Chapter 2
Itook the secret passageway back to my suite, which was only three rooms away from Iannis’s.
The bedroom wasn’t much different from the one I’d had back in the east wing—in fact, Iannis had moved all the same furnishings into it since I’d liked them so much—but I now had my own private bath, and a sitting room I could use to entertain guests if I ever had any.
I tugged off my robe and dumped it into the laundry hamper that the Palace staff emptied every day, then sauntered into the marble-tiled bathroom and took a long shower. I stood beneath the hot spray and closed my eyes, allowing myself time to think about my conversation with Iannis.
Truthfully, I was conflicted about the whole engagement thing.
I hadn’t wanted to rush into marriage, but I also hadn’t wanted to skulk around, hiding our intimate relationship as if what we were doing was dirty and wrong.
The sheer joy and pleasure I’d experienced over the past few days felt more than right—it was perfect, and I wanted it to last forever.
But, of course, forever meant marriage. And the idea that my father, a man who didn’t know or care for me, could potentially swoop in and take it all away, was frightening.
It was little wonder Iannis wanted to keep me away from my father, in light of the fact he’d been considering the possibility of marriage for some time.
Isn’t knowledge power, though? I asked myself as I lathered my arms and legs with fragrant soap.
I’d always considered it better to be forewarned than taken by surprise, and I didn’t see why this situation would be any different.
Yes, under the circumstances, it would be foolish to seek my father out and announce I was his daughter.
But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t find out who he was.
Surely, there was a way to do so discreetly, without alerting him.
I’ll ask Janta to help me, I decided, switching off the hot water.
Stepping out of the shower, I grabbed a fluffy towel and dried off.
Janta Urama, the head librarian of Solantha Palace, had been more than helpful in tracking down the Benefactor, the powerful mastermind and financier of the Resistance.
With any luck, she would prove equally resourceful in the quest to determine my parentage.
Based off past I experience, I could trust her not to tell anyone else whatever she might discover.
Clean and dry, I made my way into my walk-in closet and perused the selection.
Since nearly all my possessions had been destroyed when the Resistance set fire to my apartment, I’d ordered a brand-new wardrobe.
These clothes were much nicer than anything I’d ever owned before, and yet the gold I’d spent on them was only a drop in the bucket compared to the treasure I’d brought back with me from the pirate island I’d been stranded on.
I had new leather jackets and pants, jeans, tops in a variety of fabrics and colors, more shoes and boots than I could count, and even a selection of dresses.
Iannis had strongly suggested I order robes as well, but I’d pointedly ignored him—I may have taken Resinah’s advice to embrace my mage heritage, but I still had no desire to dress in boring robes.
And besides, I was still an apprentice, which meant that on most occasions, I’d only be allowed to wear those ugly, dun-colored robes anyway.
Of course, once I finished my apprenticeship, I would be required to wear robes on formal occasions.
But considering the average apprenticeship took ten years to complete, and that my shifter upbringing and late start put me way behind, I didn’t see any need to cross that bridge prematurely.
Right now, I was still primarily an enforcer, and I would continue to dress like one.
With that in mind, I pulled on a pair of leather pants and a teal-colored shirt, then strapped my weapons onto my thighs and my pouch belt onto my hips.
Steel-toed boots covered my feet, and I shrugged a leather jacket on over it all despite the summer weather outside.
I’d be taking my steambike out later, and it didn’t pay to ride without protection.
Before I left the room, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and smiled a little. I might have come a long way from where I’d been when I first arrived at Solantha Palace, but I was still Sunaya Baine. And I was going to show the world that I could be Sunaya Baine and a mage at the same time.
It did not take me long to reach the library, on the lower level of the Palace.
“Good morning, Miss Baine,” a youthful voice greeted me, and I started at the sight of an unfamiliar female mage sitting behind the front desk of the library.
Dressed in grey robes, the emblem of an open book inside a circle stitched above the left breast, she had dark, glossy brown hair and a polite, welcoming expression.
“Umm, good morning.” I glanced around the library, a huge room with towering bookshelves and soaring ceilings.
Unlike the last time I’d been here, most of the gleaming wooden desks with their green glass lamps were occupied by mages—apprentices studying new spells, and Guild employees doing research.
More grey-robed librarians moved about between the shelves, placing books that had been returned, or retrieving them for someone else.
It was slightly disconcerting, but I was nonetheless happy to see that a sense of normalcy had returned.
“Do you know where I can find Miss Urama?” I asked, referring to Janta by last name. The last two times I’d come here to see her, she’d been manning the front desk as the only librarian present, while her subordinates were out fighting the Resistance. “I need her help with an important matter.”
“I believe she’s in the back, cataloguing a new shipment of books,” the librarian told me. “I can see if she’s available, if you’d like.”
“Please.”
I clasped my hands behind my back and tried to wait patiently.
I could feel the gazes of several mages on me, but when I turned to return their stares, they hastily dropped their eyes back to their books.
I’d always been an object of rumor and speculation amongst the mages, and even more so since my engagement to the most powerful man in Canalo.
Bets were being placed to see how long it would take for the engagement to be called off, and much as I wanted to be angry about that, I couldn’t blame them.
A marriage between a powerful mage and a shifter was unprecedented, and my half-mage heritage was the only thing that allowed the mage community to swallow it in the first place.
On top of it all, Iannis and I were also master and apprentice.
I doubted we’d be able to get away with that part either if Iannis wasn’t the Chief Mage.
By Magorah, what a mess this was. If I didn’t love Iannis, I’d be tempted to ditch the entire affair and move somewhere else where nobody knew me.
Of course, that would mean leaving my friends behind.
And Solantha itself, which I loved despite the city’s flaws.
The shifter community was still in shambles after the war between the Mages Guild and the Resistance.
Someone had to bridge the gap between mages and shifters if there were going to be any kind of peace between us.
I was starting to think that the thankless job would fall on me, since I didn’t see anyone else stepping up.
But not today. Today, I needed to finish putting together all the pieces of who I was.
And that meant finding out the identity of my father.
“Good morning, Miss Baine.” Janta’s, dulcet tones drew me away from my thoughts.
I turned to see her coming toward me, the front-desk librarian in tow.
Unlike the last time I saw her, she wore the same grey robes with the book emblem as the other librarians.
Hers were hemmed in silver at the throat, wrists and collar, marking her higher position.
The outfit went very well with her silver hair, which she wore twisted into an elegant knot near the top of her head, and the silver spectacles perched on her straight nose. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Good morning, Miss Urama.” I smiled, genuinely happy to see her. I didn’t know her very well yet, but she was on the gradually expanding list of mages who treated me like a real person. “I was hoping you could help me with another research project.”
“Certainly.” A hint of worry entered her pale blue eyes. “Is it something to do with the Resistance?”
“No.” I hesitated, not sure it was wise to say more when I knew that at least some of the other mages were listening. “It’s regarding a personal matter. Is there somewhere private we can talk?”
“Of course. Right this way.”
Janta disappeared between the bookshelves, and I followed. She led me down several rows, to a glass-partitioned section of the library. A sign across the door said ‘restricted area’. She pulled a key from her belt and unlocked the door, then stepped back to let me through first.
“Why is this place restricted?” I asked as she guided me to one of the tables. Other than the partition, this part of the library looked exactly the same as the rest.
“Many of the books on these shelves are very old and rare. We keep them back here to protect them,” Janta said as she sat down across from me. “Besides, some texts contain forbidden or extremely dangerous spells, and they can only be checked out with special permission.”