Bound by Magic (17 page)

“What can we do for you, Captain?” Nila asked, her voice slightly breathy as she stepped forward. She was wearing a long-sleeved leather corset top that pushed her boobs up front and center, and I had no doubt she was hoping to distract Captain Galling with them. “Foreman Vance said you needed us urgently.”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Romana,” Captain Galling snapped. His dark eyes did indeed fix on her cleavage, but only for a split second – he was too angry to be swayed by a nice rack, it would seem. “These two are telling me you’re moonlighting for a company that runs an illegal fighting ring called the Shifter Royale, and that they
both
saw you there last night.”

Surprise flashed in Brin and Nila’s eyes as they glanced at me, and I knew they were wondering how we could have seen them if they hadn’t seen us. But they couldn’t very well point that out without incriminating themselves, so I simply folded my arms across my chest and smiled smugly at them.

“Sir, this is ridiculous,” Brin said stiffly. “Nila and I don’t have time to moonlight. We’ve got a pretty full docket, as part of the Main Crew.”

“Exactly.” Nila nodded decisively. “What reason would we have to moonlight?”

“Can either of you verify your whereabouts for yesterday evening?” Galling demanded.

“Sure. We were at Nila’s apartment last night.” Brin tossed an arm over Nila’s shoulder and pulled her close. “As we are most nights.”

Captain Galling rolled his eyes. “From someone
other
than yourselves?”

Another tense silence filled the room, which Annia broke. “Say, Brin, I notice you’ve got a bandage on your arm. What happened?”

“Sliced it in a sword fight,” Brin growled.

“Oh yeah?” Faster than a speeding steambike, I jumped up and yanked Brin forward by the arm. He yelped as I closed my arm around the wound, and I grabbed one end of the gauze and ripped it off before he could retaliate. “Oh, would you look at that. These look like bite marks! From a tiger shifter, perhaps?” I gave him a big smile.

“Get off me!” Brin swung for my head, but I ducked, then twisted him around by the arm and slammed him face-first against the wall.

“It’s about time I get the chance to arrest you,” I snarled in his ear, pulling a pair of restraints from one of my pouches and slapping them on his wrists. “Unless you have an objection, Captain Galling.”

“No, I don’t.”

“What?” Nila shrieked, her heart-shaped face purpling. “You can’t arrest Brin! You don’t have any real evidence!”

“I’m afraid the word of two Enforcers, plus the fact that Brin just lied about his wound, is more than enough,” Captain Galling said darkly as Annia cuffed Nila as well. He picked up the phone and called his deputy as she struggled against the restraints, but it was no use – Annia had her in a firm grip. A couple of minutes later, the Deputy Captain arrived with two other Enforcers to take Brin and Nila away.

My eyes narrowed as I studied the new Deputy – he was a step-up from Garius Talcon, his predecessor, who’d sexually harassed me, beaten me, and attempted to rape me a few months ago. Unlike Talcon, who was fat, thuggish and leery, the new deputy was clean cut and trim, with a square face and steady blue eyes that swept over us all as he entered the room. Handsome but militant was the first impression I got – a far cry from Talcon’s leers and waggling eyebrows.

Of course, looks could be deceiving – this guy could be just as depraved as Talcon. But I was really hoping he wasn’t.

“Captain Galling.” He inclined his head. “You want these two brought below for the night?” he asked, referring to the basement jail cells.

“Yes. We’re holding them until further notice.”

“You bitch!” Nila spat in Annia’s face, her eyes wild. “I won’t let you get away with this!”

“No,
you’re
the ones who won’t get away with this,” Annia snarled, wiping flecks of spittle from her cheek as she jumped to her feet. I was on my feet as well, my fists clenched at my sides – I wanted to deck Nila, just this once, but I knew that wasn’t going to win me any favors from Galling.

“You’re done fucking with the lives of innocent shifters, Nila,” I growled instead. “In fact, if I have it my way, you’re done
period
.”

“Pah!” Brin actually had the audacity to spit on my boot. “You shifters are all just mangy animals anyway.” He began to struggle as the other Enforcers pulled him from the room. “You’re rabid beasts that need to be leashed for your own good!”

