Chapter 26
Several hours later, I left the council room exhausted, but triumphant.
I’d lobbied hard for lighter sentences for the shifter and human civilians who had been incited to violence by the rebellion, insisting that it would be more productive to put them to work rebuilding the city via community service projects than having them languish on Prison Isle, or relegating them to back-breaking mine work.
The council had grudgingly agreed, especially when Iannis threw the weight of his approval behind me.
As for the Resistance soldiers themselves, that was a tougher battle, particularly as the Resistance was still active in other states of the Federation.
I argued that because the Resistance had brainwashed the shifters with propaganda and false promises when the plan all along was to kill them, the shifter soldiers should be given lighter sentences.
Between the higher taxes levied against the shifter community, and the Herald’s successful attempt to turn the population against shifters, they could hardly be blamed for latching onto the promise of a system where they would be treated fairly.
The council members contended that regardless of the reason, these shifters had willingly participated in heinous crimes against civilians, and needed to be punished accordingly.
But a few of them agreed with me to give them a second chance, and Iannis pointed out that, at this time, goodwill toward the community was needed far more than punishment.
Eventually, we came to an agreement that the shifter members of the Resistance would be sentenced to a maximum of five years’ hard labor in the mines, depending upon how long they’d been with the Resistance, and whether or not they’d directly contributed to acts of terrorism.
As for the humans, the higher ups were facing execution after their trials, and the regular soldiers either many more years of hard labor in the mines than the shifters, or some equally gruesome sentence.
I suppose I could have argued for some of the soldiers as well, but honestly, I didn’t give a shit.
I remembered all too well the congregation that had applauded Father Calmias’s sermon – they hadn’t been an oppressed people looking for fair treatment.
They’d been a group of elitists, ready to commit genocide to get what they wanted.
I found out at the council meeting that though Chartis had gotten away yet again, Yantz was in custody, as were Thorgana Mills and my cousin Rylan.
I wanted a face-to-face conversation with the last two, so after the meeting dispersed, I left the Palace and rode my new steambike to the Port to catch a ferry to Prison Isle.
News of my engagement to the Chief Mage had spread across the city like wildfire, so when I arrived at the island, the prison staff practically tripped over their feet to accommodate me.
I informed the warden on duty that I wanted to speak to Rylan Baine, and I was promptly led to a private visitor’s chamber to wait while they brought him in.
I was amused when one of the hulking prison guard mages offered me refreshments – they’d never been this accommodating when I’d come here on enforcer business.
My first impulse was to decline the offer, but I figured Rylan might want something to eat or drink.
So instead, I asked for whatever they had available.
When two guards led Rylan into to the room, he arched his brows at the sight of the platter of sliced cheeses and meats and the pitcher of milk that was sitting on the steel table.
I didn’t miss the gleam of hunger in his yellow shifter eyes though – his face was thin, eyes sunken, and the loose fit of his black-and-white striped prisoner’s uniform told me he hadn’t been eating enough.
Not exactly surprising, I thought to myself.
The easiest way to keep a group of shifters under control was by keeping them undernourished.
Our superior strength and agility depended on large quantities of food.
Anger sparked in my chest at the idea that the shifters here were being starved, but there was nothing I could do about it, and besides, they were criminals.
“Why, cousin,” Rylan drawled as he sat down in the chair opposite mine, “a tea party, for me? You shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t be an asshole, Rylan.” I shoved the platter at him. “Eat. You look like something the cat dragged in.”
“No kidding,” Rylan agreed. His wrists were bound with steel manacles engraved in runes that prevented him from breaking them, so he couldn’t shovel the food into his mouth as fast as he wanted to.
Nevertheless, he managed to clear the plate in less than ten minutes, and downed three glasses of milk besides that.
“Thanks,” he muttered when he was finished.
“No problem,” I said dryly. My stomach gave a hollow pang at the sight of the empty platter – I’d yet to have dinner, but I hadn’t wanted to eat any of the food since Rylan clearly needed it more than I did.
“So, did you come here just to feed me?” Rylan asked. “Or did you have something to say?”
