“It’s Director Chen, sir. May I come in?”
Fenris opened the door, and I didn’t bother to hide my scowl as Lalia Chen, the Director of the Mage’s Guild and Iannis’s right-hand woman, stepped into the training room. Her red silk robes flowed around her tall, lithe form as she moved, a stark contrast to her ivory skin. She’d left her long, fine black hair unbound today, allowing it to flow around her oval face, and it swung forward in a dark curtain as she bowed. Her perfect, polished look only served to remind me how unrefined I was, and the sparks of jealousy she always incited in my chest burst into flame before I could stomp them out.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Lord Iannis, but urgent news has come up regarding the Convention. I’m putting together an emergency Council meeting to go over the revised agenda they sent in, and we need you to be there.”
“Of course.” The Chief Mage inclined his head to her, then turned back to me. “I’m afraid we will have to end our lesson early tonight, Miss Baine.”
What else is new? I thought, anger bubbling up inside me. I was getting really tired of Director Chen cutting my lessons short, and I opened my mouth to tell Iannis as much. Yes, the lessons were frustrating, but dammit I needed him! And the part of me that wanted him couldn’t help but hurt every time he left me hanging like this.
But then I glanced sideways at Director Chen, and the sight of her face, so calm, so serene, stopped me in my tracks. If I started whining right now, I would only look like a childish fool in comparison to her, which was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t need another reason to feel inferior around her.
“Sure,” I said with a shrug, as if I didn’t care one way or the other. “I get that you’ve got a government to run. Go do your thing.”
“We’ll resume this lesson tomorrow night.”
The two mages swept out of the room, leaving me alone with Fenris. As soon as the door closed behind him, I let the mask slip from my face, allowing the anger in my heart to shoot back up to the surface.
“Sunaya,” Fenris said, noticing the murderous look on my face. “You shouldn’t be so angry with Iannis. He’s never had an apprentice for as long as I’ve known him, and it’s a big adjustment for him to find time to train you while also running the state.”
“I get that, Fenris, but at the very least he could actually try to stick around for the whole hour he’s penciled me in for,” I snapped. “We only have lessons three times a week, and Director Chen has already taken him off to do other things several times in the past fortnight. And he wonders why I’m not making enough progress!” I threw up my hands.
“It won’t be like this forever, you know.” Fenris sighed, running a hand across his short, dark beard as he cut his yellow gaze away from me. He was a wolf-shifter, and though he couldn’t have looked more different from Iannis with his shorter, stockier build and his dark tunics, the two of them were fast friends. Because of that, Fenris’s commands had weight, which had been a huge help to me when I’d first arrived at the Palace as he’d used his influence to ensure I got enough food and to soften Iannis up towards me. “Iannis wants to keep a close eye on Director Chen after the fiasco with Argon Chartis. Once he’s certain he can trust her, he’ll be able to take more time away from the Mages Guild and focus on your training.”
“I guess that makes sense,” I muttered. Argon Chartis was the former Director of the Mage’s Guild, and he’d been doing a crappy job, shuffling off matters that he felt didn’t merit his attention, and hiding problems from the Chief Mage to make him think everything was under control. Truth be told, I was happy Iannis was rolling up his sleeves and digging into the corruption. With any luck things would start to improve for shifters and humans around the city.
But still, after losing Roanas, my mentor, to the silver murders a few months ago, I was feeling a little bereft. And though Iannis certainly wasn’t a father figure to me as Roanas had been, I was still his charge, and it was frustrating that I couldn’t rely on him.
“I still don’t see why he can’t keep his appointments with me or see them through all the way,” I groused. “Can’t he just tell Chen to wait another half-hour? I mean, she should know better than to butt in on my lessons when they’re so infrequent to begin with.”