Suddenly exhausted, I left my boots on the floor and crawled into bed. This defeatist attitude wasn’t going to get me anywhere. A couple of hours of sleep would get me in the right frame of mind, then I was going to regroup and plan a counter-attack of my own. No one took what was mine and got away with it. No one.
3
Four hours later, I awoke to the sight of daylight streaming through my gossamer curtains. Groaning, I shielded my eyes against sunlight that was far too cheery considering the circumstances, and rolled out of bed. Coming to stand in front of the mirror, I realized my hair was an insult to rat’s nests, and my skin was still pale with fatigue.
I could sleep for a week, I thought, scrubbing my face with my hands. I slapped some color into my cheeks, then wet my hair before pulling the brush through my damp mane, taming the unruly locks as quickly as possible. I needed to get down to the Mages Guild and find out what my ‘special assignment’ was supposed to be.
The brisk walk from the East Wing to the Guild reception helped wake me a little more, and by the time I got there, I realized the four hours of sleep had done me more good than I initially thought.
“Good morning, Miss Baine.” Dira, the receptionist who often acted as an aide to Iannis, greeted me. She didn’t smile, but her voice was pleasant. “I’m glad to see you’ve returned safe and sound.”
“Thank you.” I inclined my head, resigning myself to the fact that I was just going to have to get used to the fact that people were starting to be nice to me. First, the man who’d helped me escape the apartment building, then the head chef, and now the receptionist. Who was next? Canter, the grumpy old mage who manned the front desk at the Palace entrance?
Ha. Yeah, right. I didn’t think anything would break through that old man’s derision.
“Do you know where I might find the Chief Mage?” I asked Dira.
“He’s in conference right now, with Director Chen and Captain Galling.”
By Magorah. Doesn’t he ever sleep? “What about?”
“I’m not privy to those details,” she said firmly. I knew that was a lie, but I also knew I had a better chance of getting Iannis to dance naked across the Firegate Bridge than I did of getting her to tell me what she knew. “I would suggest you ask him yourself, when he’s done.”
“All right then. Thanks for being so helpful.” Careful to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, I sauntered to the hall on my left, the one that led toward the Guild offices.
“Miss Baine, you can’t just barge in!” Papers shuffled and a chair scraped back against the marble tile as Dira hurried to her feet.
I shot her a withering look over my shoulder. “Don’t be silly. I’m just going to wait in Director Chen’s office. After all, I still need to receive my ‘special assignment’, don’t I?”
The receptionist gave me an aggravated look, but she didn’t say anything more, and I moved on. I was dead certain that entering Director Chen’s office without her knowledge or permission would displease the Garaian-born mage, but considering that the Guild owed me big time for bringing Iannis back, she was hardly in a position to object too strongly.
The door to her office was locked, so I ducked into another one, then returned with a paperclip. It was easy enough to jimmy it open, and since she hadn’t thought to activate her wards, I slipped inside easily. Casting a dirty look at the incredibly uncomfortable visitor’s chairs I’d already been acquainted with, I crossed directly over to the wall on the opposite side, sat on the floor, and pressed my ear to the silk wallpaper.
I hadn’t actually come to Director Chen’s office because I wanted to report to her for an assignment. The conference room Iannis was using was directly on the other side of her wall, and I wanted to listen in on the conversation.
“Captain Galling, please put your understandable resentment aside in the interest of the greater good,” Iannis was saying. “I am willing to consider suitable amends for the Council’s mistake of imprisoning you. In their panic at my disappearance, they did not know whom to trust, but such an error will never happen again. You have my word.”
“And mine,” Director Chen added in a tight voice.
“Hmm.” Galling appeared to be wavering.
Iannis persevered. “By refusing to do anything, you’re aiding and abetting terrorists. Can you square that with your conscience, to know you’re effectively aiding the wrong side?”
Captain Galling barked a laugh. “That’s easy for you to say, that I’m on the wrong side. You weren’t here when the Mages Guild was sweeping through the streets and snapping up anyone who was even remotely defined as a suspect. They took some of my best enforcers too, and they’ll be just as angry.”
“I apologize for that,” Iannis said. Anger simmered beneath the sincerity in his voice, and I nodded, satisfied. He hadn’t let the matter go yet, which meant that those who were still unjustly imprisoned would be freed soon, if they hadn’t been already. “But the first priority at this moment is to re-establish order and safety for all citizens in Solantha. That becomes nearly impossible if the Captain of the Enforcers Guild won’t lift a finger to help me drive the Resistance from our borders.”
“Even if I wanted to help you,” Captain Galling growled, “I can’t. Most of the enforcers hate the mages even more now, and they want nothing to do with this war.” Exhaustion entered his deep voice. “Besides, the apothecaries have been shut down, and I have no access to the medicine that my wife so desperately needs. I’m not interested in resuming my office while she is suffering.”