Such as Fenris, I wanted to say, but I kept that bit to myself – I doubted the Finance Secretary was privy to Fenris’s true identity. Part of me wanted to say that the Minister could fuck off, but the more rational part of me recognized that if Iannis thought his sudden deterioration was suspicious, there was likely a larger game afoot. It sounded like this Minister was even more important than Iannis. “Do you think the Resistance is involved with this in some way?”
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.
23
“Oh, 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.”