by Jasmine Walt
My relatives grudgingly came before the Chief Mage and submitted themselves to the truth wand. While all of them admitted they had been lying when they’d claimed they did not recognize me as the real Tamina Marton, they swore they had no knowledge of the assassination attempts on me and had not hired anyone to carry out such a heinous crime. Fenris and I exchanged surprised looks—I had been almost certain it was one of them—but the truth wand did not detect any falsehood, and we were forced to accept their testimony.
“Very well,” the Chief Mage said as he dismissed Vanley. “It is possible that these ‘attempts’ were mere accidents, but I shall have someone from the Enforcers Guild look into the matter.”
Turning back to my relatives, he declared, “In view of your audacious lies, and your failure to properly care for Miss Marton when she was at a vulnerable age, you are hereby relieved of your guardianship of her person and responsibility as stewards of the Marton Estate. You will hand over all monies, lands, and anything else belonging to the estate within two weeks’ time. You will also vacate any properties belonging to Miss Marton immediately and not seek any contact with her whatsoever in the future.”
My relatives looked utterly confounded by this pronouncement, and I had to bite back an incredulous laugh. Had they really thought they would waltz out of this unscathed? If I had been them, saddled with the knowledge of my guilt, I would have been beside myself with fear. It was amazing to me that all they seemed to feel was anger, except perhaps for my aunt, who simply looked miserable. No doubt she was thinking of all the parties and cruises she would no longer be able to host or partake in.
“Miss Marton,” the Chief Mage said to me, “the Mages Guild will conduct a full inventory and an audit of the accounts before turning your inheritance over to you and your legal representatives. Given that you are not far off the age of majority and missed the training due to you by birth through no fault of your own, I hereby emancipate you—you are now considered an adult by law and no longer have need of any guardian.”
“Thank you,” I said with feeling, curtsying deeply. I was certain the Chief Mage had awarded me my majority out of guilt at what had very nearly been a grave miscarriage of justice, but the why of it didn’t matter. I was free at long last, and a wave of giddy relief swept over me as it finally hit me that I had nothing more to fear.
“Mina,” Aunt Allira pleaded, stepping forward. The guilt was plain on her face now, and she actually wrung her hands. “Please, you have to understand, I never wanted any of this—”
“That’s enough,” my uncle growled, pulling her back. He turned away, steering his wife toward the exit, and Vanley shot me a venomous glance over his shoulder as he followed them out.
Blaming me, rather than himself, for all of this. How typical.
“Congratulations,” Mr. Ransome said to me, and I blinked—I’d nearly forgotten about him. He’d taken care to remain in the background, silent. “On reaching your majority over a year early, and for winning the case against such high odds. I’ll gather all the records together as ordered—the Mages Guild will have them presently,” he added to the Chief Mage.
He took his leave as well, and Fenris struck up a conversation with the Chief Mage—something about various legal precedents for punishing dishonest officials. I only half listened, my relief already giving way to a feeling of unease. Yes, I’d gotten everything I’d wanted…but someone had tried to kill me twice, and I was still no closer to discovering who that person was.
21
Mina
After Fenris finished his conversation with the Chief Mage, he whisked me out of the palace and into the warm, sunny day. “Let’s celebrate,” he suggested, and I was more than happy to oblige. There was no point in dwelling on the loose threads right now—I’d just scored a momentous victory, and after everything we’d been through to get here, we deserved to enjoy our triumph for a bit.
Now that my stomach was no longer a knot of nerves, I was famished—I hadn’t eaten anything yet today. We quickly found a cheerful, open-air bistro, and ordered brunch and mimosas—Fenris couldn’t get inebriated, but he’d told me in the past that he enjoyed the slight burn of alcohol all the same and didn’t mind indulging every so often.