His shouts continued to echo from down the hall, and I glared at him as I watched him go. I was breathing hard from the effort of holding myself back from chasing him down the hall and beating him into a pulp. Because Brin thought humans were better than shifters, he was justified in drugging and kidnapping them and forcing them to kill each other? If anyone deserved that kind of fate, it was him.

“So,” Captain Galling said, returning my attention to him. “You say you need a task force? When?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Annia admitted. “We don’t know when the next Royale is. But I have a feeling it’ll be in the next few days, and with a bit of snooping around I should be able to find out when. I’ll head over to Turain this afternoon.”

“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “You’ve already been there twice. It’s going to look pretty suspicious if you’re snooping around a third time. I’ll go myself, in a different disguise.”

“Are you sure?” Annia demanded. “You won’t have any trouble with the smoke?”

“I’ll dig up a charm from somewhere to help me deal with it. Trust me, Annia, it’s better this way.”

“Alright.” Captain Galling pinned me with his hard stare. “You’re certain that no one suspected anything after the magic stunt you pulled?”

“Not that I know of.” I shrugged, the idea making me a little uneasy. “Nobody tried to stop or question us.”

“Fine. But you’d better be right, Baine, because if you send us walking into an ambush I’ll have your hide, Chief Mage’s apprentice or not.”

I
tried
to get out of my duties at the Mages Guild that afternoon so I could go to Turain, but the Chief Mage wasn’t available, and Director Chen wasn’t having it, so I was forced to spend the rest of the afternoon doing grunt work as usual. Dragging my feet down the hall on my way to the Secretary of Agricultural Magic’s office, I was turning over an idea in my mind about how to convince him to let me out early when the Finance Secretary walked out of a room.

“Oh, Miss Baine.” His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he caught sight of me. “Where are you headed to?”

“Department of Agricultural Magic,” I said, pointing down the hall. “Why?”

“Oh, well never mind Soren,” the Finance Secretary said impatiently, referring to the Secretary of Agricultural magic by name. “This is more important than sending out letters to farmers. Come along.” He waved me into the room he’d just come from.

“What exactly am I helping you with?” I asked warily as I entered the room. It was a large clerks’ office, with rows of beige metal file cabinets lining the walls, and a number of desks arranged throughout the space, all covered with stacks of paper and ledgers. Many of the people sitting at the desks and going through these records were apprentices, but a few of them, to my surprise, were humans.

“The Mages Guild does employ human accountants to help me keep up with the regular work,” the Finance Secretary said, correctly interpreting the question in my gaze. “The apprentices are all well and good, but I need some regular trained members on my staff, and there aren’t very many mages who are willing to put aside spellcraft to work on numbers.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense.” I knew
I
definitely wouldn’t want to volunteer for the job.

I followed the Finance Secretary into his office, which was in a smaller, separate room that featured a large glass window enabling the Finance Secretary to observe the others in his department. Other than that, though, his own office was much the same as the outside room – lots of file cabinets, stacks of leather-covered dispatch boxes, and shelves filled with ledgers. There was a tiny golden set of scales on his desk that I assumed was meant to be used as a paperweight, and a small potted tree with a braided trunk that I recognized as a money tree.

“Does that thing really give you financial good luck?” I asked as I sat down in one of his visitor’s chairs.

To my surprise, the Finance Secretary’s lips quirked briefly as he eyed the plant. “No, but it’s a gift from my wife, so I care for it all the same.”

The small insight into his personal life reminded me that beneath their stony facades, mages were people too. I wondered if they were just as stiff and formal amongst their families in the privacy of their own homes, or if they showed more warmth. I’d glimpsed warmth in Iannis enough times to know that I couldn’t discount the possibility.

The Finance Secretary’s smile disappeared almost as quickly as it had come, and he reached into a drawer behind his desk and pulled out a thick, leather-bound book. I recognized it as the ledger he’d been studying back in Danrian’s office at Sandin Federal Bank.

“I found this ledger in a wall safe hidden behind a painting in the bank manager’s office,” the Finance Secretary said tersely, flipping it open. “I thought you might want to know about it.”

