“That would be astronomical.” Fenris’s thick, black brows shot up. “And at zero percent interest? That certainly doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“No, it doesn’t.” I sighed, relieved that Fenris agreed with me. Finances weren’t really my strong suit, and I’d been afraid I was just missing something. “So, where do you think they’re getting that gold from?” As far as I knew, the money in circulation was produced by the Mages Guilds of each individual Federation state. “Is someone siphoning money from the Guilds?”
“I don’t know how that would be possible.” Fenris drummed his fingers on the table in thought, earning more dirty looks from the mages. But this time he ignored them. “The Mages Guilds in each state are only allowed to transmute a certain amount of coin every year. The quantity varies from state to state depending upon the local economy as well as Federation regulations, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is a strict limit. If such large amounts of money were to go missing it would not go unnoticed.”
“But don’t you think it’s possible one or more of the mages in charge of transmuting the coin could be making extra and setting it aside?”
“That would be high treason indeed.” Fenris scowled. “The mage families have all pledged not to transmute gold, which is one of the laws laid down in the Great Accord, and in exchange they receive a handsome share of the year’s allotment.”
“Ugh. That is so unfair.” I rolled my eyes, disgusted at the amount of privilege mages got simply for being born. “So in exchange for not producing anything, mages get handouts?”
“Yes, but they are required to spend it, and are not allowed to hoard more than ten percent of their yearly allotment.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better.”
“Sunaya, I’m not here to have a political debate. I’m just stating the facts.”
“Right.” I sucked in a breath through my nostrils, and then let it go. There was no point in arguing about this – Fenris hadn’t made the law, after all, but I was surprised that he wasn’t as incensed about it as I was, being a shifter himself.
Maybe he’s just come to terms with it.
Huh. Well if that ever happened to me, I hoped someone did me a favor and put me out of my misery. I would never be okay with the current status quo.
“Fine,” I finally said. “I get it. The mages don’t want to risk losing their yearly allowance. But if they’re not doing this, then who is?”
“I might have an idea about that.” Fenris stood up, grabbing the book he’d been reading. “Here, let’s go somewhere more private.”
I followed him to a small table in the back, where no one else seemed to be sitting. Fenris settled into the chair across from me, then pulled a large money pouch from his belt. He emptied the pouch, sending gold, pandanum and bronze coins spilling across the table. I snagged one of them, envy twinging in my gut – clearly Fenris got way more of an allowance than I did. I guess it paid to be the Chief Mage’s right-hand shifter, instead of just a lowly apprentice.
“What are we looking for, exactly?”
“Traces of magical residue,” Fenris answered, picking up one of the coins and sniffing it. “These coins are all supposed to be transmuted by the Guild, and if that’s the case then they should all smell like any object that’s been changed by spellcraft.”
Nodding, I held the coin to my nose. Sure enough, I detected a faint whiff of magic. Fenris and I went through the others, and it wasn’t until I hit my tenth one that I noticed anything different.
“Huh,” I muttered, sniffing the gold coin in my hand just to be sure. “This one doesn’t smell like magic.”
“Let me see.” Eyes narrowed, Fenris held out a hand for the coin, and I pressed it into his palm. He sniffed it as well, and his lips thinned. “This coin wasn’t produced by the Mages Guild.”
“Then where was it produced?’
Fenris shrugged. “I can’t say what foundry was used, but the metal was mined naturally, not transmuted, which is illegal under Federation law. It is also not easy, as most of the known mines are located on inaccessible tribal lands.”
“Oh.” My eyebrows arched at the implication. There were a number of indigenous tribes scattered across the Northia Federation, remnants of the civilization that used to exist here before people from across the Eastern Ocean had migrated over here, and taken over large parts of their lands. Mining was shunned by these tribes as they saw little to no use for precious stones and metals, and most of them guarded their territory fiercely. This benefitted the Federation, since they wanted to keep the mines off limits, and their citizens well away from temptation.