“I wanted to bring you some news,” I told him.
I started in with the Benefactor’s plans for the shifter community, telling him what I’d learned at the Ur-God temple and from talking with the humans individually, and also that I’d convinced the Mages Guild to lighten the sentences of shifter soldiers in view of the recent injustices.
Rylan’s lips were pressed together when I finished.
He looked pained, but resigned. “I know you’re not lying, and what you say unfortunately lines up,” he admitted with a sigh.
“Over the past few months, the human officers were suddenly being given access to ridiculous amounts of money and way more information than we were, and shifters were excluded and ignored more and more in meetings and decisions. Believe it or not, we used to avoid things like blowing up bridges and setting buildings on fire. But not only were we starting to do it, but shifters were also being sent in to carry out the worst and most dangerous missions.”
“I suspected as much,” I told him, a little sadly now. “I couldn’t believe it when you guys tried to blow up the Firegate Bridge. It had never occurred to me that the Resistance would go that far.”
“We shouldn’t have.” Rylan’s shoulders slumped, and he scrubbed his hands over his face before looking me in the eye again.
“Look, despite everything that’s happened between us, I’m glad you’re safe.
I fought hard against the kill order that was put out on you, but it came down from the top, and there was nothing I could do. ”
“I know,” I told him. I didn’t want him to feel guilty about this. Thorgana was at fault here, not him. “And you did warn me about going to the Convention.”
“I also told you not to warn the Chief Mage,” Rylan growled, anger lighting his eyes now. “But I knew you wouldn’t listen, so I took extra steps there to ensure your safety too.”
I froze. “What do you mean by that?”
“I was in town when I called you, so after I hung up the phone, I went down to Witches End and had a witch cast a spell to make you forget to tell the Chief Mage whenever you were near him.”
“What the fuck?” I shot to my feet so quickly that my chair clattered to the floor. “How the hell did you manage that?”
“I filched some hair from your apartment the last time I was there,” Rylan admitted, looking more than a little uncomfortable now. “The witch was able to use it to cast the spell on you.”
“You bastard!” I slammed my hands down on the table, sending the empty milk pitcher crashing to the ground.
It shattered, scattering shards of pottery across the floor as I shoved my nose in Rylan’s face.
“You almost got the Chief Mage killed, and you made me think it was my fault by making me forget to warn him!”
“Yes, and I also saved your life,” Rylan shouted back, not backing down one bit. “The Resistance would have killed you for sure if the Chief Mage hadn’t gotten on the dirigible that day.”
“Yeah, and so what?” I sneered, shoving back from the table. “They put a hit out on me anyway, didn’t they? At least if you hadn’t messed with my head, I could have warned Iannis, and we could have potentially saved hundreds of lives. Their blood is on your hands, Rylan.”
Disgusted, I had the guards take him away, then asked them to leave me for a moment so I could regain my composure.
I was shaking with rage, so angry at Rylan’s betrayal that I wanted the guards to bring him back in here so I could beat the shit out of him.
But that wouldn’t solve anything, and besides, he would be sent off to the mines soon anyway.
When I was composed again, I asked the guards to bring Thorgana in. Unlike Rylan, she didn’t appear undernourished, but her platinum-blonde hair hung limp around her heart-shaped face. Without her makeup, she looked brittle and colorless.
“Miss Baine,” she said in a cool voice, crossing her legs as she sat down in the chair.
Somehow, she managed to make her prison uniform look elegant, and she sat in the hard chair with the posture of a queen.
“I would say it’s nice of you to visit, but I’m afraid the very sight of you turns my stomach. ”
“Is that because I’m a shifter, or because I’m a mage?” I asked casually, refusing to react to the malice glittering in her eyes. “I hear you hate both of them equally, which is kind of strange.”
She shrugged. “The mages are cruel and unjust, and the shifters barbaric and dangerous. I console myself with the certainty that their days are numbered, no matter what becomes of me.”