“Coffee has no stimulating effect on me either,” he said ruefully after the waiter had delivered steaming cups for both of us. “But I spent so much of my life drinking it that I rather enjoy the morning ritual.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.” I reached for my own cup of coffee, but Fenris tugged the mug across the table. He took a deep sniff, and my skin went cold as I realized he was checking for poison.
“All safe,” he said, pushing the cup back toward me. I stared at it for a long moment before reaching for the small container of cream. “I’m sorry, Mina,” he said gently, “but until we catch the killer, we have to take precautions.” He proceeded to sniff the cream jug, too, before handing it back to me.
“You don’t need to apologize for trying to protect me,” I said as I lightened my coffee. “It’s just…it’s hard for me to celebrate, knowing that my life is still in danger.”
“I know what you mean,” Fenris said, with feeling. As I gazed into his eyes, I thought about how he’d spent the past few years living with the threat of discovery and execution always looming over his head. At least I had never had to worry about that—the worst that would have happened if I’d been caught was that I’d be forced to return to my relatives. Living on my own had hardened me enough that I probably would have been able to deal with Vanley, and even though I would have been miserable, I would have lived, at least.
The food arrived, and my stomach grumbled as the large platter was set before me—eggs, bacon, and pancakes. I was about to dig in when Fenris reached over and switched our plates.
“Hey!” I protested as he began to eat my food after a quick whiff.
“We ordered the same thing,” Fenris pointed out with a raised eyebrow, and I glanced down at my new plate to see that he was right.
“That doesn’t mean you should eat it,” I protested. “It would be just as bad if you were to die instead of me.”
“Shifters are immune to most poisons,” he said in a low voice so no one else could hear. “And besides, I disagree. You have a long life before you, whereas I’ve already lived a good portion of mine. In many people’s opinion, I should not even be alive today. If I were a cat,” he added, his lips twitching, “I would have used up several of my nine lives already.”
“As would I,” I pointed out after swallowing a mouthful of pancake. “The steamcar, and the poison…perhaps even the night I ran away from Vanley.” I doubted my cousin would have killed me, but any number of thugs or highway criminals could have done so during my flight—I was a young girl, traveling alone, and I’d been very lucky I hadn’t been accosted.
“Now that you are a legal adult, you ought to write a will, sooner rather than later,” Fenris said grimly, all pretense of enjoying the beautiful morning gone. “Until you do, your aunt is still your heir as she is your closest living relative. It would be best if you find a different lawyer for this, one who has no connection whatsoever to the Cantorin family.”
I pursed my lips. “And yet, my relatives are not the ones who tried to kill me, if the truth wand is to be believed. So why is someone else trying to murder me? Who stands to profit from my death?”
Our eyes met, and we had the same thought at the same time. “The lawyer,” we said simultaneously.
“Could it really be, though?” I bit my lip at the thought of Mr. Ransome being the would-be murderer—he’d acted a little funny when I’d first walked into his office but had seemed sincerely glad for me at the hearing today. “What would Mr. Ransome stand to gain from my death?”
“Well…” Fenris drummed his fingers on the table, his brow furrowed in thought. “Mr. Ransome was your trustee, and if he were a truly honest man, he would not have allowed your relatives full access to your funds before the st
atutory thirteen years were over. It stands to reason that he was permitting them to do so in order to feather his own nest—confident they would not dare call him to account for any losses, since they were also in the wrong.”
“And now that the Mages Guild is planning to do an audit…” I murmured, my eyes going wide, “all of this will come to light, if it’s true.”
And Mr. Ransome’s goose would be well and truly cooked.
“Penalties for dishonest lawyers and trustees are very steep,” Fenris said, “starting with disbarment and going all the way up to execution, depending on the severity of the breach. Mr. Ransome has a very good reason indeed for wanting you dead.”
Chills raced along my skin, raising the hair along my arms. “I’m still having trouble believing that it’s him,” I said, shaking my head. By the Lady, Mr. Ransome had known me since I was in pigtails, and he’d never struck me as particularly sinister, or at all dangerous. Could his heart really be so cold that he’d have no qualms about killing me?
