Bound by Magic (12 page)

“Nice,” Lakin murmured as he turned away to help himself to a cup of coffee. “You don’t seem to have any problem being intimidating.”

“It’s a job requirement.” Giving in to temptation, I snagged a chocolate-covered cookie from the platter, then popped the entire thing in my mouth so I wouldn’t risk getting crumbs on my shirt. I wasn’t going to walk into an interview with pieces of cookie on me – that was just unprofessional, especially when the cookies belonged to your suspect.

I turned around just as Aryn returned. “Mr. Danrian will see you now.”

“Excellent,” I quipped, mimicking the Chief Mage’s tone. Lakin choked on his coffee next to me, and I bit back a grin as we followed Aryn to a corner office in the rear of the building. The walls were made entirely of glass, the privacy shades raised so that anyone passing by had a perfect view of the interior – and it was a nice interior, with gold-framed photographs hanging from the cream walls, and honey-wood furniture that glowed beneath the light streaming in through the bay window.

“Good morning,” the manager said coolly, standing up from behind his acre-wide desk. He was wearing a tan-colored suit with a green linen shirt that was a few shades darker than his tie. “I’m Warin Danrian, the regional manager.”

“I’m Shiftertown Inspector Lakin, and this is Enforcer Baine,” Lakin said before I had a chance to respond – guess he was getting tired of me making the introductions. “We’re investigating a crime, and we need to ask you a couple of questions.”

“I see,” Danrian said calmly, but he couldn’t quite wipe the irritation from his expression. “Are they the kind of questions that couldn’t have waited a few more minutes? I was in the middle of helping a client with an important business deal.”

“One of those interest-free loans?” I asked lightly, plucking one of the packets of paperwork from a basket hanging from the wall to my left. “The ones that are so popular in Shiftertown these days?”

Danrian’s eyes narrowed as a crafty gleam entered them. “If you two are interested, we can fill out preliminary paperwork today.” He gestured to the packet in my hands.

“We are interested, but not for ourselves.” Lakin took a seat in one of the visitor’s chairs without invitation, and I followed suit. “Why don’t you sit down, Mr. Danrian, so we can go over it?”

“Alright.” The manager seated himself in the buttery leather chair behind his desk. “Well get on with it, then. What is this all about?”

Lakin pulled a photo from one of the many pockets of his coat. “Do you recognize this man?”

Something flashed in Danrian’s eyes as he glanced down at the photo, a dark skinned, dark haired man with Sandian features. “What about him?”

“His name is Nevin Rindar,” Lakin said. “He’s a reporter for the Shifter Courier. And he came to you for a loan back in January.”

The manager scoffed. “January? Do you have any idea how many shifters we’ve helped with loans over the past six months? You can’t expect me to remember all of them.”

“But you do remember him, don’t you?” I leaned forward to pin the manager with my gaze. “I saw your eyes when you looked at the photo – you recognized the face.”

“It’s vaguely familiar,” the manager said stiffly. “It’s possible that I helped him with a loan, or that any of my staff did so. As I said, we’ve helped out many shifters.”

I scowled – he wasn’t lying, my nose and my hearing told me that much, but I could tell he was dancing around something.

“I’m not sure how much your loan ‘helped’ Nevin Rindar,” Lakin said pointedly. “He’s gone missing in the last two months, vanished without a trace, possibly even dead.”

“And that’s my fault how?” Danrian demanded.

“I haven’t said it is,” Lakin said patiently. “But nevertheless, I would like to know more about these loans you’re offering.”

“And not just what you tell the public either,” I snapped.

“I don’t know what there is to tell,” Danrian said, but sweat had broken out across his upper lip, and I could smell the lie.

“Listen, asshole.” I slapped my hand on the polished wood of his desk to draw his attention. “I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but it’s not a good idea to lie to shifters. Especially ones who have the ability to throw you in jail for a night or two.”

“Alright, alright!” Danrian cried. He swiped a hand across his square face. “What do you want to know?”

“Why are you offering such favorable terms to shifters specifically?” I demanded. “As far as I can tell you’re not offering interest-free loans to humans or mages, which doesn’t make sense because they have more money. What do you get out of signing shifters up?”

“We get bonuses for every shifter that signs up!” Danrian exclaimed. “Especially if they have houses or property to pledge as security. It’s been a win-win situation on both ends ever since Sandin Federal Bank has started up the program. Hundreds of shifters have been signing up every day across the country!”

