5
I hurried back to the Mages Guild, intent on cornering Iannis and getting him to give me a useful assignment. But just as I was passing through the reception area, Dira, the front desk receptionist, called my name.
“Miss Baine, there’s a message for you. From an Enforcer Annia Melcott.”
I paused, then veered toward the desk. If Annia was calling me here, it had to be important. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been in a fog of grief over Noria’s decision to join the Resistance, bitter and utterly defeated. I hoped she wasn’t about to do something rash. “What’s the message?”
Dira frowned, reading the message she’d scrawled down when she received the note. “She asked if you could please meet her at your mutual friend’s house. And that it was urgent.”
“Thanks.” I nodded, then hurried down the hall, heading for the finance office. As I half-expected, most of the finance department’s desks were empty, and the few people who were busy at their desks were mages, with the exception of one elderly human accountant. I couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped me. Was everyone deserting us?
Noria did.
Pushing that thought out of my head, I veered left, toward the Finance Secretary’s office, and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Sunaya Baine.”
There was a pause. “Come in,” he said eventually.
I pushed open the door, then closed it behind me. Cirin Garidano, Solantha’s Secretary of Finance, was more striking and fashionable than the other mages of his stature. Like Iannis, he tended to dress in robes that flattered his broad shoulders and tall frame, and he wore his black hair long, far past his shoulders. Dark, piercing blue eyes were narrowed in concentration as he tapped out a report on his typewriter with long fingers that flew across the keys. I felt my approaching heat more strongly at the sight of a handsome male, but firmly pushed the sensation away.
“Isn’t typing reports something you delegate to a lackey?” I asked, leaning my hip against the door.
He glanced up at me, a faintly annoyed expression on his face. “In case you haven’t noticed, Miss Baine, we are in short supply of lackeys at the moment. Did you come in here to criticize my office?”
“No,” I admitted, shoving my hands into my pockets. “I came here because I need to borrow a car.”
His dark eyebrows winged up. “And what makes you think I’m in a position to help you? The Mages Guild doesn’t use cars.”
I rolled my eyes. “Give me a break. I spend enough time around this joint that I can afford to do a little snooping.” My ability to wear illusions was a big help in sneaking into restricted areas, too. “You’ve got a garage full of them.” I smirked a little at the surprise in Cirin’s eyes. “Guess you mages aren’t so averse to technology after all, are you?”
“We mages, Miss Baine, and not as much as we used to be,” he admitted in a cool voice. “After all, we use telephones, typewriters, and dirigibles, don’t we?”
“And apparently vehicles.”
“They are for emergency use only,” Cirin warned. “After realizing how much of an advantage technology has given humans, Lord Iannis has authorized, and even encouraged, the use of technology in the Guild, though not everyone is in favor of such innovation. Vehicles aren’t the only things he’s collected… but we’ve yet to publicly use them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on. It’ll be okay. I know how to drive. It’s not like you guys painted the Mages Guild emblems on your vehicles, have you?”
When Cirin didn’t respond, I groaned. “Seriously?”
“They wouldn’t be official vehicles if we didn’t,” Cirin pointed out. “We had it done recently.”
That explained why I didn’t remember seeing it. “Fine. Then give me a can of paint so I can cover it up. Just let me borrow a vehicle. I can’t go running around on foot with the Resistance out to kill me.”
Cirin sighed. “I can’t give you a car,” he told me. “But there is another kind of vehicle I can give you.”
I perked up. “Oh?”
“This is bullshit,” I grumbled to myself as I pedaled up one of the many very long, very steep hills that Solantha was known for. I was halfway to the Port now, pushing the bicycle the Finance Secretary had bestowed upon me as fast as I could. But even though I had extra-strong muscles as a shifter, they weren’t used to bike riding, and certainly not over long distances with steep hills. A dull ache was starting up in my quads, and it was only going to get worse from here.
At least you’re getting a workout.
I snorted. Yeah, like I really needed one. By Magorah, but I missed my steambike. I wished like hell I’d been able to recover it from Turain, but Danrian’s cronies had probably sold it off to a chop shop weeks ago. I was never going to see my baby again.
You could probably convince Iannis to replace it for you, a little voice murmured in my head. I clenched my jaw at that idea. I was too proud to ask for that kind of gift from Iannis. I was already living in his Palace and eating his food, wasn’t I? I wasn’t going to ask him for money I hadn’t earned on top of it.
No, when this was over and I could start earning money as an enforcer again, I’d buy myself another bike. For now, I had to deal with this hand-me-down. It was one of the bikes the guards used to circle the perimeter during their rounds, and since the guards were conspicuously absent, there was an abundance of bicycles available.