“Let’s keep looking, and place any other such coins in a pile over there.” Fenris placed the coin in his hand on the far end of the table, signifying where the pile should start.
By the time we finished going through all of Fenris’s coins, we had small stack of illegal gold coins – five in total, out of eighteen. The number was alarming, and I wondered just how long this would have had to be going on for this many of the coins to get into circulation.
“Well, at least we know why the bank doesn’t seem to have a problem giving away all this money,” Fenris said, his lips thinning. “It’s counterfeit.”
“Is it?” I asked dubiously, holding up a gold coin. “I mean, it’s made out of the same stuff, isn’t it? Technically it should be even more valuable since it’s the real thing and not mage-made. Not to mention it would still cost a pretty penny to produce, from the mining costs to the actual minting. I still don’t see how banks could just afford to give this stuff away.”
Fenris scowled. “Maybe so, but production of money like this is prohibited by law, and therefore the term ‘counterfeit’ still applies.” He shook his head, chagrined. “The Mages Guild should be checking on this sort of thing, and regularly.”
“I guess that’s just one more thing to add to the list,” I said dryly. It would be a lot easier if they hired a shifter to weed out counterfeits, but I doubted they would listen to me if I suggested it. Knowing my luck the stingy bastards might dump the job on me instead.
“Indeed.” Fenris jumped to his feet, eyes sparking with ire, and I blinked. I’d never seen him this incensed before. “I will speak to Iannis about this at once. These pesky humans are getting out of hand, and this abuse needs to be stopped immediately. Good morning, Sunaya.”
And with that, he strode out of the room, leaving me staring after him.
13
I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Mages Guild slogging through paperwork, so by the time I walked out the front doors of the Palace I was almost looking forward to the Shifter Royale. Maybe if I was going to watch mages instead of shifters I would have been more enthusiastic. It would probably be educational to watch a couple of mage duels, actually. But even if I wasn’t thrilled about attending the Royale itself, I was looking forward to the opportunity of finding out whether or not the missing shifters were ending up in these illegal fights.
I parked my bike near my apartment, then changed into a tight black halter dress and a pair of ankle boots – the less I had to change myself for the illusion, the less magic I would have to expend. I then hoofed it over to the Enforcer’s Guild, which was less than twelve blocks from where I lived. By the time I got there, Lakin and Annia were already standing by the front doors, chatting amicably enough. I arched my brows at the sight of the huge purple and white steamcar parked in the middle of the lot, ten feet from where they were standing.
“Well look at you,” Lakin murmured as he caught sight of me, his reddish-yellow eyes looking me up and down. They lingered on the ample amount of cleavage I was showing, and I felt a blush sting my cheeks. “You clean up well.”
“Thanks.” I turned toward Annia, hoping to change the subject – encouraging Lakin’s flattery really wasn’t a good idea. “You borrowed your mom’s car?”
Annia shrugged. “I figured it was easier than having all three of us show up on s
teambikes.” She looped an arm around my waist, grinning a little as she tugged me close. “Besides, I don’t want your hair getting messed up for our second date.”
Lakin’s brows shot up as I rolled my eyes. “Is there something I’m missing?” he asked.
“I had the bright idea that we should pretend to be a lesbian couple when we went to buy the tickets, so that it wouldn’t be so weird that two girls were walking into a gambling club by ourselves.” I swatted Annia’s hand away. “Since so many people saw us, we have to keep up the ruse.”
“Well that explains the dress,” Lakin commented, and Annia raised her brows at the hint of jealousy in his voice. She gave me a questioning look, but dropped it when I jerked my head to the side emphatically. This was work, not a date, and we would play our roles accordingly. Annia had certainly done her part – she was wearing a biker’s jacket, jeans and kick-ass boots, and her long hair was slicked back from her forehead, revealing a pair of small steel hoops that winked at the top of her left ear. No one was going to mistake her for a girly-girl.
We hopped into the steamcar, Annia and I taking the front seats and Lakin in the back. I waited until we were across the bridge before I put on my illusion, turning myself into the petite blonde again.