“Clearly,” Lakin snapped, impatience burning in his reddish-yellow eyes, “but why? Why are you being offered incentives?”

“You’ll have to ask the home office about that,” the manager said stiffly. “They’re the ones who’ve been sending out the orders.”

“Oh, so it’s some big mysterious hand pulling strings behind the curtain again?” I wrinkled my nose. This entire thing stank of the Benefactor’s involvement – as with the silver murders, Yantz had been the instrument, but he’d been following someone else’s orders.

Danrian’s eyes flashed again. “I would suggest you watch your tone, Enforcer Baine. Sandin Federal Bank has some very powerful investors. It would be unwise to upset any of them with baseless accusations.”

“Oh really?” I stood up, then flattened my palms on the desk as I leaned across it, shoving my nose into Danrian’s face. The man’s eyes widened, and he leaned back in his chair to put some distance between us. “Well you might have some bigwigs behind you, but I’ve got the Chief Mage behind me, and he’s
very
interested in your bank’s activities, Mr. Danrian.” I bared my teeth into a vicious grin. “If I were you, I’d be careful that you haven’t ‘accidentally’ gotten yourself into anything illegal.”

Danrian’s cheeks mottled. “How dare you throw around accusations like that in my office!’ He leapt to his feet. “Unless either of you plan on arresting me, I demand that you leave. Now.”

“No worries,” Lakin said, curling a hand into the fabric of my shirt and gently pulling me backward. “We’ve got another interview coming up, so we’ll be on our way.” He stood up, releasing my shirt as he did so. “We’ll be back if we have more questions.”

“Naturally,” Danrian’s voice was like ice. “I do wish you the best of luck in your investigation.”

“Of course you do,” I said as I followed Lakin out the door. I turned back for just a moment to wink at Danrian, who was watching us with a stony expression. “Have a nice day.”
While it lasts,
I added to myself silently.
I didn’t know what Danrian was hiding from us yet, but I was going to find out, and once I did I was going to ruin his week.

A
fter we left the bank
, I asked Lakin to go off to Shiftertown without me to spread the impotence rumors, then turned my wheels in the direction of the Palace. This whole business with the bank was nagging at me, and while the Chief Mage would probably be too busy to go over it with me until tomorrow, there was someone else I could ask in the meantime.

I found Fenris in the Palace Library – a huge room that could have easily fit the entire Shifter Courier building inside the bookshelves that stood in rows in the middle of the room and lined the walls, so tall they nearly touched the soaring ceiling. He was sitting toward the front, buried in a dusty leather tome written entirely in Loranian, and I arched a brow. Not for the first time, I wondered how it was that Fenris was fluent in the magical language, when most shifters weren’t. Yes, he spent a lot of time around Iannis, but I wasn’t sure that explained it… not to mention that their friendship itself was highly unusual. Nobody seemed to question it, but it was unheard of for a mage of Iannis’s rank to be such close friends with any shifter, especially a clanless one.

“Whatcha reading there?” I asked casually, wandering up beside him.

“Sunaya!” Fenris’s head shot up, surprise flickering in his yellow eyes. Several of the mages sitting at the other tables shot us dirty looks for disturbing the silence of the library, and Fenris winced.

“Sorry,” I muttered, lowering my voice as I sat down in the chair across from him. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You must’ve really been into that book.” That was the only explanation I could come up with – Fenris was a wolf shifter, and like me he had a heightened sense of smell and hearing. In his place I would have already known I was here before I’d spoken.

“Yes, well, it’s fascinating stuff.” Fenris closed the book gently, then pushed it to the side, spine facing away so that I couldn’t read the title. I wondered if he’d done that on purpose, but now was not the time to ask – I’d just draw myself off-track, and it wasn’t really my business anyway. “What are you doing back at the Palace? It’s not even eleven o’clock, and it’s not like you to be early.”

“Gee thanks.” I stuck my tongue out at Fenris, and he grinned a little. “Actually, I’m here because I was hoping you might be able to help me with the investigation the Chief Mage put me on earlier this week.”

“You mean about the bank loans being given out to shifters?” Interest lit Fenris’s dark eyes. “What can I do to help?”

“Well,” I said, propping my elbows on the table and folding my hands beneath my chin, “Inspector Lakin and I went to Sandin Federal today to question the bank manager about the loans, and he said that hundreds of shifters have been signing up every day. But when I thought about it, I realized that’s got to be a ridiculous amount of gold they’re giving out. From what Lakin’s heard around town the average loan amount is something like three hundred pieces of gold.”

“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.