Chapter 21
“Ireally wish you hadn’t accepted Lord Logar’s invitation to this banquet,” I groused as the steamcar rumbled along the dirt road to Parabas.
The car had been sent to pick Iannis, Fenris, and me up from the Black Lion Inn, where we’d stayed overnight after wrapping up the destruction of the Resistance compound.
“It would have been rude to refuse,” Iannis said mildly.
He sat next to me on the comfortable black leather seats, with Fenris on my other side.
The driver was up front alone. Iannis had cast a subtle spell to muffle our conversation, so that we could have some privacy on the ride.
“We would not have been able to complete our mission without Lord Logar’s assistance. ”
“Yeah, but it’s not like he was in a position to refuse,” I pointed out, staring out the window as the countryside zipped by. “He doesn’t want the Resistance operating within his state borders any more than we do.”
“If I can refrain from complaining about this banquet, I think you can too,” Fenris said dryly. “Of the three of us, I have the most valid objections to attending.”
“You know I would have sent you back to Solantha with the others if I could have, old friend,” Iannis said apologetically.
“But you were specifically included in the invitation, along with Sunaya, a surprising sign of progress in the local attitude toward shifters. It could make Lord Logar suspicious if you were to refuse, and we do not wish to seem ungracious.”
We subsided into gloomy silence after that, my mind heavy as I went over all that happened.
I imagined Iannis and Fenris had plenty to occupy their thoughts as well.
After the destruction of the compound, we had all retired to the Black Lion Inn to clean up and enjoy some much-needed food.
Lord Logar had booked the private dining room, and we’d all sat around the table over plates heaped with steak, potatoes, and green beans, hashing out the next steps.
Iannis had given Rylan the choice to either go to the mines and carry out a five-year sentence, or serve the Mages Guild as a consultant for the same number of years.
The work would be mostly unpaid, but he’d be given a small stipend for necessities, and he would be confined to the Palace unless accompanied by an appropriate guard or chaperone.
Rylan didn’t like the idea of being under house arrest too much, but the fact that I lived in the Palace sweetened the deal.
Besides, it was a lot better than enduring backbreaking work in the mines.
“Oh, I’m not doing this because I’m afraid of hard labor,” he’d joked after agreeing to the consultant position. “I’m mostly afraid of being forced into celibacy for the next five years.” He’d winked at Annia, who grinned back at him.
I remembered how Noria’s eyes had flashed, and the disgusted look she’d given Rylan.
Clearly, she thought he was a sell-out. I wondered what she would do when the time came for her own sentencing.
Would she take whatever deal Iannis figured out for her?
Or would she spit in our faces, as she’d been doing the entire time?
Please, Resinah, I said, calling on her rather than Magorah for once. Help Noria see sense.
But Resinah didn’t answer, and neither did Magorah.
I wondered if I should appeal to Noria’s god, the Ur-God, instead.
But I doubted that would help—like Iannis, I suspected the Ur-God and Magorah were all just different names for the Creator, and that there was only one God.
If He or She didn’t answer under one name, why would they answer under another?
Besides, I doubted it would make any difference—Noria would do whatever that strong, stubborn will of hers told her to do.
That stubborn streak was one of the things I liked about her—she reminded me of myself at her age.
But while I had gotten into my fair share of trouble, I’d still managed to come out on top in the end.
I wasn’t sure Noria would be so lucky. She was headed back to Solantha now, along with Rylan, Annia, and Elnos.
Annia and Elnos had agreed to accept responsibility for her.
Though it pained Annia to do it, and their mother might never forgive her, I knew she would have Noria placed in a cell in the Enforcers Guild when they arrived back.
And when the time came for her hearing on Monday, she would personally see to it that Noria made it there.
The alternative was that Noria would become a fugitive of the state, condemned to dodge death for the rest of her life. And Annia would be punished for allowing Noria to escape.
Parabas Palace turned out to be set close to the city center, nestled into the bend of the Millawette River that ran east-west through the state before heading north.
It was constructed almost entirely of beautiful red brick, with grey slate tiles covering the roofs and turrets, and green ivy crawling up the exterior walls.
Though smaller than Solantha Palace, it still cut a majestic figure against the cloudless blue sky, with the river gently flowing behind it.
The long, paved driveway leading to the front entrance was flanked by tall trees trimmed into conical shapes.
The scent of magic thickened in the air as we passed protective wards laid around the estate, dormant but ready to activate at the first sign of trouble.
A fountain sculpture graced the center of the paved roundabout in front of the palace, depicting Jeremidah, Faonus, and Micara, the Founding Trio who had established the Northia Federation.
This one was much bigger than the similar sculpture in Dara’s Capitol building.
The driver pulled to a stop by the front steps, and a guard opened the door for us. “Welcome back, Lord Iannis,” the man said, bowing. “And welcome, Miss Baine and… Fenris,” he added, clearly unsure if Fenris had a last name.
