Betrayed by Magic: A New Adult Fantasy novel (The Baine Chronicles Book 5)

by Jasmine Walt

  “Yes, so what is it?” he asked irritably as he straightened up from his desk. His eyes widened as he caught sight of me, and he stumbled back a step. “You!” he shouted, pointing a gnarled finger at me. “No, you cannot be in my house. You must leave at once!”

  “You know who I am,” I guessed, narrowing my eyes as I stepped over a stack of books to close the distance between us. “You know why I’m here.”

  “I am not interested in speaking with you,” Ballos said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I am in the middle of some very important work.”

  “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” I pulled out a chair from in front of his desk. It was piled high with books, and I lifted them, intending to dump them somewhere so I could have a seat. “I’m parking my butt right here, and I won’t move until you tell me about my father.”

  “Don’t touch those!” Ballos barked, his paper-white cheeks reddening. He spoke a Word, waving his hand, and the books levitated out of my hands. I sat down on the chair as he guided them over to a patch of empty space on one of the other desks. When he turned back to me, he looked half-resigned, half-resentful. “I read about your engagement to Lord Iannis in the papers, and perhaps I should have expected some repercussions from that. But I did not expect you to have the audacity to show up on my doorstep yourself.” He looked down his hooked nose at me.

  “Yeah, well, I guess you haven’t heard the stories about me,” I said, resisting the urge to be belligerent and kick my feet up on his desk. “I’m pretty audacious.”

  “Clearly.” The old mage sniffed, then looked above my head at Rylan. “I suppose you won’t leave until I tell you the sordid tale, but this young man must wait outside in the parlor. I do not wish for him to overhear our conversation.”

  I turned in my chair to meet Rylan’s scowling face. “Go,” I told him. “I’ll fill you in later. He’s more likely to open up if we do as he says.”

  “I feel like this is becoming a pattern,” Rylan grumbled, but he nodded, then left the room. The butler closed the door behind him, leaving Ballos and me alone in the messy study.

  Ballos carefully rolled up the parchment and returned it to its storage tube, then set it aside so he could sit down. “All right,” he said, meeting my gaze. “Ask your questions.”

  “What do you know about my father’s affair with my mother?”

  “Not very much,” the old mage said stiffly. “Haman was—and still is—a young mage. He was only fifty years old when he came to study under me. So it was not surprising that he spent his evenings gallivanting about the city. I always thought he was socializing with other young mages in society, seeing as how he is of noble birth, but as it turns out, he was spending time in the seedier areas of Solantha.”

  I gritted my teeth at that, unsure if he was implying that my mother was a whore, or that everything outside the Mages Quarter was ‘seedy’. But I decided not to press the issue, or point out that he had no room to talk with the dilapidated state of his own house. Doing so would only derail the conversation and make him less likely to want to talk to me.

  “Okay, but you knew that my father had an affair that resulted in a child, or you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did when I walked in,” I insisted.

  “I did not find out about the affair until after Haman had returned to Castalis,” Ballos replied. “Your mother came to my doorstep asking for Haman’s address, because she was carrying his child. I remember the day well, because it was the first time a shifter had ever come to call upon me. I was so startled that I let her in, and she told me how Haman had been seeing her as a human male. Apparently, he’d disguised both his looks and his scent, which only confirms my theory that he was infatuated. I don’t know why he would have gone to such pains otherwise.” His voice was thick with disgust.

  “I see.” I frowned as a question popped into my head, and I voiced it aloud before thinking better of it. “How is it that they were able to conceive? Even during heat, it is hard for shifters to get pregnant—we usually have to take a special potion to maximize our chances. It doesn’t sound like my mother did that.”

  “I suppose not,” Haman said, shrugging. “The pregnancy was unexpected, and initially unwelcome, from what she said. She was very dismayed to learn that Haman wasn’t here, after going through considerable trouble to track him down. She was angry at his deception, for she might have used stronger protection had she had any idea he was a very powerful mage. That can make a difference, and there might have been a full moon.” He shrugged. “I am hardly an expert though.”