“And yet,” I said, glancing down at the runed manacles on her wrists, “you’re a half-shifter yourself, aren’t you? That’s why you’re so strong, and why you look younger than your age. And I bet it’s also helped you gather information at your little parties. You’ve got shifter senses.”
“An unfortunate curse,” Thorgana agreed, her mouth twisting into a sneer. “But I learned early in life that if I wanted to succeed, I had to use every advantage I could.”
I shook my head. “How can you say that? You were raised in a wealthy family, had every human advantage there is, and you have some useful shifter abilities.” I eyed her again. “I’m assuming you can’t actually shift, though?”
“Even if I could, I would hardly care to turn into a filthy animal,” Thorgana said coldly.
“My late father was less fastidious – he had a dalliance with a wolf-shifter servant girl that resulted in my birth. Because his own wife was barren, he kept me as his child and got rid of the servant. That part of my heritage was never alluded to in the family, and I was glad enough not to be reminded.”
“So you are his heir then, and not just an empty-headed fool,” I murmured. No wonder she hated that part of herself, if she had been brought up to hate and despise her shifter heritage all her life. “As his only child, he would have taught you the family business.”
Thorgana didn’t confirm that – she simply turned her gaze away and began examining her nails. “Did you come here to waste my time and yours with nonsense and pointless questions, Miss Baine?”
“No,” I said evenly. “I came here to look you in the eye and tell you that I know what you are, and that you may as well give up whatever details you’re still hiding before they’re uncovered.
The Finance Secretary has already impounded all your businesses in Canalo and alerted the rest of the Federation to do the same, and the Minister is demanding your extradition.
Don’t you think you’d be better off here, than at the capital? ”
Thorgana laughed. “What difference does it make, when I’m slated for execution either way?”
She had a point, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. “The Chief Mage of Canalo is a reasonable man. He may be willing to cut you a deal, such as seeing that your husband is spared, if you cooperate.”
“What a generous offer.” Thorgana smiled coyly, looking back up at me again.
“I think I’ll take my chances in Dara just the same, but I appreciate you coming here to negotiate on the Chief Mage’s behalf.
Congratulations on your engagement, by the way.
It is not likely to last very long, so you’d better enjoy it while you can. ”
Frustration bubbled in my chest at the blasé attitude she seemed to hold toward her execution – it was almost as if she wasn’t worried.
As if she had a plan. And by the way her eyes gleamed in satisfaction, I could tell she knew I was frustrated.
After all, her shifter senses would be able to tell her, just as surely as I was able to read her emotions.
“I’ll be sure to pass on your felicitations,” I told her, standing. “And of your preference for returning to Dara.” Her eyes narrowed at that. “By the way, what was that glass thing you threw at us in your mansion, when you were arrested?”
“Glass thing?” She pressed the tips of her fingers against her mouth as she tittered. “Oh, you mean the pendant from my necklace. What of it?”
“That wasn’t just a damned pendant,” I growled, bracing my hands against the table and leaning into her space. “You were trying to kill us somehow. What the hell was that red, smoky stuff?”
“I’m afraid I can’t provide you with any information on that,” she said sweetly.
“But it certainly seemed quite alarming, didn’t it?
If I were you, I would watch my back, Miss Baine.
With the amount of attention you’ve drawn from the Resistance, you’re a dead woman walking. ” Her smile turned fierce.
Nervous energy rippled down my spine at the conviction in her voice.
Of course it would be foolish to assume that all the secret supporters of the Resistance who were in Solantha had been identified.
My stomach sank a little as I remembered the talk of ‘secret weapons’ I had overheard in the Maintown Ur-God temple.
What if they were talking about more than just guns?
“I’m not done with you, Thorgana Mills,” I said, straightening again. After all the dangers I’d survived, I was not about to let this bitch of a half-human rattle me. “You might be leaving here soon, but you’ll never get far enough away that I won’t be able to find you.”
She only smiled.
With nothing left to say, I called for the guards to remove Thorgana, then headed back to the ferry. I sincerely hoped I never had to deal with that horrible woman again, but somehow, I doubted this would be the last time I saw her.