Claimed by Magic: a Baine Chronicles novel (The Baine Chronicles: Fenris's Story Book 2)

by Jasmine Walt

  I shook my head, lifting her into my arms. “I didn’t mean to come,” I told her. “I wanted to be inside you.”

  Mina laughed lightly, skimming her hands along my shoulders. “I’m sure we can get you riled up again,” she said, leaning in to bite my bottom lip. She wrapped her bare legs around my waist, and sure enough, I felt another surge of lust as she pressed her wet core against me.

  Could I ever get enough of this woman? Did I even want to?

  Abandoning the mess we’d made at dinner, I carried Mina to the captain’s bedroom—small but luxurious quarters with polished hardwood flooring, a large window that opened directly onto the sea, and a soft bed that beckoned. There were blinds on the window, but I elected to leave them open—there was no one around for miles, and even if another ship did pass, the bed was positioned in such a way that they wouldn’t be able to directly see us anyway.

  “When I finally get myself a new house,” Mina said with a sigh as I set her down onto the bed, her gaze on the window, “I want our bedroom to look out over the ocean.”

  Our bedroom. “Then it shall,” I said before I kissed her again.

  Mina wrapped her arms around me, drawing me in close as she kissed me back, soft and slow and with unspeakable tenderness. Reaching between us, I stroked between her legs until she was vibrating beneath me, my fingers soaked with the evidence of her arousal.

  “Are you ready?” I asked, pulling back to look at her.

  She nodded, gazing up at me out of heavy-lidded eyes that were smoky with lust. “Take me,” she breathed, spreading her legs and reaching for me. I hissed as she wrapped her fingers around my cock and gently guided me to her entrance.

  “Oh,” she moaned as I surged forward, burying myself in her. I groaned, pressing my face into the crook of her neck as a bolt of pleasure lanced through me. She was so tight. When she arched her hips, taking me in even deeper, I thought I might lose my mind. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to rein myself in, and the pain grounded me a little.

  And then I began to move inside her.

  I started off with slow, gentle strokes to get Mina used to the feel of me. She reached up to cup my face with both hands, her silver eyes shining, and my heart grew so full I feared it might burst. Leaning in, I took her mouth in another soft kiss, but she bit down on my lower lip and began undulating her hips, urging me faster.

  “More,” she gasped against my mouth, and I was all too happy to oblige. I reached a hand between us to stroke her in time to my thrusts, and she came almost instantly, arching her back, her hands fisted in the sheets. Her inner walls clenched around me, the last straw, and I let myself go, my own release sweeping through me with such intensity that, for a moment, I forgot where I was.

  And then I came back down to reality to see Mina looking up at me with the most blissful expression on her face—an expression I was certain mirrored my own. Groaning, I collapsed on top of her, then rolled onto my side and gathered her in my arms.

  “That was incredible,” I said, nuzzling her shoulder.

  “Yes,” she agreed, turning in my arms. She ran her fingers down my chest, playing with my hair as she seemed to like to do. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me and said, “When are we going to do it again?”

  23

  Mina

  One week later, I stood by the railing, watching the yacht port approach as Fenris expertly steered our ship back to Haralis. We’d had a wonderful time these past few days visiting the nearby islands, making love in the surf in secluded areas of the beach, and just enjoying each other’s company in general.

  Indulging in playtime hadn’t been the only thing we’d done on our little vacation. Fenris had taught me several useful spells and told me more about his life—how much he missed his friends Iannis and Sunaya in Solantha since he’d left them in the confusion of the big quake before they could become further embroiled in his troubles. That his parents were still alive and had no idea what had become of him, and how eager certain officials in the capital were to make an example of the elusive Lord Polar. It was amazing how much he had been silently dealing with—but no longer. I would be by his side for all of it now.