  “No, that makes sense.” The full moon boosted a shifter’s power, and it helped increase the chances of conception; that was why the heat always coincided with a full moon. Coupled with my father’s mage powers… oh. Iannis was a powerful mage too. I would have to remember to track down some kind of potion or spell to prevent pregnancy the next time I was in heat, as it would create a huge scandal if I got pregnant before Iannis and I were married.

  Of course, the idea of bearing and raising children with Iannis was a whole other topic that needed to be thought about. But now was not the time for it, so I firmly pushed it aside.

  “So, did you give her my father’s address?” I demanded. “And did they get in touch? Does my father know about me?”

  “I did tell her your father’s address,” Haman said. “Given his family’s prominence in Castalis, it is common knowledge. But I highly doubt Haman knows anything about you.”

  “What!” I nearly came out of my chair. “Are you saying she decided not to tell him?”

  “I convinced her not to,” Haman declared. “I explained that if she approached Haman, it would create a terrible scandal. His engagement would be broken, and his entire family would be disgraced. Of course, your mother was very surprised to hear this, and that he was engaged. For her, it had just been one of the usual ruts that shifter females engage in to get through their heat.”

  That note of disgust entered his voice again, and I wanted to punch him in the face. Who was he to judge us? Did his race not create us to be like this?

  “In any case, your mother did not want anything particular from him; she simply felt you ought to know your father.”

  “Clearly, you didn’t feel the same,” I said, bitterness creeping into my voice.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Ballos protested. “I was doing your mother a favor! Your father might have taken you away from her, to Castalis, and hidden you away in shame. More likely, given their attitude to shifters, he would have repudiated you altogether. As a mage-shifter hybrid, you would not have had much of a future anyway, and I told her so.”

  I opened my mouth, anger burning like hot coals in my stomach, then closed it. What the hell could I possibly say to that? Ballos was right—all of those things were very possible futures for me, had my mother told Haman about my existence. But still, what if there was a chance he would have loved me? After all, Ballos seemed to think my father had been infatuated with my mother. Surely, there had been a chance.

  “If my father doesn’t know that I exist,” I said slowly, curling and uncurling my fists in my lap, “then who put the binding on my magic?”

  “I did,” Ballos said. “As a favor to Haman, who was one of my better students. I told your mother that in exchange for her silence regarding your father’s name, I would bind your magic so tightly that it would go undetected by the school tests. I performed the spell shortly after your birth, though it was difficult since, even then, you showed evidence of very strong talent.” Something like regret passed in his eyes. “It is too bad that you were not born a full mage—you would have made Haman proud.”

  “Yeah, pity that.” I sneered, unable to keep the scorn from my voice now. “It’s clear to me that everyone would prefer I wasn’t a hybrid.”

  “Well, it would make the lives of everyone much easier,” Ballos said with another sniff. “But I suppose what’s done is done, and you have made yourself a good
life, all things considered.”

  With nothing more to say, I gave Ballos one last look, then collected Rylan from the parlor and left. Stepping out into the last rays of the setting sun, I tried to feel grateful that, for the most part, I had come out on top. But as I stared out at the dilapidated yard, and the horizon beyond, all I could feel was sadness.

  “You okay?” Rylan asked, setting his hand on my shoulder. “Seems like you might have gotten more than you bargained for out of the old man.”

  “I just feel unwanted,” I admitted, turning to face him. “I mean, I don’t doubt that my mother loved me once I was born, but I was clearly the result of an accident.”

  “Maybe, but your entrance into our lives was wonderful all the same,” Rylan said, giving me a hug. “You’re a treasure, cousin, and judging by the entirely inappropriate looks the Chief Mage gives you when he thinks no one is looking, I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

  I laughed, smacking him on the chest. “You’re not serious!” I said, stepping back to see the twinkle of mischief in Rylan’s eyes. Iannis had an incredibly good poker face—no way would he let that sort of thing show in public.