“Whoa,” Lakin said when I turned around in my seat to look at him. “That’s really, really weird.”
“Yeah, well now it’s your turn.” I reached for him. “Give me your hand.”
Lakin recoiled. “What?”
I huffed impatiently. “You can’t go into an illegal shifter fighting ring as a shifter. I have to put a spell on you to make you look and smell human.”
Lakin glared at my outstretched hand. “I’m not comfortable with having spells cast on me.”
“Fine.” I turned to Annia. “Stop the car.”
“What?” Lakin demanded.
I twisted around in my seat to pin him with a glare. “If you’re not going to do this, then I can’t take you with us. This may be your investigation, Lakin, but if you walk in there as you are now you’re going to fuck the whole thing up and then we’ll never find those missing shifters.”
Lakin glared at me for a long moment, but I didn’t back down. I understood his fear of magic, but I couldn’t allow that to jeopardize our recon mission. If he wasn’t going to play by the rules, then he was going to have to go. Even if that meant I had to toss him into the bay.
Just when I thought that maybe Annia really was going to have to stop the car, Lakin finally lowered his gaze. “Alright,” he said, holding out his hand. “I trust you.”
“Thank you.” A heavy weight settled onto my shoulders with those words – trust was a heavy burden to bear. Clasping my hand in his, I closed my eyes briefly, envisioning the illusion I wanted Lakin to wear. It wasn’t strictly necessary to hold his hand, of course – magic could be done from a distance, without direct contact – but it was a little easier. A flow of warmth traveled from his hand to mine, but I ignored it, focusing on the spell as I murmured the words.
When I opened my eyes, the Lakin I knew was gone.
“Okay. What do I look like?” Lakin patted his hands over his face, and his eyes widened as he felt the softer cheekbones and the triangular jaw. “By Magorah, Sunaya. What did you do to me?”
Annia laughed as she eyed him from the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry,” she called, her eyes twinkling as I dug a compact mirror out of my purse and handed it to Lakin. “You’re fine.”
Lakin pursed his lips – which were fuller than his own – and narrowed his new cornflower-blue eyes as he studied his reflection. “You’ve made my face rounder, and my hair is black,” he muttered.
“I changed your clothes too,” I commented, and he jumped.
“What!’ He looked down, noticing that he no longer sported his long leather coat. Instead he wore a green corduroy jacket, and loafers instead of boots. I’d left his shirt and jeans the same – they’d been pretty generic.
“Come on,” I said, rolling my eyes at his outrage. “That coat you wear is really distinctive. I don’t want to leave any chance that someone will put two and two together. Your coat is still on your body, and when I lift the spell you’ll see it again.”
Lakin just shook his head at me. “I can’t get over this,” he said. “I smell the magic around me, so I know you’ve done something, but the fact that I’m looking down at myself and I don’t see myself –” he broke off. “If I think about this too much, it’s going to drive me crazy.”
“Well don’t,” I suggested, turning around so I could settle back into my seat. “Think happy thoughts, and enjoy the sunset while it’s still here.”
I let out a little sigh as I looked out the window, my mood sinking – but this time it had nothing to do with the Shifter Royale, and everything to do with the way Lakin had reacted to my magic. Over the last few months, I’d come to realize that magic was just as much a part of me as my beast, and that in order to have control of myself I had to accept both sides. Which meant that whoever I chose to let into my life had to be okay with both sides too.
Lakin had been nothing but kind and helpful to me – a refreshing change from the way the rest of the Jaguar Clan treated me. But I couldn’t ignore how he instinctively recoiled from magic, just like almost every other full-blooded shifter. There was no way that I could be with Lakin, not beyond a one-night stand, and I didn’t do one-night stands with people I worked with. Not unless he outgrew his fear of magic, and at his age that was highly unlikely.
