“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.
12
After 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.