Chapter 23 #2
“Oh I’m sure it’s just a fling,” the brunette said airily.
“I suppose even the most distinguished Chief Mage is bound to let their hair down occasionally like lesser mortals, but she doesn’t look like she’s doing much more than shuffling papers back there.
I can’t see that she’ll serve as more than a passing interest for someone like him. ”
My jaw clenched at that, and I had to force myself to relax. Yeah, so maybe I was doing little more than shuffling papers over here, but I was definitely more than a piece of ass to Iannis.
“More than” would imply that the two of you are sleeping together, a voice in my head reminded me.
I sighed. I needed to get off this train of thought before I drove myself crazy with it.
Ever since we’d kissed back in the mountains I kept expecting something more to happen between Iannis and I.
Each time we were alone together we seemed to be teetering on the edge of something, yet it never went anywhere.
What was he thinking? Was he regretting the kiss?
Had he brushed it off as something that had happened while he was under the influence of magic?
Did he want more? I couldn’t figure it out, and worse, I still couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted.
Yes, I was attracted to him, and yes, my body wanted him, but my mind kept telling me it was a bad idea.
“Did you hear about the Minister’s decision to resign?” a mage two tables to my left asked. “I couldn’t believe my ears when I got the news this morning.”
“Quite shocking,” the mage sitting across from him agreed with a solemn nod. “Perhaps he’s older than we realized. Who do you think is going to replace him?”
“I’ve heard that Lord Cedris ar’Tarea is being considered.”
“The Chief Mage of Rhodea?” The other mage sounded incredulous. “That’s one of the smallest states in the Federation! Surely you’re joking.”
“Not at all,” the first mage said. “He seems to have very strong connections with the Minister’s office, and his record, from what I’ve been told, is impeccable. I hear he has a very strong chance.”
“That’s ridiculous. If his record is impeccable, it’s only because he doesn’t have enough things to do to get him into any kind of trouble.”
The conversation quickly devolved into an argument, and I tuned them out, seeking out other bits of conversation.
To my surprise, Lord Cedris came up quite a few times in conversation as a popular candidate.
I wondered if he really was as well connected to the Minister’s office as some seemed to think, or if perhaps the Benefactor had a hand in increasing his popularity.
I would have to ask Iannis about it when I saw him next.
“Excuse me,” a man said, drawing my attention away from the buzz of conversation. “Are you Miss Sernan?”
I looked up from my cup of tea – I’d switched from coffee after cup number three – to see a tall mage standing just in front of my table, dressed in dark, silver-embroidered robes that were a cut above what the other mages in the coffee shop were wearing.
He had jaw-length, curly black hair, a square jaw, and a complexion like coffee-tinted cream.
I went still as I noticed that his bottle-green eyes were the exact same shade as mine, and a chill went through me – I’d never met someone with my exact eye-coloring before.
Come on, Sunaya. It could just be a coincidence.
Maybe, but I didn’t like coincidences. I couldn’t quite reconcile his youthful face with the fuzzy image of my father that I’d conjured in my head, but this guy had the same curly black hair that I did, too. I tensed as I searched his green eyes for any sign of recognition, but there was none.
“Yes, I am Narina Sernan,” I finally said. “Who are you?”
“Oh, forgive me. My name is Coman ar’Daghir.
” Without asking, he pulled out the chair opposite me and sat his bony ass down in it.
“I’ve been curious to meet you ever since I heard that you were part of Lord Iannis’s entourage.
I’ve accompanied my own Chief Mage to the Convention for at least a decade now, and I don’t believe I’ve ever met you. ”
“This is my first Convention,” I told him, picking up my cup and taking a sip of my tea. “I’m one of several assistants who work in Lord Iannis’s office, and the one he usually takes along with him was unable to make it this year.”
“Is it true that your airship crash-landed in aboriginal territory?” Coman asked curiously. “And that you were taken prisoner by the Resistance?”
“It is.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to guess at what he wanted. He was the first to come out and directly ask about that, even though I knew the others had to be thinking about it.
“That must have been terrifying. Were you tortured for information?’
“I would rather not speak of it, if it’s all the same to you,” I said, thinning my lips.
I set down my teacup, and I didn’t have to pretend to feel as if he’d rubbed my fur the wrong way.
If this guy really was my father, he sure didn’t seem to know it.
Shouldn’t he be having some inkling that I was his daughter?
I mean, supposedly he’d put a spell on me so my illegal magic would remain hidden. Surely that meant he cared somewhat.
Or maybe he’s just not your father and you’re reading too much into this.
“Oh forgive me, I didn’t mean any offense,” Coman tried to assure me. “It’s just that so many people are avoiding the obvious question. And by that I mean, why was Lord Iannis’s ship attacked in the first place?”
“I imagine it was to stop him from reaching the Convention,” I allowed cautiously, curious to see where he was taking this. “But as to why exactly, I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“I see.” Coman looked momentarily disappointed, but he rallied quickly. “I don’t suppose you have any idea who Lord Iannis is planning to vote for to replace the Minister?”
“I haven’t seen him since we heard the news this morning,” I admitted.
“He was troubled to hear about the Minister’s rapidly declining health, and I imagine he’ll think deeply on this matter before he makes any kind of decision.
Last I knew, he was planning to secure an appointment to see the sick Minister for himself. ”
“Well if he does I would love to hear about it, as none of us have any idea where the Minister is.” Coman shrugged, then checked the timepiece on his wrist. “In any case, I must be going now. Pleasure meeting you, Miss Sernan.”
I watched Coman go, trying to discern if there was anything else about him that would prove he was related to me.
But he was a man, of course, so any genetic similarities beyond our facial features would be hard to determine.
I certainly didn’t have his broad shoulders or the extra six inches of height.
He turned the corner and disappeared from my sight, and I committed his name to memory.
I would do some digging into this guy and see if I could unearth anything that would give me answers.
The afternoon wore on, and I sat there for several more hours pretending to do administrative work while I listened to the conversations around me.
Interestingly, Iannis’s name also popped up a number of times, confirming the Finance Secretary’s theory that Iannis was a possible contender for the position.
Following Coman’s lead, several more mages came by and struck up conversations with me, slyly trying to discern which way Iannis was planning to vote.
I evaded, playing the vapid bimbo secretary as best I could while also pretending to be a mage.
The mages weren’t fooled, though – from the snippets of conversation I caught when they thought I couldn’t hear, they figured I must know something as Iannis’s mistress.
To be fair, there was a kind of logic to that – I knew from my work as an enforcer that men tended to tell all kinds of things to the courtesans they spent time with, and those women could be a wealth of information if given the right incentive.
But then again, Iannis was notoriously tight-lipped when he didn’t want to talk about something – I doubted I would get anything out of him even if I was sleeping with him.
Checking my watch, I noticed that it was getting close to five o’clock, and with nothing interesting to overhear for the last half hour, I packed up and headed out. I had a ball to get ready for, and the dress I’d bought for it was calling my name back at the hotel.