So I couldn’t have Lakin, and I couldn’t have Iannis. Who did that leave me with? I’d yet to come across any other mage I could tolerate, and Lakin’s fear of magic was the same reason I’d never gotten seriously involved with other shifters – there was no way to have a long-term relationship with a shifter and keep my magic a secret. Probably my best chance at finding a mate would be if I ran into another shifter-mage hybrid like myself… and seeing how rare we were, I doubted that was ever going to happen.
Yup. I definitely didn’t have to worry about Melantha cursing my progeny, because I was never going to have any.
“So,” Annia said as she turned onto the main road leading to Turain. “When were you going to tell us that you spent part of the other day hanging on the underside of Firegate Bridge and defusing a bomb?”
“Huh?” I jerked myself out of my melancholy thoughts to stare at Annia.
She regarded me with a dry look. “A couple of Enforcers saw a black panther clinging to one of the beams beneath the bridge. We all heard about the attack on the Bridge and how the Chief Mage stopped it, but nobody in the news mentioned that you were involved. And neither did you.”
“You helped the Chief Mage defuse the bomb beneath the Bridge?” Lakin’s voice was incredulous. “How did you manage that in beast form?”
“Teamwork.” I kept it at that, remembering my promise to Iannis that I wouldn’t talk about the strange magic he’d used to temporarily merge our souls together. “I didn’t think to mention it because I was distracted by the case.”
“But Naya, you’re a hero,” Lakin protested. “Don’t you think you deserve some recognition for stopping a Resistance attack?”
“Honestly Lakin, that’s the last thing I need. The Resistance, according to my cousin Rylan, is already unhappy that I got involved in the first place. If the papers make a thing about it, I’m sure they would feel obligated to retaliate against me publicly somehow.”
“Hmph.” Annia scowled at that. “I never liked the Resistance’s methods. The more I hear about them, the more they sound like power-hungry terrorists. I’m not convinced we’d be better off with them at the helm than the mages.”
My eyebrows flew up at the vehemence in Annia’s voice. “I didn’t realize you’d taken such a hard stance against the Resistance.” Most humans were fans of the movement – they were better off than shifters, but they still didn’t like the fact that mages held most of the power.
“Yeah, well I sta
rted looking into them a bit more ever since Noria declared that she wants to run off and join up with the local Resistance army.” Annia tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “I’ve tried talking to her about it, but she doesn’t listen. I may have to have Mom chain her up at night to keep her from leaving.”
“I’m honestly not sure even that would work.” Shaking my head, I glanced out the window at the mountains flanking the road on either side of us, which looked like they’d caught fire in the light of the dying sun. Guilt squirmed in my chest – Noria had initially wanted to be an Enforcer, and Annia and I had both tried to dissuade her from that path because it was a dangerous line of work, and also because as a talented techno-geek we knew Noria was capable of so much more. But when I’d been arrested and nearly executed for possessing illegal magic, Noria had been exposed to the corruption in the Enforcer’s Guild, and decided the Resistance was the only group that had the power to right the scales. I couldn’t help but feel that it was my fault Noria wanted to join the Resistance – if I hadn’t fucked up and exposed my magic to everyone, she might still want to be an Enforcer. As much as the job sucked sometimes, it was better than joining a terrorist rebel army. At least being an Enforcer didn’t make you an enemy of the state, and though the system was flawed you still had the potential to do a lot of good.
“Yeah, well I’m planning on talking to her about the attack on the bridge the next time I see her,” Annia declared. “Maybe that will knock some sense into her.”
I sure hoped so. Because Noria was going to be finishing college soon, and if we didn’t find something else to divert her attention to she might be gone by the time next semester came around.
We arrived in Turain just as night began to fully settle over the sky, and it took us a few minutes to find the address that Silon had given to Annia when she’d bought the tickets. Eventually, we rolled into a lot on which a large grey warehouse sat, the windows blacked out or boarded up. There were already a number of steambikes and steamcars parked in the lot, and I could make out a bouncer near the door, checking tickets and ushering prospective spectators inside.
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