He must have given me some kind of weird pick-me-up spell.
But when I opened the door to see Fenris standing on the other side, the memory of him rushing toward me down the basement steps slammed into my brain.
“Oh.” I clutched the side of my head as I stared at him. He was dressed in dark red instead of black today, but otherwise he was the same tall, muscular man with the dark brown beard and yellow eyes who’d called off my attackers. “You saved me last night.”
“Glad your memory is in working order.” He arched a brow, then lifted the plate of food in his hands. “Hungry?”
“Famished.” The sight of the cold chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits made my stomach ache so fiercely I thought it might devour itself. I snatched the plate from his hands before I remembered my manners. “Umm, do you want to come in?”
“That was the idea, yes.”
I stepped back to let him enter the room, and that was all of the attention I could spare – I plopped down onto my bed and immediately inhaled the food on my plate.
“Mmm,” I mumbled appreciatively when I was done. “You got any more of this?” The plate of food had taken the edge off my hunger, but I hadn’t eaten a decent meal in forty-eight hours, at least not by shifter standards. Our high metabolisms needed more food than the average human.
Fenris frowned. “I should have thought to bring more. You need the nourishment after your ordeal.”
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked, gesturing to my empty plate. “Have you been assigned as my personal maid or something? Because somehow that kind of task seems beneath you.”
Fenris scowled. “Actually, the Chief Mage sent me here to let you know that he wouldn’t be able to meet with you until later this afternoon. I decided to bring you some food on my way, so that you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble in the kitchens again.”
“What does the Great Lord Iannis have to do that is so pressing he had to push back our morning meeting?” I rolled my eyes. Was I supposed to be grateful to Fenris for rescuing me when it was his master’s fault I’d been nearly beaten to death in the first place?
Fenris arched a brow. “As a matter of fact, he’s still recuperating from last night. He expended a lot of energy healing your injuries, which were rather extensive.”
My jaw dropped as the fragments of memory from last night finally fell into place. “You brought me to the Chief Mage and had him heal me?”
“It seemed the least he could do, since you’d been starved and beaten while under his protection,” Fenris said mildly. “Or at least that’s what I told him when he asked me why I hadn’t brought you to the infirmary instead. Would you rather I had left you lying on the floor?”
He scowled at me, and I flinched, the truth of his words ringing in my ears. “No. But it doesn’t mean that I’m going to grovel at your feet for the supposed ‘favor’ you’ve done me. After all, you’re the pet of the mage who’s keeping me here.”
Fenris’s jaw tightened. “I’m no one’s pet.”
“Well then why are you here with him?” I narrowed my eyes. “You seem like a decent guy, so he must have some kind of hold over you. Do you owe him a debt? Because there are other alternatives to indentured servitude –”
“I am not a slave, Sunaya,” Fenris cut me off, his voice clipped. “I know this might be hard for you to believe, but Iannis and I are good friends. I stand by his side, as he would stand by mine.”
“Is that why you sit at his feet?” I snapped. “Like a dog? Because you two are equal?”
Fenris’s expression turned downright thunderous. “I know that you’re frustrated with your own situation, but believe me when I say from experience that Iannis is not what you think. If I sit by his feet as a wolf, it’s because it’s advantageous to the situation, nothing more. We respect each other, and he has more than earned my loyalty.”
I raised my eyebrows at the conviction that burned in his voice and eyes. He certainly seemed sincere, and yet…“If he’s so great, then why am I still trapped up here in this tower like a prisoner instead of back on the streets? He should have already determined that I’m not a threat to the public.”
“Because you appealed to Iannis directly, and he does nothing by half-measures. He’ll keep you as long as he has to, in order to ensure you’re not a threat and can be released safely back into society.”
Disgust filled me at Fenris’s choice of words. “Yeah, well this isn’t just about me, buddy.” I poked him in the chest. “I was in the middle of investigating a series of shifter murders that no one is taking seriously when I was carted off to jail. If I don’t go free, the murderer is going to keep killing and he’ll never be brought to justice.”
“Murderer?” Fenris’s dark brows winged up. “What murderer?”
I gave him the abbreviated rundown of the situation, and by the time I finished he was frowning again. “I haven’t heard anything about this,” he said, stroking his beard.
“Yeah, well that’s because whoever’s behind all this likely has someone from the media in their pocket.” I scowled. “Surely you don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility, do you?”
“Well, no,” Fenris admitted, “I suppose I could try looking into it myself, but I’ll need to find more evidence than just your word before bringing it to Iannis.”