“Oh yeah?” I leaned forward to study the contents, and had to squint my eyes to read the tiny, cramped script. But as I scanned the names and the numbers written in the columns, realization began to dawn on me as I recognized several of them from Sillara’s list.

“These are all names of shifters who’ve taken loans from Sandin Federal Bank.”

“Indeed. But it isn’t just a record of those who’ve taken loans at the local branch, I don’t think.” The Finance Secretary tapped his fingers against the heavily inked paper. “These are specifically the names of shifters who haven’t been keeping up with their payments, and lists the loan amount, the number of payments missed, and the number of times they’ve been contacted.” The Finance Director pressed his lips together. “I’ve cross-checked some of these names in the records we confiscated, and a good number aren’t customers of the local branch.”

I frowned. “Then what are they doing in the ledger?”

“I’m not certain, but most likely these people are residents of different cities in Canalo, and will have taken out their loans at different branches all over the state.”

I mulled this over for a moment, and my eyes widened as I realized the implications. “So Danrian wasn’t just following orders like a good little manager. He’s one of the main players involved!”

“It would seem so.” The Finance Secretary scowled. “I’ve sent out telegrams to the Finance Directors of the other Guilds to have them look into the branches in their respective states, and also to the Federation’s Finance Secretary as he’ll need to shut down the corporate headquarters. I imagine whoever is behind this has a representative in each state, to ensure the operation is running smoothly. It stands to reason Mr. Danrian would be the representative for all of Canalo, especially since he resides here in the capital city.”

“Right.” I narrowed my eyes at the Finance Secretary. “Why exactly are you telling me all of this?”

His dark eyebrows winged up. “Because this is your investigation, of course, and it is pertinent information.”

“True, but it’s not my experience that mages are so helpful to shifters.” Even now that I was an apprentice, when I had to go to another department for something, the mages there were always reluctant to engage with me.

“Ah, I see.” Another smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You are wondering why I am deigning to help you even though you are a hybrid and therefore not worthy of my time and attention.”

Anger began to simmer in my gut at the familiar supercilious tone in his voice. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The Finance Secretary sighed. “Most of the mages around here feel that you should be given as little attention as possible, much in the way you ignore a spoiled child’s tantrums until he eventually ceases to wail and the problem resolves itself. But I’ve been watching you, and it’s apparent to me that you not only aren’t going anywhere, but that you have influence with the Chief Mage. So rather than try to hinder you, I’m offering my assistance in the hopes that you’ll remember me later on when I need a favor.”

“A favor?” My own eyebrows jumped. “What kind of favor could you possibly want from me?”

The Finance Secretary shrugged. “I have ambitions just like anyone else,” he said. “Politically you may someday prove to be an asset. I am willing to help you along your way, and when the time comes I expect you’ll remember my show of support.”

I snorted. “I think you’d have a better chance of getting me to wear mage’s robes than you would of getting me involved in politics.”

“Perhaps, but you have a long life ahead of you, and you are only just at the beginning.” The Finance Director pressed the tips of his fingers together and regarded me from over the tops of his short, manicured nails. “I’ve learned to trust my instincts, Miss Baine, and mine are telling me that you will at some point become a force to be reckoned with.”

“Well thanks, I think.” Pride swelled in my chest at that, and I forced it down before it inflated my head. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes.” He closed the book. “I would like for you to help the other apprentices continue to go through the files. We need to get all of the information together to turn over to the legal department so they can begin prosecuting, and since I am one of the delegates accompanying Lord Iannis to the Convention I am extremely pressed for time. As it is, I am going to have to delay my departure because of this bank fiasco and miss my berth on the official airship.”

I groaned. Great. More paperwork.

B
y the time
I left the Finance Department, my eyes felt like they were bleeding and my head was so full of numbers I thought it was going to explode. My neck and shoulders ached from hunching over a desk all afternoon, and I really,
really
wanted to go down to Comenius’s shop and beg him for one of his soothing tea blends. And maybe a shoulder rub.

But I didn’t have time to hang out with Comenius, much as I would have liked to. I needed to head down to Turain and find out when the next Shifter Royale was taking place.