  “One-hundred-percent serious,” Rylan said, grinning. “He’s got the hots for you.”

  “Oh, stop.” I laughed again, shaking my head as we began heading down the steps. “You’re ridiculous sometimes.”

  “Yeah, but you love me anyway. Now, where are we going next?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “I’d like to go to Com’s,” I said. “I want to tell him about what I learned, and see if he’s checked on Noria at all.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Rylan said, his face sobering as he held the gate open for me. “Her hearing is coming up pretty soon, isn’t it?”

  “In two days,” I said as we got onto my steambike. “Noria doesn’t want to see me, so I haven’t tried to visit her. Hopefully, Com has talked some sense into her.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it,” Rylan warned as I started up the engine. “She’s stubborn, that one.”

  “So you are a direct descendant of Resinah?” Comenius asked, sounding very impressed. We were sitting around his dining table along with Elania, eating pot roast—by lucky chance, Rylan and I had shown up just in time for dinner. “It’s a pity you cannot use that information publicly. I’m sure many of the mages who look down on you would be changing their tune.”

  I shrugged as I forked up a piece of carrot. “I don’t know about that,” I said. “I feel like there will always be a few who are determined to look down at me no matter what.”

  “Perhaps,” Elania said, dabbing daintily at her lips with a napkin. She looked gorgeous as usual in one of her tight, black dresses, and for once had left her long, black hair unbound. “But even so, it must give you some measure of relief to finally know your father’s identity, regardless of whether or not you ever meet him.”

  “It does,” I admitted. “It just sucks that I still have to keep this all under wraps.”

  “The one thing you can take comfort in,” Rylan said as he mopped up some of the pot roast gravy with a hunk of bread, “is that your father didn’t willfully abandon you, or put that spell on you. I know the chances are low that the two of you would get along since he comes from such an uppity family, but maybe he’s not as much of an asshole as you always thought he was.”

  “Maybe,” I conceded. I still didn’t love the fact that he’d knocked my mother up while pretending to be a human, and while engaged to another woman. But at least he’d never intended to create me as a by-blow, or abandon me to an uncertain fate.

  “I hope things will settle down somewhat now that you’ve returned,” Comenius said. “I am very grateful your rescue mission was so successful, and that no one was severely hurt. And I am relieved Noria was recovered alive from that hellhole.”

  “Me too.” I smiled, though it was a little strained. “I’m not sure if we should be celebrating yet, though. We still have that hearing to get past.”

  “Ah, yes.” Comenius sighed, his cornflower-blue eyes filling with sadness as he turned to look out the window. “I visited Noria yesterday at the Enforcers Guild to see how she was faring. She is being treated as well as can be expected in a prison cell, no doubt because she is Annia’s sister. But Noria was very pale and tight-lipped, and would not speak much.” Frustrated, he ran a hand through his ash-blond hair. “I wish we could go back to when she was simply a carefree teenager who worked in my shop downstairs.”

  “So do I,” I said, sadness pooling in my chest. I put down my fork, no longer quite so hungry, even though I’d only had one serving. “I have a feeling she’s not going to be working here again for quite a while though, Com. Likely not ever. Even if Iannis does go easy on her, she’ll still be facing some sort of punishment for what she did. He can’t just pardon her.”

  “At this point in time, we must trust Noria to determine her own fate,” Elania said sagely. “She is a strong young woman, and will handle whatever happens in her own way.”

  “That’s true,” I said, smiling a little. Noria was smart and resourceful as hell. She might be sulking now, but surely she’d figure out how to come out on top. She had to.

  “On a happier note,” Comenius said, reaching across the table to link fingers with Elania. “Elania and I have decided to move forward with our relationship. We’re to be married in three months.”