“I know it’s an unpleasant thought,” Fenris said, “but until the killer is caught, we can’t rule him out. In fact, now that the case has been resolved in your favor, you are in more danger than ever.” He straightened in his chair, his expression grim. “Ransome only has days, or even hours, to make this go away and save his career.”
Those words were like an icy bucket of water dumped straight onto my head. Fenris snapped his fingers to conjure an ether pigeon and quickly gave it a brief message to the Chief Mage. Since pigeons could not remember more than three sentences, he merely pointed out Ransome’s possible motive and asked for an investigation. I blinked as the magical bird disappeared in a shower of blue sparks—I hadn’t seen one of those since I was a child, as they had mostly gone out of fashion with the invention of the telephone.
After we’d finished eating, Fenris immediately herded me back to the hotel. “Until the danger is past,” he vowed, his grip tight on the steering wheel, “we will stay out of harm’s way. I will not allow a single hair on your head to be harmed.”
“You are not going to confront Ransome yourself and knock him down?” I teased. In truth, I was glad he was not the type to act first and think later, like so many men of my acquaintance.
Fenris smiled. “I would love to do that, but we need to wait for the proof, and I’m no accountant—that is a job for professionals. In the meantime, your safety is infinitely more important than confronting the man with our suspicions.”
Part of me wanted to point out that since I now was legally an adult, I was perfectly capable of deciding for myself. But in truth, it was enjoyable to have someone who I cared about be so protective. So I allowed him to take charge, not even protesting when he told me to pack my things.
“Where are we going?” I asked as I dragged my suitcase, now filled to the brim with all my extra belongings, out into the hall. “We’re not leaving Innarta, are we?”
“No,” Fenris said, and for the first time today, he smiled. “We’re going on an island cruise.”
22
Fenris
At first, Mina had protested when I told her we were taking a short getaway. Though she still wasn’t entirely convinced Ransome was responsible for the attacks on her, she claimed she wanted to be there when he was either arrested or exonerated. But I managed to convince her to leave this to the Mages Guild—a guilty mage with nothing to lose was too dangerous to face down, and we had no idea of Mr. Ransome’s magical potential.
“Let the Chief Mage do his job for a change,” I suggested, taking her in my arms. “It will take his accountants at least a week to scrutinize the books, after all these years. Why not enjoy ourselves in the meantime?”
And so here we are, I thought as I watched Mina stand at the prow of the yacht I’d rented. Backlit by the setting sun, she was breathtaking, her hair streaming out behind her in ribbons of gold, and the skirts of her teal sundress whipping about her lithe form like a banner.
Unable to resist, I came up and put my arms around her from behind, nuzzling her neck. She giggled a little, leaning into me. As I inhaled her sweet scent, I couldn’t help but wish I could capture this moment in a bottle, so I might take it out and look at it every time I felt a little melancholy in the future. Mina was the star I looked up to every day—not a brilliantly blazing one, like Sunaya, whose fire one had to be able to withstand to get close. No, Mina’s light was a gentle one, something I could follow when I was lost or just needed an anchor to ground myself with.
When I was with her, I felt like I was at home.
“I love you,” I told her, pressing a kiss against her jawline.
Slowly, she turned in my arms. “I thought you might never say it,” she said. She kissed me softly, a feather light touch of lips against lips that nevertheless ignited that heat inside me. “Are you done keeping me at arm’s length, then?”
“Yes.” I’d abandoned my old-mage guise—it was my own strong arms that wrapped around her, my own chest that rested against hers, that could feel her heartbeat fluttering behind her ribcage. “But before you tell me whether you return my feelings, let’s have dinner, and I’ll answer anything you want to know about me.”
After I led her down to the cozy yet elegant dining area, I served up a dinner of steaks and asparagus, cooked quickly yet perfectly with a few culinary spells I’d picked up.