Just as I was about to enter the Guild’s lobby, I spotted the Chief Mage, his cobalt blue robes rippling as he strode into the lobby. We locked eyes and stopped at the same time, Iannis in the center of the lobby while I hovered just inside the hallway.

“Miss Baine.” The Chief Mage inclined his head. “I was just coming to look for you. You never showed up for your lesson.”

“Huh?” Alarm shocked me out of my foggy state, and I pushed back the sleeve of my jacket to check the time. Eight fifteen. Over an hour late. “Crap. I’m sorry.” I looked up to meet the Chief Mage’s stern gaze. “I was helping the Finance Secretary sort through all the records he seized from Sandin Federal Bank this afternoon. I guess I lost track of time.” Well that, and I’d completely forgotten we were scheduled to have a lesson tonight.

“Ah, yes.” The Chief Mage’s frown lightened. “I’m glad you finally investigated the bank. It would seem there was good reason to look into it.”

“Yeah.” I thought about telling him about the rest of the investigation, but I held back. I really didn’t need Iannis’s help with this, and he was so busy as it was. “Umm, so can I get some food before we start? I haven’t eaten since noon.”

“No need. I had dinner in my quarters with Fenris, and the cook brought more than enough food. If the leftovers aren’t still there, I’ll simply order more for you.” He turned and headed back out of the lobby, clearly expecting me to follow.

“Hang on,” I said, hustling to keep up with his long-legged stride. “We’re not going to the training room?”

“No. We won’t be needing it for what I have planned tonight.”

Warmth blossomed in my cheeks as Iannis confirmed what I’d suspected – he was taking me to his personal quarters. The last time I’d been there, the Chief Mage had briefly seen me naked, and we’d also fought about the idea of him making me his apprentice. I still remember the way my body had tingled as he’d pushed me up against the wall and pinned me with his violet eyes, and I remembered how they’d blazed. I hadn’t been sure whether or not he was going to kill me or kiss me at the time, and the idea of being alone in that room with him again made my heart beat a little faster than it should have.

Then again that room was also the same place where the Chief Mage had unlocked the seal my father had placed on my magic, giving me control over my powers for the first time in my life. So there were good memories of that room too.

Despite being located on the far end of the West Wing, it didn’t take very long for us to reach Iannis’s quarters. I watched as he placed a hand on the brass knob and muttered an incantation, and the knob glowed briefly before the lock clicked open. I memorized the Words he’d used – I wanted to try that out for myself when I got home. With the way my life was going right now, it was probably a good idea to spell my locks so that nobody would try to ambush me in my own apartment.

I followed Iannis in through the open door, my eyes taking in the spacious, yet cozy sitting room. It was decorated in the Chief Mage’s colors, the blue upholstery on the heavy, dark wood furniture and the matching curtains framing the large bay window embroidered with gold thread. The wall to my left was lined with bookshelves, and a large bay window on the right offered a wonderful view of the Firegate Bridge stretching across Solantha Bay. The couches were grouped around a marble fireplace, which lay dark and silent –no fire was needed at this time of year.

“Help yourself,” Iannis said, gesturing to a table by the bay window where the remnants of a meal were laid out – half a platter of ribs, a partially empty bowl of roasted carrots and sweet potatoes, and some salad. “I’ll return shortly.”

I watched as he disappeared through a door on the far side of the room, then sat down and helped myself to the food. As I chewed on rib meat, which was cold but tasty, I stared out the window at the Firegate Bridge. I should have already been across it and halfway to Turain by now, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have time to make the trip tonight. I would have to do it in the morning.

Once I polished off the food, I stood up and crossed to the other side of the room, perusing the books that lined the shelves. Many of the titles were in foreign languages, some of them even written in strange runes rather than letters, and I wondered just how many languages Iannis knew. I’d never asked his age, but I always assumed he’d lived several centuries already, which was plenty of time to amass quite a few languages. It made me wonder just how much knowledge I would have when I got that old.

If
I got that old
.

The door opened behind me, and I turned around to see Iannis clutching two gold chains in one of his fists. Small, white tanzarite stones swung from the ends of the chains, their fire catching the light, and I blinked, curious.