  I feel like a new woman, I thought as we docked. More experienced and sure of myself, and I wasn’t just referring to my relationship with Fenris. Though that too had changed. Our intimacy had reached new heights when he’d finally let go of his reservations and made love to me completely. He’d been good with his mouth and hands, but the feel of him inside me…pleasant shivers raced through me, a blush spreading across my cheeks. I hadn’t known how good sex could truly feel, not until our first night aboard the yacht.

  But my sex life wasn’t the only thing I was happy about. Forcing myself to face down my old demons had strengthened something in me I’d believed broken. I had not even worried about the killer these past few days. With Fenris by my side, watching out for threats, checking my food, and sharing my bed every night, there had been nothing to fear.

  All that remained was to learn the results of the audit, but even that did not overly concern me. I suspected a good chunk of my fortune would be gone, but in the past thirteen years I’d grown so used to living modestly that whatever was left to me would still be far more than I needed.

  “Are you ready?” Fenris asked, coming to stand by my side.

  I turned to him, and a pang of regret hit my heart—he was back in his old-mage disguise. I wished he could walk by my side openly as the shifter Fenris, but since he’d been presumed dead in the Solantha quake, it was too much of a risk lest someone recognize him. He had already risked enough calling Solantha Palace as himself and was still going to need to sort that out.

  Even so, I was tempted to take his hand and profess my love to him again… until I noticed Fenris’s eyes were trained on the seagulls swirling about overhead.

  “Best to keep things to mindspeak, for now,” he warned, and I nodded.

  We disembarked from the craft, our luggage in hand, and Fenris returned the keys to the yacht and settled with the rental company. We were just about to climb into one of the many steamcabs waiting outside the marina when an ether pigeon materialized directly in front of us.

  “Oh!” I jumped back, pressing a hand against my pounding heart—I still wasn’t used to seeing them. Fenris held out his arm as though he did this every day, and the pigeon perched on his forearm to deliver its message. It was from the Chief Mage—an order for us to come straight to the Mages Guild.

  Fenris and I exchanged a look. “I wonder what happened that requires such urgency,” I said as we climbed into the back of a steamcab. “Do you suppose something went wrong?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Fenris said as the car slid into traffic. “Best not to worry or indulge in speculations and assumptions. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  It was still early enough in the morning that the streets were snarled with traffic, and it took us nearly an hour to drive to Haralis Palace. We hurried up the steps as fast as we could without appearing unseemly after giving instructions to the driver to wait—he had our luggage in the trunk, and we could hardly bring it in with us. Hopefully he was honest.

  I half expected the Chief Mage to make us wait, but to my pleasant surprise, his assistant ushered us into his private office almost immediately. Lord Zaran was seated behind a great oak desk with birds carved into the gleaming wood, a pair of spectacles perched on his nose as he reviewed a stack of documents on his desk. Standing next to him was a salt-and-pepper-haired mage in lime green robes who was jotting something down on a notepad—his secretary, I presumed.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly,” the Chief Mage said, setting aside whatever he was reading. “Have a seat.”

  We did so, and I forced my spine straight to keep from sinking into the chair cushion—it was softer than I’d anticipated. “Has your office finished the audit, then?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.

  “We have, but before I get into that, I must thank Mr.
ar’Tarnis for opening my eyes to Miss Dorax’s machinations.” He turned his somber gaze toward Fenris. “I opened an investigation, and it has uncovered a series of irregularities that are most appalling. She has been placed under house arrest pending the completion of the investigation, upon which a panel of senior mages will come together to decide her fate.”

  “A wise decision,” Fenris said, nodding. “I would post extra guards outside her doors. She seems like a devious woman, and I wouldn’t put it past her to try to escape.”

  “Good thinking.” The Chief Mage shook his head ruefully. “I cannot believe I allowed myself to be taken in by her—I should have known better, since she’d previously worked for that criminal who used to be the Chief Mage of Nebara. How is it that you, a stranger, were able to see through her when I could not?”