“I had no idea mages used magic to cook food,” Mina said around a mouthful of steak. She swallowed and made a pleased noise in the back of her throat. “This is delicious.”
I smiled. “Most mages don’t,” I told her, “but in my former life, I studied all sorts of magic. One day, I came across an old spellbook in a used bookstore that covered a range of culinary magic. I never mastered the whole thing—I had servants to take care of the cooking, after all—but I did learn enough to prepare a few favorite dishes for myself.”
Mina laughed a little. “Servants,” she said, shaking her head. “I forgot already that you used to be a Chief Mage.”
“That man is gone, and perhaps it is for the best.” I said wryly. “I bear no resemblance to the man I once was.”
“Well, of course not, now that you’ve been changed into a shifter. That must have been scary.”
I winced. “It would be better if you forgot about that part, or at least never mentioned it again.” I had not told her who had saved me—what Iannis had done was highly illegal, and the fewer who knew about it, the safer he would be.
“I don’t think I mentioned who precipitated my downfall, did I?”
Mina shook her head. “No, just that it was your Finance Secretary.”
My lips twisted into a bitter smile. “It was Gelisia Dorax,” I said, and Mina’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ of surprise. “I told you earlier that we were acquaintances, but it was more than that—she was my Finance Secretary. It was she who found out I had let the child escape by spying on me, hoping to find some dirt on her boss. She denounced me, brought down the anger of the government on my head. She did offer to turn a blind eye if I’d marry her and then step down in her favor,” I added with a scoff, “but I knew even then I’d rather die.”
“No wonder you were so upset when we first saw her,” Mina exclaimed. “I’m not sure I could have stood to be in her presence if I’d been in your position, knowing she was responsible for ruining your life!”
“Well,” I said, lifting Mina’s hand so I could press a kiss against her knuckles. “I wouldn’t say my life has been ruined…merely altered. And it has brought me to you, so I can’t regret it.”
Mina blushed. “You are far too good to me,” she said, cupping my cheek with the hand I’d kissed. “You are unique, and I’ll never meet another man who will understand and support me the way you do.”
“Does that mean you love me, then?” I teased, and she rose to come and sit in my lap. My heart began to beat faster as she twined her slender arms around my neck and leaned in.
“I do, very much indeed, and I don�
��t want you to ever again suggest that we can’t be together,” she declared. “We are both smart, resourceful people—if anyone can figure it out, we can.”
She kissed me fiercely, and I growled into her mouth, finally letting go of my last reservations. She was mine, and I hers. My hands dove into her hair and I entangled my fingers in the silken length as I kissed her hard and deep, greedily drinking in the taste of her. The tiny noise of pleasure she made in the back of her throat stoked the flames that were building inside me, and I ached to strip her sundress off and take her right here on the table.
But that wouldn’t do, not for the first time that I would take her fully.
I was just about to stand up and take her to bed when she pulled back and yanked off my tunic belt. “Off,” she demanded, tugging at my clothes, and the fiery blaze of passion in her eyes made it impossible to deny her anything. Lifting my arms, I let her remove my tunic, and she began kissing her way down my chest, sinking down on her knees until she was kneeling on the floor between my legs.
“By the Lady,” I groaned as she took me into her hot, silken mouth. The feel of her tongue sliding along my length was nearly enough to make me come right then and there. I fisted a hand in her hair to try to pull her away, but then she began to suck, and I couldn’t make myself do it. The sight of her on her knees, with my cock in her mouth, was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen. She felt so good that I couldn’t stop her if my life depended on it.
“Mmm,” she said in encouragement as I subconsciously began to rock my hips into her. I tried to control my motions, not wanting to hurt her, but she dug her fingers into my rear, refusing to allow me to hold back. I surged forward, coming in her mouth with a roar so loud I was certain it could be heard from the mainland.
“I’ve always wondered what that would be like,” Mina said with a feline smile as she pulled back. “I’ll definitely have to do it again.”