Hunted by Magic (20 page)

The Finance Secretary’s black brows rose. “How so?”

“Well I mean, they were responsible for the attack on Iannis’s ship,” I pointed out. “They didn’t want him to arrive at the Convention, and I’m wondering if this is why. Maybe they planned to get rid of the Minister for some reason, and took you out because they feared you might be voted in to take his place?”

“Me?” Iannis scoffed. “I doubt that would happen. I’ve not been a Chief Mage long enough. Traditionally, such votes are a mere formality, as the retiring Minister has always suggested his successor. If Graning has not nominated anyone, that would indeed be unusual.”

“I’m not so sure you aren’t a contender,” the Finance Secretary said, tapping his square chin thoughtfully. “From what I’ve been hearing, the Minister’s Office has been very impressed with the way you’ve been cleaning up the Mages Guild and ferreting out key players of the Resistance in Canalo. Add to that the fact that you’ve just come back from the dead, and you may be more popular than you realize.”

“Hmph.” Iannis folded his arms across his chest. “I’ve no plans to become the next Minister, and I would like to know what exactly this malady is that’s befallen our current one. The logical step is to make an appointment to see him.”

The Finance Secretary shook his head. “As far as I understand it, no one knows where he’s being kept.”

“Now that
is
suspicious,” I said just as the grandfather clock in the living room let out a low
gong
. We all looked up to see that it was eight o’clock now – where had the time gone?

“We’d better get going,” the Finance Secretary said as he briskly got to his feet. “The session starts in less than half an hour.”

“Very well.” Iannis set down his coffee cup. “After you finish your shopping, head back to the Capitol Building, Miss Baine. You may not be able to attend the Convention itself, but you can still hang about and make good use of your hearing. See if you can find out anything about the Minister’s illness or location, the Resistance, or anything else that might be of use.”

“Does that mean you’re giving me permission to wander around the Capitol Building?” I asked hopefully. The building was three stories, after all, and I was sure there were all kinds of secrets I could ferret out.

“If it gets us the information we need, I don’t care what you do,” Iannis said. “If we don’t find out what is going on with the Minister, especially now that the Resistance is becoming so bold, the Northia Federation may soon turn down a path of destruction the likes of which it has never seen.”

And with those ominous words, he swept out the door.

“
O
h
, oh oh! We should totally get him these.”

Annia arched an eyebrow as I pulled a set of daffodil-yellow robes from the rack. “Do you
want
the Chief Mage to cut off your head and put it on a pike outside the Capitol Building?” she asked with a smirk.

“I don’t believe that particular color would go very well with Lord Iannis’s complexion,” the clerk sniffed from behind his counter a few feet away. I glanced over my shoulder to see him push his small, round spectacles up his nose and give us a superior glance. “Perhaps try the maroon robes on the other end.”

“Excellent idea,” I told him, then turned away so I could roll my eyes. “It was just a joke,” I muttered as I reached for the maroon robes the clerk had indicated.

“I figured after all the time you’d spent at Solantha Palace, you’d have realized mages don’t have a sense of humor.”

“Well yeah, but that guy’s
human
,” I complained.

Annia laughed. “Yeah, but he spends all his time catering to mages. Clearly their attitude has rubbed off on him.”

“I guess so,” I said as I continued to look through the rack. My fingers stopped at a set of dark violet robes with lace edging the collar and cuffs, and I grinned as I pulled it out. “Surely I can get away with this though, right?”

Annia snorted as she gave the robes a once-over. They had silver buttons that traveled from just above the navel to the high collar that would brush the underside of Iannis’s chin. A ridiculous amount of lace frothed from the collar, covering the topmost buttons, and although there was less of the stuff at the cuffs, I knew it would look similarly ridiculous. The paisley pattern that was subtly woven into the fabric was a nice touch too.

“If the Chief Mage looked about a thousand years older, these would be perfect for him,” Annia said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” I muttered. Based on what Iannis had told me this morning, he would look exactly the same a thousand years from now. Shaking my head, I put the garment back. We’d already spent half the morning shopping for ourselves – it was time to wrap this up and get back to the Capitol Building so I could start gathering information.

“Why so serious?” Annia asked twenty minutes later as we walked out of the tailor’s shop. Aside from the new red and silver robes I was wearing, I left empty-handed – the tailor promised to have the robes and my new ball gown delivered to the hotel room by mid-afternoon. “You looked pretty sour-faced when I met up with you at the café this morning, too.”

“It’s just that there’s a lot going on.” We stopped at the curb so we could hail a cab. I lowered my voice so that passersby wouldn’t hear, and explained to Annia about the bad news the Finance Secretary had delivered this morning.

“Well shit,” Annia said as a hansom cab pulled up. The driver, who sat behind the cab rather than in front of it, waved us forward, and we climbed into the cab and settled in for the ride. “Do you think the Resistance has actually managed to brainwash one or more of the delegates onto their side?”

“The Federation Capitol Building,” I called to the driver, then turned my attention back to Annia as he cracked his whip, urging the horses forward. “They converted Argon Chartis, didn’t they?”