  Fenris grimaced at the unwitting insult. “I have had the bad luck to tangle with her type on more than one occasion. When you live to be my age, you learn to spot the signs easily. I would not be surprised to learn that she has been angling for your position this entire time.”

  I bit back a smile, wondering how the Chief Mage would react if Fenris told him that he’d been that criminal mage and had found himself in the same position years ago. That it was his own experience that had given him such insight into Miss Dorax’s character and had saved Lord Zaran from making the same mistakes.

  “Yes, I suppose that makes sense, but…” The Chief Mage trailed off, cocking his head a little. “I can’t help but feel as if we’ve met before, Mr. ar’Tarnis. Something about you seems familiar. Perhaps we’ve run across each other at a party, under a different guise?”

  A chill ran down my spine, but Fenris merely laughed. “I assure you, Lord Zaran, if we had met before, I would have said so from the beginning,” he said, lying with a perfectly straight face. “I am far too old for such games.”

  “Of course,” the Chief Mage said, though he sounded mildly disappointed. He picked up a folder on his desk and turned to me. “Now, Miss Marton, on to the matter of your inheritance.”

  “Yes?” I sat up straighter—I’d begun to sink into the chair cushion again. “What have your people discovered?”

  “Regretfully, our accountants found that a good third of your liquid assets, the bank accounts, and shares in various companies have been squandered by your faithless trustee and your greedy relatives.” The Chief Mage sounded chagrined as he delivered the news. “They will be made to offer restitution, but their own assets are insufficient to cover the entire loss.”

  “Ah, so Mr. Ransome was dipping into my funds,” I said as a wave of disappointment filled me. I’d been holding out hope that perhaps it was a misunderstanding, that he was better than this. But he had been the logical culprit—once again, Fenris was right.

  “Yes, and he was also behind both attempts on your life,” the Chief Mage said darkly. “He has been arrested, and after some days in a cell at the Enforcers Guild, is writing up a full confession as we speak. He truly believed that you were dead and therefore saw no harm in helping himself to some of your wealth.” He scoffed. “When it turned out that you were still alive and well, Ransome panicked. In exchange for the confession, he will be sent to the mines for at least twenty years rather than face the death penalty. Either way, you will not see him again for the foreseeable future. All that remains is for you to decide whether you’d like for your relatives to be prosecuted, too.”

  I pursed my lips as I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. “No, the loss of their income and social standing is punishment enough,” I decided. Now that the truth was out, they would be disgraced. All the newspapers would have pounced on this story, eager to publish this latest society scandal, and nobody worth knowing would want to speak to them again. “There is no use wasting time and energy in prosecuting them—I’d like to get on with my life now.”

  “A mature decision,” the Chief Mage said, smiling. “And it will save the taxpayers some money as well. But what exactly do you intend to do now that this is settled? Will you be moving back to Haralis?”

  I sat back in my chair with a wide smile. “Not anytime soon, though I shall keep the Marton estate intact. As it turns out, there is a man in the town where I have been living whom I hope to marry,” I said, winking at Fenris. His expression remained impassive, but I could have sworn I caught a twinkle in his eye. “My apprenticeship can wait for now.”

  After all, I would be able to learn from Fenris at my own pace and take the final tests with some other mage whenever we both felt I was ready.

  The Chief Mage frowned. “Very well, though I must admit I am surprised. I would advise you not to put your training off too long—best to get it over with while you are young and the brain is still flexible. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to stay here? There are several talented mages in Innarta who are very interested in teaching you now that they have learned of your ordeal. I could put you in touch with some of them.”

  I shrugged. “Perhaps I will take you up on that offer someday,” I said, standing. “But my magic is under control, and I have waited this long—surely I can wait a few more years. For now, I intend to enjoy my life as Tamina Marton once more.”

  And with that, I bid the Chief Mage a good day and swept from Haralis Palace. I did not intend to come back for a good long time.

