“The wedding is still over two moons away,” Iannis said. “We may yet hear from him before then.”
Yes, but that didn’t mean Fenris would return to Solantha. And I couldn’t blame him. The Federal Director of Security, Garrett Toring, had come dangerously close to figuring out the truth—if I hadn’t convinced him that Fenris was Polar ar’Tollis’s son, rather than Polar in permanent disguise, he would likely still be on his manhunt right now. Maybe I could convince Fenris to come back if I told him about that cover story, but it was hardly safe to talk about such deadly secrets over the phone.
“I’d like to take a turn,” I announced, standing up. Maybe Fenris couldn’t be with us, but his memories and knowledge were right here, in my head, and I would honor him tonight by making full use of them.
“Of course, Miss Baine,” Lady Porgillas said, gesturing to the makeshift stage that had been set up. “We all would love to see what Lord Iannis has been teaching you.”
A murmur rippled through the room, which I ignored as I took the stage. Everybody knew that masters and apprentices weren’t supposed to engage in an amorous relationship, and Iannis and I had smashed that rule into the dust. Judging from that gossip earlier, people were wondering if the apprenticeship was just a pretext. Well, I’d show them.
“Lord Iannis and I have been practicing weather magic lately,” I announced to the room as I lifted my arms. Several people shifted in their chairs at that, and I gave them a fierce smile as I quietly spoke a complicated spell under my breath. The air in the room stirred to life, a mere breeze at first, but as the magic built, it quickly grew into a raging windstorm. The crowd gasped, ducking down as the chandeliers began to swing wildly. Two curtains were torn down from the windows, and several women shrieked as pins were torn from their hair, their careful coiffures undone by the wild winds. Platters rattled, silverware clattered to the floor, and several wineglasses were toppled, sending rivers of red down the white tablecloths. A veritable tornado had invaded the elegant dining room. It felt amazing, and from the alarmed expressions around me, I was playing right into the cliché of the fierce, dangerous shifter.
Iannis’s eyes widened in warning, and I grinned at him right before snapping my fingers. The storm abruptly stopped, and with another spoken Word and a wave of my hand, the room was put back to normal. The crowd murmured in amazement as the dishes righted themselves, the wine glasses refilled, and the curtains once again hung from their rods, intact and untorn. Not a single hair was out of place on a lady’s head, not one thing in the room broken. Putting the room back together was far more difficult than destroying it, as any trained mage would appreciate, but with Fenris’s knowledge and my own magic, I’d done it flawlessly.
I bowed, and after a split second, the room erupted into applause. Iannis’s eyes were twinkling as I rejoined him at the table, and I kissed him on the cheek before leaning over to meet Lady Porgillas’s shocked face.
“I apologize if I frightened you,” I said, loud enough that my voice carried. “I’m afraid I don’t quite know my own strength sometimes.”
“Oh, no need to apologize,” the lady said, waving my words away with a delicate hand. “You fixed all the damage, which is quite impressive in and of itself. You are a fine teacher, Lord Iannis.”
We took our leave shortly after that, thanking Lady Porgillas for a highly interesting evening. As we made our goodbyes, several of the guests gave me anxious or leery looks, and I hid another smile. Word of this incident would quickly spread in their circles, and maybe at the next party the mages would think twice about insulting my magical prowess behind my back.
2
I breathed a sigh of relief as the carriage set off for our long ride back to Solantha Palace. Part of me wished we could have taken the steamcar, but these silly four-horse carriages were traditional when it came to attending high-society events. And besides, the ride gave me some downtime with Iannis without anybody else around to interrupt.
“I thought this evening would never end,” I said as I leaned my head against his shoulder. “The sooner we get through the next few weeks, the better.”
“I do understand how you feel about these parties,” Iannis said lightly, rubbing my shoulder. “They are not my favorite activity either. But in reality, they only account for a fraction of your time. You’ve been able to get quite a bit done, haven’t you?”
I nodded. “There’s still a lot of work to be done on reforming the Enforcers Guild,” I said. I’d presented my commission report a few weeks ago, and the recommendations were being implemented even now, albeit with quite a bit of foot-dragging and teeth-gnashing. “The veterans in the Guild aren’t exactly thanking me either. They’re still clinging to their stupid sense of entitlement, and hate that the wages of the younger enforcers have been raised more than their own.”
“That’s not surprising,” Iannis observed. “Many people would rather pass up a raise than see somebody else get a bigger one.”
“Well that’s just stupid,” I said, shaking my head. “And they still are not taking the new unit for fraud and financial crimes seriously. Without bounties dangling in front of their noses, a case is just not on their radar.”
“Nothing worth doing was ever accomplished overnight,” Iannis said. “It will take time to root out the corruption and bad habits, and it is especially difficult when top management is refusing to acknowledge the size of the problem.”
“You’re telling me,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll have to keep an eye on them in the meantime, and keep pressure on Captain Skonel to prevent backsliding.”
We fell silent for a while, and I brooded about the problem for a bit longer. I’d gone from being the underdog at the Enforcers Guild to the unofficial top dog, and while some of the enforcers appreciated my efforts to even out the system, it was still a largely thankless job. I could see how leaders and politicians could easily become jaded fighting for people who didn’t want or appreciate their help. It was a good thing that I had my friends to rely on, or I might have torn my hair out a long time ago.
“That was quite a show you put on tonight,” Iannis said, interrupting my train of thought.
“Well, you did tell me that I could use higher-level magic,” I said. “I think I made a good impression on the ones that still think I’m a weakling, don’t you?”
“Yes, and you embarrassed that group of ladies tonight as well,” Iannis said dryly. “While I appreciated the joke, and don’t doubt those women thoroughly deserved it, such pranks are hardly worthy of you, Sunaya.”