Turning my head, I noticed a phone on my nightstand, so I picked it up and asked the operator to connect me to the Golden Tree Inn. The phone rang for a few moments before someone from the front desk answered, and I asked them to connect me to Annia’s room.
“H’llo?” a sleepy voice slurred.
“Hey there. Just wanted to check in and see if you got that feather mattress you’ve been dreaming about.”
“Oh hell yeah.” Annia groaned, and I had the idea she was stretching her back. “This bed is ridiculously comfortable, and the room is incredible. Amazing what you can buy with a huge pouch of gold. It’s almost enough to make me forget about cashing in on the bounty. Almost.”
“Hey, well if you want to share some of that bounty money with yours truly, my pockets are wide open.” I chuckled a little. Iannis had given Annia said huge pouch of gold, along with the Golden Tree Inn as a recommendation for lodgings since she couldn’t very well stay with us. The airship we had commandeered would be confiscated by the Federation since it belonged to the Resistance, but Iannis planned to hook her up with another pilot with a larger ship, and the two of them would lead reinforcements back to the Resistance camp to round up the rebel soldiers.
“So what’s the Convention like?” Annia asked, sounding marginally more alert now. “I hope you’re not getting too much snob on you from all that elbow-rubbing.”
I snorted. “I don’t think I’m in any danger of that,” I told her. “The mage who greeted us kicked me out of the Capitol Building because they were hosting a delegates-only dinner. I was sent off to procure hotel rooms and clothing for everyone instead.”
“Clothing?” Annia perked right up at that. “Does that mean you’re going shopping?”
I paused. “I guess I am,” I said reluctantly. “Although considering how late it is, not until tomorrow morning.”
“Well, the pilot I’m supposed to meet up with isn’t getting in until the afternoon, so I’ll meet you in the shopping district at what, ten a.m.? We’ll make a girls’ date out of it.”
I snorted with laughter. “I’m not sure how Iannis is going to feel about the two of us parading around Dara spending his gold.”
“Well then, we’ll just have to make it worthwhile, won’t we?”
22
After getting off the phone with Annia, I crashed so hard that I never heard Iannis come into the suite. But the scent of coffee roused me bright and early from my slumber, and as my nose twitched, scenting the air, I also caught the briefest whiff of Iannis’s scent.
Sitting up, I rubbed at my bleary eyes and checked the crystal clock on my nightstand. Seven fifteen. Far too early for a nocturnal panther girl to be awake. But Iannis was going to have to leave for the Convention sooner rather than later, so I hopped out of bed, snagged the fluffy white robe hanging on the outside of my bathroom door, then belted it around my waist before wandering out into the living area.
Iannis stood behind the glossy island countertop in the kitchen, already dressed in a set of blue and gold robes with the Canalo Mages Guild Emblem stitched above his heart. He glanced over at me from above the rim of his mug as he sipped his coffee, violet eyes studying me as I made a beeline for the coffee pot.
“I noticed that you didn’t procure clothing or toiletries last night,” he said mildly as I poured myself a steaming cup of my own.
“Yeah well, by the time I was done wrestling with the concierge and manager downstairs, I was pretty pooped.” I added a hefty amount of cream and sugar to my coffee, then lifted the mug in both hands and blew across the top to cool the piping-hot liquid. “I figured you guys could make do with the hotel-provided stuff in the meantime, and it looks like you’re still working that illusion.”
“I’m actually not,” Iannis said dryly. “These are Cirin’s robes. He and I are of a similar size, so he leant me a set. The other delegates will have to make do, but it is rather unbecoming of us to show up wearing illusionary clothing. Other mages can tell.”
I blinked. “They can?”
“Just like Fenris and I were able to see the wards around the Resistance camp, a well-trained mage can detect illusion. That is, they can tell that there is some kind of magic being used, and it wouldn’t take much to deduce what kind. At least a few of my colleagues are bound to notice.” Iannis arched an eyebrow. “It would be embarrassing for a Chief Mage to be unable to afford proper clothing.”
“Yeah, I get it.” I took a sip of my coffee, then closed my eyes and enjoyed the taste of rich, creamy caffeine sinking into my tongue. “I’m going shopping this morning, so I’ll get all your stuff. Would help if I knew your measurements, though.”
“I already wrote them down, as well as those of the other delegates.” Iannis pulled a small, black leather notebook from his sleeve, tore out a cream-colored page, and handed it to me. “I suggest you procure robes for yourself too, and formalwear for all of us. There will be a ball tonight that is open to special guests as well as the delegates and their associates. I would like you to attend and make use of those heightened senses of yours.”
“Sounds good.” Nervous energy bounced through me as I tucked the piece of paper into the front pocket of my robe. I’d never been to a formal ball before, and I wasn’t sure what would be expected of me. Was I going to have to socialize with the other mages? Were people going to ask me to dance?