is toss this into the hamper.”
“You’re trying to change the subject,” I managed, fighting against the heat spreading through my body.
I didn’t point out that if I tossed my robe in the hamper, I would be left without a stitch of clothing on – the right side of my robe had slipped from my shoulder, and Iannis’s gaze was fixed on the patch of bare skin I’d inadvertently revealed.
“You were telling me about how your mother is half-Tua.” Something I was still having trouble wrapping my head around.
The Tua were an ancient, near-mythical race that dwelled in a world that was anchored to our own world, Recca.
When they did cross over to our world, they were commonly sighted in Manuc, which I understood to be Iannis’s homeland.
The lore surrounding them suggested that they predated human life.
“Yes.” With a little sigh, Iannis dropped my arm and tossed the sponge over his shoulder.
It landed in the sink with a wet plop, and I arched my eyebrow at the effortlessly perfect aim.
“My grandmother on my mother’s side is Tua, and so my mother is half.
As you may know, the Tua are near-immortal, and have powerful abilities beyond the scope of human comprehension.
If not for the fact that they generally enjoy their own world more than ours, I shudder to think what would become of us. ”
I arched an eyebrow. “It sounds like you’re afraid of them.”
“It would be foolish not to be.” Iannis’s eyes were hard, glittering chips of amethyst now.
“They are largely amoral as a race, and any interaction they have with our world is but a trifling amusement, such as when my grandmother decided to take a human lover. She abducted my grandfather shortly after he was married and bewitched him. Not unlike what Halyma did to me, but Tua magic is infinitely more powerful. She eventually returned him to his wife when she tired of him, but he was never the same, from what I understand. It took him over a year to recover and move on with his life, and not long after that his Tua lover dropped my infant mother on their doorstep before walking away once again.”
“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand as I tried to digest this. “A year? I thought babies had to be in the womb for nine months?”