  “Married!” I nearly fell out of my chair. “In three months?”

  “Yes.” Elania beamed. “We hope to start a family soon too.”

  “That’s great.” I smiled at them both. “I’m really happy for you two.” In truth, I was also a little envious of them—they had it so easy, not having to wade through all these stupid mage customs. “Guess we’re both going to be married soon, huh?” I said to Comenius.

  “Who would have thought it?” Comenius joked, but his smile dimmed a little. “In all seriousness, you should discuss the issues regarding your family with Iannis as soon as possible. I assume he already knows and has planned for the various contingencies, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure.”

  “I will,” I promised, but honestly, there was no rush. I’d bring it up when the time was right. “By the way, what ever happened to those jewels I gave you?”

  “Oh, right!” Comenius’s face brightened. “I sold them for a good price, and bought you a used but very serviceable airship. I can arrange for you to see it tomorrow, if you’d like.”

  “Well, look at you,” Rylan teased. “First, you’re engaged to the Chief Mage of Canalo, and now you’re the proud owner of an airship. Moving up in the world.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, smiling.

  “That sounds great, Com. I’d love to see it.” I’d hire an instructor to teach me how to fly it too. After all, I didn’t want the task-force missions to be the only occasions when I got to travel around the Federation. Now that I had time and money, I wanted to see the world. And hopefully, if everything turned out well with Noria, I’d be able to take her and my other friends along with me.

  28

  I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about Noria’s upcoming trial the next morning—I was back to work in the Mages Guild as an apprentice. Now that I was Iannis’s fiancée and he’d given orders to include me in all magical tasks, I was no longer doing paperwork for the Agricultural department. I actually got to spend the morning out with one of the maintenance crews, checking on the various spells that helped regulate the city’s water and sewage systems. It was educational, if rather gross at times, and I came back with a healthy appetite.

  Unfortunately, Fenris wasn’t available to tutor me in Loranian in the afternoon—he had an appointment somewhere. So I found myself in my rooms, studying my primer and getting bored out of my mind that I wasn’t doing any actual spellcraft.

  “Screw this,” I said, closing the book and tossing it onto my side table. I wanted to practice some magic! Closing my eyes, I tried to recall some of the spells I’d recently s
een, figuring if I could remember the Words well enough, I could recreate them.

  The image of a glowing ether pigeon popped into my head, and I opened my eyes with a grin. That was perfect. I’d seen both Elnos and Iannis use magic to create the glowing magical birds that could be used to send messages. They seemed really useful and fun, and I wanted to try my hand at making one.

  Grabbing a piece of paper and pen, I sat cross-legged for a moment and tried to recall the exact Words. I checked them against the primer, but unfortunately, at least half of the incantation’s Words weren’t in there, so I had to guess at those as best I could. Oh well, if I didn’t get the spell right, then it just wouldn’t work. It wasn’t like I would blow up the Palace.

  Would I?

  “Whatever,” I grumbled, scanning the Words again. Iannis had safeguards set up around the Palace to prevent that kind of thing from happening. Besides, I was ninety-nine point nine percent certain that I had the incantation right.

  Taking a deep breath, I focused in on the glowing ball of energy in my center that was the source of my magic. Since Iannis had taken the seal off it completely—a seal I now knew had been set by Ballos, not my father—it was much bigger, and I had to be careful not to draw too much too fast.

  Once I was certain I had a good hold on it, I held up a palm and spoke the incantation.

  Wisps of magic floated up from my palm, twisting together to form a glowing blue ball. The ball rose higher and higher into the air as it slowly shaped itself into a bird, and I grinned. Yes, it was slower than the other times I’d seen the spell performed, but it was working! My grin faded as the shape kept changing, the feathers growing longer, the beak becoming much bigger and more hooked than that of a pigeon…

  “Oh shit,” I breathed as it fully formed into not a pigeon, but a parrot. An honest-to-Magorah fucking parrot.