  24

  Mina

  “I do wish you could stay a bit longer,” Troina said, spooning up a bit of her cold cucumber soup. “Do you really have to leave so soon?”

  I laughed. “It’s been nearly four weeks since my hearing concluded,” I said. We were sitting in the dining room of Troina’s home, having a farewell lunch with Maxin, Baron, and a few other friends I’d become acquainted with in the past few weeks. While I enjoyed this last visit with my childhood friends, Fenris was picking up the tickets for our return trip. “I’m very glad I got to spend so much time with you all, but I really do need to get back to my life. I did have one before I came here, you know.”

  “Yes,” Troina huffed, tossing a hank of her long hair over her shoulder. “But I will miss you, you know.”

  “We will all miss you,” Maxin added, and the others voiced their agreement. “Your tenacity and courage has been an inspiration to us all, Mina. We could use more mages like you in our community.”

  I smiled softly. During the past few weeks, with Fenris’s expert guidance, I had found caretakers for the various properties I now owned, drawn up a will, and taken care of other tedious issues that came with inheriting a vast fortune. I’d also spent lots of time with Troina and her friends, and I had grown to like them very much. Going out with mages my own age was a very nice change of pace. In between our fun-filled adventures, they’d even taught me some spells here and there to add to my growing repertoire.

  But despite my growing fondness for them, I still missed Abbsville, and I had friends and clients waiting for me. I did not intend to move back there permanently, but I couldn’t simply ignore the unfinished business I had there any more than Fenris could.

  It was time to go home.

  “I am surprised Secretary Dorax has been sent off to Dara for trial,” Troina said, changing the subject. The news had made headlines in the paper that morning. “It was an open secret here that she was not above bribes, and she’s not the first Finance Secretary who did so either. Nobody in the capital ever cared about it.”

  “The Chief Mage may be trying to recuse himself from the trial, since they worked so closely together,” I speculated.

  “No, it’s this new Director of Federal Security,” Maxin told us. “He is flexing his muscles, trying to establish his authority across the Federation. His agency claims to be in charge of all cases of corrupt mage officials.”

  “I’m not sure that is a good thing,” Baron said, frowning. “We have state independence for a reason, after all, and who knows where it will end if the Federal government in Dara tries to dictate and meddle in our affairs?”

  �
��You may be right,” I said—Fenris held a very similar view on the subject. “But in this particular case, I am glad she is being sent far away. She did everything possible to ruin me.”

  “Have you seen your relatives since your hearing?” Maxin asked as he handed me a plate with salmon carpaccio to go with the bread I was buttering. “Vanley is missing from the social scene, so I don’t know his feelings first-hand, but I imagine he isn’t at all happy with you. Aren’t you afraid he may plot revenge?”

  “I have spent too many years being afraid of him,” I declared. “When I finally came face-to-face with him at that party and he tried to accost me again, he turned out to be rather pathetic. I think I’ve outgrown him, and if he tries to hurt me again…well, I’m not without protection,” I said with a smile. As a matter of fact, Fenris had been teaching me shielding and simple attack spells, so I would not be taken unawares should anyone else make an attempt on my life.

  “You have certainly come into your own,” Troina said, sounding proud of me. “I’m sure you will be fine. And anyway, your relatives have been ordered not to approach you, haven’t they?”

  “That’s right,” I confirmed. “I doubt they would want to see me anyway, not after being forced to pay restitution. They’re practically copperless now.”

  “I don’t doubt you could hold your own against Vanley now,” Baron said. “My money is on you, but I expect he will just slink away to nurse his humiliation. He certainly won’t be welcome in our circles again if I have anything to say to it.”

  “Yes, and he has no idea where I’m going, so there is no way for him to follow me,” I said. At least not without hiring an investigator, which Vanley could not afford to do now that his family was broke.

  “Speaking of which,” Troina said, a little reproachfully, “I still have no idea where you are moving to either. Aren’t you going to give me your address so we can keep in touch?”