“Fenris is fine,” Fenris said, nodding to the man as he closed the door behind us.
As we crossed the steps and entered the Palace through the heavy oak doors, I was grateful I’d magically cleaned my leathers before departing Nika. I might not have looked as noble as everyone else here, but at least there were no bloodstains to show off, and my skin and hair were clean.
A maid in a dark green dress was summoned, and she curtsied before us.
“Good afternoon,” she said, her dark brown eyes wide as she surveyed me.
I supposed whatever rumors she’d heard about me were flitting through her head, and she was trying to match them up with what she saw in front of her now.
“Lord Logar is in a meeting. He has asked me to show you to your rooms.”
She led us down a series of hallways, cutting south. Busy meeting rooms and halls gave way to carpeted floors and quiet colors as we entered the guest wing of the Palace. We were given separate rooms, Iannis’s and mine next to each other, and Fenris’s across the hall.
“Your evening wear has already been delivered,” the woman told us. “Please let me know if any adjustments or exchanges are needed. You’ve only to pull the bell and I will come.”
She left us with the keys, and we went to to our separate rooms. A stack of white boxes stood on my dresser and vanity table—my evening gown for tonight, I imagined.
My hostess or some Palace minion must have provided it.
Noticing a door that connected my room to Iannis’s suite, I ignored my bed completely and went to his room instead.
A hint of steam warmed the air as my feet crossed the cream-colored carpet, and the sound of the shower running was clearly audible beyond the open door of the bathroom.
My heartbeat quickened at the thought of Iannis standing naked beneath the hot spray, water sluicing down his hard body, and a grin tugged at my lips.
We still had a few hours until it was time to dress for the banquet.
What better way to relieve the stress and general crappiness of the week than some good, old-fashioned sex?
I stripped off my clothes as I crossed the room, leaving a trail of leather and cotton behind me.
I stepped out of my underwear as I crossed the threshold, and my feet hit the cool marble tile.
The fragrance of soap mingled with Iannis’s natural scent, and I inhaled deeply, tingles already spreading through my body in anticipation.
I could make out the hazy outline of Iannis’s form through the fogged-up glass shower doors, his head bent forward as he lathered his hair.
“Hey, handsome,” I said, opening the sliding glass door. His violet eyes darkened, roaming up and down my naked body as I joined him beneath the hot spray. “Thought you could use some company.”
“I was using the shower time to think,” Iannis said as I slid my hands up his wet, naked chest, my fingertips playing with the crisp hairs there. “But I doubt I’ll get much thinking done with you in here.”
“I should hope not.” I reached up to tangle my fingers into his soapy hair.
The strands slipped and slid through my fingers as I brought his mouth down to mine.
Our lips met, a clash of tongue and teeth and raw need, and I moaned as he devoured me with the single-minded intensity of a starving man.
His hands cupped my ass, lifting me against him, and the next thing I knew, he was pushing me up against the wet tile wall.
His arousal pressed against me, sending shockwaves of pleasure rippling through my body, and I groaned deep in my throat.
“Yes,” Iannis growled as he tore his mouth from mine.
His lips trailed a path of flame across my skin, down my jaw and over my neck.
He scraped his teeth across the pulse in my neck as he rocked his hips firmly into mine, and I dug my nails into his broad shoulders as he pushed me to the breaking point, over and over, without ever quite letting me go over the edge.
“Please,” I gasped, reaching between us to curl my fingers around his length. “More.”
Iannis sucked in a sharp breath as I stroked him.
His violet eyes blazed with desire as rivulets of water ran down his angular face.
My eyes followed the trail of water down his chest, over his carved abdomen, where it disappeared into the crevice where our bodies met.
Damn, but he was beautiful, especially with his barriers stripped away.
Only I ever got to see him like this, naked and raw and burning, as we sought to complete each other in the purest, most basic way possible.
“Enough,” he finally said, pulling my hand away.
He slid his thumb over my sweet spot, sending another shock of pleasure through me, then buried himself inside me.
I was already so wound up, so close to the edge, that the single thrust sent me over.
Stars burst in my vision as pleasure barreled through me, and I screamed his name as I clung to him, seeking purchase in the storm we’d created together.
He held me tight, but didn’t stop, taking me hard and fast against the wall as water continued to drum against his back.
Magic sizzled in the air around us as he joined his soul with mine, allowing me to feel the tide of pleasure he felt as he pounded into me.
My inner muscles clenched around him as I came again, and he groaned low and deep in his throat as he finally found release.
His grip on me weakened, and we found ourselves sliding to the floor of the shower.
Thank Magorah the hot water was powered by magic, or the spray would be ice cold by now.
“I love you,” Iannis murmured in my ear, gently stroking my back.
“Love you too.” Smiling, I snagged the bar of soap, which had fallen to the ground, and began lathering it up in my hands. “Now why don’t we get ourselves cleaned up?”