“Well, yeah, but he’d already fallen from grace, so to speak, and was hungry for revenge. These guys are all either Chief Mages or have powerful positions in the Mages Guild. What could the Resistance offer them that they’d be willing to trade their cushy positions for?”

“More power?” I shrugged. “Perhaps they’ve managed to convince some disgruntled mage that the Resistance has the upper hand and is going to win. Otherwise, I don’t see why any mage would throw in their lot with them.”

“Yeah, well with the way things have been going lately, that might not be far off from the truth,” Annia said darkly as we rolled up the hill toward the Capitol Building. “I mean, you’ve already uncovered two separate conspiracies, Naya, and that’s in Canalo alone. How many other dangerous pots are the Resistance stirring across the rest of the Federation?”

“It all seems to come back to the Benefactor,” I mused, drumming my fingers against my thigh. “He’s the one stirring all these pots, and if we can catch him and take his spoons away, we might be able to stop this.”

“Yeah, well good luck with that,” Annia said as the cab rolled to a stop in front of the Capitol Building. “I have a feeling that with this bunch, finding the Benefactor is going to be like digging for a piece of dirt in a mound of soil.”

“You’re probably right.” I shook my head, then leaned in and hugged her. “Say hi to Fenris for me, will you?”

“Will do. Try to make it back home in one piece.” Annia winked at me, and I winked back before I turned around and let the driver hand me down from the cab.

I trotted up the steps of the Capitol Building in my new robes, and though the guards studied me with a critical eye as I passed, they made no move to stop me from entering. Unlike yesterday evening, the entrance hall was swarming with activity, both humans and mages alike bustling to and from the building and looking very official. In the center of the entrance hall was a large, mounted map of the building, and I stopped to study it, trying to figure out where I wanted to go. It looked like the main assembly room was located in the Great Rotunda on the first floor, surrounded by smaller meeting rooms. There were a few clerical offices down here, but most of the offices were on the upper floor, on the opposite side of the building from the banquet hall. I wondered if there was anyone up there right now worth eavesdropping on, or if everyone of importance was in the Convention.

Knowing the only way to find out was to go up there, I walked through the entrance hall. I passed a coffee shop on the corner as I turned right, heading for the stairs at the other end of a secondary hall that would take me to the stairs. Unfortunately, there were two guards guarding the steps, and as soon as they saw me they both stepped in front of the staircase, blocking my path.

“I’m sorry, miss, but these stairs are for authorized personnel only,” the guard to my right said. There was a hint of apology in his tone, but he spoke firmly. “Is there someone in particular you’re looking for?”

“No,” I admitted, giving the guards a sheepish smile. I really wanted to vault over their heads and dash up the stairs, but the female mage I was pretending to be wouldn’t be able to do that, so I had to behave. “It’s just that I’m not allowed into the Convention, so I was hoping to find a place to sit and work.” I lifted the leather portfolio that I carried in one hand, which had papers and a notepad in it so I could pretend to be doing something useful if need be.

“If you need a place to wait, I’d suggest the coffee shop.” The second guard pointed back down the hallway. “There is lots of comfortable seating, and the beverages are very good. But you can’t go up these stairs.”

“Thank you.” I briefly inclined my head to the guards, then turned around and walked back to the coffee shop I’d passed earlier. My stomach growled at the scent of fresh pastries, and though I was disappointed at this setback, there were actually quite a few mages sitting at the glossy wooden tables and chairs that I could listen in on. Approaching the dark granite countertop and the glass case of pastries next to it, I ordered a plate of muffins and a large cup of coffee, then brought my fare to the rear of the store, where the walls were lined with cushioned booth backings. I rested my back against the dark green velvet as I settled in at one of the little tables and prepared for a long afternoon.

As I chewed on a blueberry muffin and studied the mages chatting away at the tables, I noticed that a number of them were also surreptitiously studying me. It occurred to me that these mages probably saw each other at the Convention every other year, but I was a new face, and they weren’t sure what to make of me.

“Have you noticed that Lord Iannis seems a little…different, from the last time we saw him?” a redheaded mage asked her dark-haired companion.

“How so?” the other mage, also a female, asked. She picked up her white china espresso cup between dainty, painted fingernails and sipped at it like she was having coffee with the queen of Sandia instead of sitting around in a coffee shop with a fellow underling.

“He seems distracted, as if his mind isn’t entirely on the Convention.” The redhead traced the rim of her coffee cup with her forefinger. Her expression gave little away, as was the case with most mages, but it almost seemed like she was pouting. “I was in the Great Rotunda this morning before the session started, and watched him talking with the Chief Mage of Nayra. It just seemed like his mind was elsewhere.”

“Well I can’t say I’m that surprised, considering he arrived so late, and that he brought his mistress along.”

“Mistress?” The redhead’s pale blue eyes widened.

“Yes. You know,
her.
” The brunette looked over her shoulder and met my eyes. I smiled politely and shifted my gaze back down to my papers, pretending that I hadn’t heard what she’d just said – as far as they knew, I was too far away to hear their conversation.

“Really?” I looked back to see that the redhead’s brows had shot up. “Well she’s got a pretty face, but someone like Lord Iannis could do a great deal better.”

“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.